Councils with some of the highest relative rates of social landlord repossessions have described their early intervention efforts after new data was published.

Terry Howarth, executive member for homes and housing at Chorley BC, where social landlord repossessions were highest in the country between April and June, admitted the council had struggled to engage with some of its housing associations.

Cllr Howarth said: ‘We have measures in place with some of the social landlords in Chorley so that they can provide information to us when a tenant has been served with an eviction notice.

'This allows us to provide an early intervention approach and necessary support for applications to court when challenging an eviction and support those residents who are facing this.

‘We're looking at ways we can encourage all social landlords who have housing stock in the borough to inform us when they are evicting tenants so we can provide support for more tenants facing eviction.'

A spokesperson for Adur DC, which was joint second in the Ministry of Justice league table behind Chorley, said it used ‘pioneering database technology to help us identify at an early stage people who may not be coping financially so that we can offer appropriate help quickly and efficiently'.

They added: ‘We have weekly meetings to review our arrears cases that are at risk of being referred to court to agree further actions and any support that can be offered before any referral for possession or enforcement against an order is agreed.'

A spokesperson for Warwick DC suggested the employment of dedicated financial inclusion officers and other interventions had helped reduce repossession claims from 43 in the first three months of the year to 38 between April and June.