The Dispute Service increased the number of deposits it protects by 6.8% across the UK over the past financial year (April 2017-March 2018).

The Dispute Service subsidiary, TDS Northern Ireland, experienced the greatest growth, with the scheme expanding 13.85%. Sister company, SafeDeposits Scotland followed suit, generating an 8% rise in the number of tenancy deposits protected. In England and Wales, The Dispute Service trades as Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS), which grew 6.52% over the year.

In total, the number of tenancy deposits protected by the not-for-profit organisation grew from 1,386,572 in March 2017 to 1,481,485 in March 2018 across the UK.

Steve Harriott, group CEO of The Dispute Service, said: “The growth we have experienced is due to both the increasing size of the private rented sector and the quality of the service we provide to our customers..

“Over the last year, we’ve invested significantly in our people, products and customer service. We’re consistently meeting government targets for call and email answering times across the UK, and were awarded the Customer Service Excellence accreditation earlier this year.

“There’s a lot of interest in the private rented sector and particularly in tenancy deposit protection. The sector continues to grow but there is very little in the way of published data on tenancy deposit protection.”