What is the Service Charge Index? 

Each year, the TPI publishes The Service Charge Index to provide members and the wider industry valuable insights into how service charge expenditure evolves in different property types across England and Wales. 

The Index provides in-depth analysis of the trends and factors driving costs and is an important benchmark for the industry. 

However, the creation of the Index requires a lot of heavy lifting to make happen. In prior years, the collection of data for TPI Service Charge Index was a manual and time-consuming process for TPI Members.  Reformatting and rekeying of information was often required, which delayed submissions and ultimately limited the amount of data that could be collected and analysed for the Index. 

Data Collection - powered by Ark Residential

Ark Residential has partnered with TPI to create the Service Charge Index Platform to address the challenges of data collection for the Index. The platform does this by: 

• Automating data collection to save members time and reduce the admin burden.
• Improving accuracy and consistency through standardised data formats.
• Expanding participation so the Index reflects a broader range of developments across the country.

The goal is to create a stronger, more representative Service Charge Index that benefits the entire sector — offering more reliable benchmarking and deeper insights.

How does it work?

The software platform has been exclusively designed for TPI  to automatically collect and categorise key financial information from your property management software.

The process is straightforward:

• Secure connection: The platform connects with your CRM or management system (e.g. MRI Qube, Blockman). Data can also be uploaded manually.
• Automatic data collection: Relevant financial and building data is extracted and categorised. Original data is then securely deleted.
• Data anonymisation: Personal information is removed before it reaches TPI.
• Analysis and Reporting: TPI uses aggregated, anonymised data to produce the Service Charge Index.

More information

For more information, please read https://www.tpi.org.uk/industry-knowledge/service-charges/service-charges-ark-x-tpi/ or  please feel free to drop us an email on noah@projectark.co.uk.

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