Vulnerability Matters

Can Ofgem’s 2025 Consumer Vulnerability Strategy really lead to better services? Just what is new about it? And how will it meet an army of challenges ranging from net-zero to the cost of living to market reform? Beth Martin lights up the strategy, explains how Ofgem will hold “firms’ feet to the fire” to deliver it, and outlines the everyday differences that consumers will notice. https://www.ofg...

In this bonus episode, Dr Nicola Sharp-Jeffs returns to explore the newly released 2025 Financial Abuse Code from UK Finance. Building on a decade of development, the Code outlines seven pillars for firms to better identify and support customers. But how well will it protect victim-survivors of economic abuse? Nicola explains all to Chris Fitch. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-nicola-sharp-jeffs-ob...

Nicola Sharp-Jeffs has been the UK’s leading voice on economic abuse over the last two decades, and is now bringing about change on the global stage. In her first public conversation since stepping down as CEO of the charity she founded, Surviving Economic Abuse, Nicola explains what economic abuse means to her, the policy milestones and practical mountains she has encountered, and just how all es...

Chatter about 'inclusive design' has never been greater - but a significant difference exists between discussing the approach, and actually doing it. Jo Ellis and Katherine Snow explain how Tesco Bank made the shift from eulogising about inclusive design to actually embedding it in within the organisation. Outlining the process they followed, they describe to Chris Fitch the crests and challenges...

Episode 44 - COGA – design’s best kept secret? by Money Advice Trust

Financial inclusion is in the spotlight - but what does it actually mean? Howard Taylor - Financial Inclusion Commissioner and PwC Director – explains all, and provides a simple, memorable, and surprisingly entertaining way to understand how the complex relationship between financial inclusion, vulnerability and accessibility works in practice. Howard also outlines the key pillars and pathways to...

Disabled customers need reasonable adjustments – but just what is reasonable (and unreasonable)? Dr Maria Orchard (University of Leeds) and Naomi Aziz (Scope) unpack what the Equality Act 2010, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Code of Practice, suggest that every firm could usefully consider. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariaorchard https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomipeel/ https://www....

What if ‘vulnerability’ was more than a technical label and instead became part of a wider human movement for change? In this episode, Lee Healey (Founder of IncomeMax) explains why now is the time to think about vulnerability not just a regulatory duty, but as an opportunity to embed empathy, kindness, and action across society. https://www.linkedin.com/in/incomemax/ https://www.incomemax.org.uk/...

AI is promoted as a solution for identifying and supporting vulnerable consumers. But does its performance match its hyperbole? Savannah Price (CEO, Serene) and Dan Holloway (Rogue Interrobang/University of Oxford) cut through the noise and explore not only how far AI has gone on vulnerability, but how much further we might want it to. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ssprice/ https://www.linkedin.com/...

Touchscreen payment devices are used across the UK’s shops, cafes, and restaurants. But has this flatscreen payment revolution excluded millions of disabled consumers? Dr Amy Kavanagh (accessibility specialist) and Adam Scarrott (UK Finance) debate the challenges, oversights, and design solutions. Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-amy-kavanagh/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-scarrott-b914271...

Matt Dronfield describes how a fleet of video debt advice kiosks are now reaching some of the UK’s hardest to engage communities, including Brixton Prison. Matt explains what the impact has been, and just how he managed to get permission to install soundproof, internet connected, video kiosks across the UK’s prison estate. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattdronfield/ https://debtfreeadvice.com/news-...

Recorded live from the London launch event of the FCA’s much-anticipated review of how financial service firms are treating customers in vulnerable circumstances, Chris Fitch talks to Charlotte Clark about what the review’s findings mean for firms, consumers, and the regulator too, and whether consumer vulnerability can really sit alongside wider economic growth objectives. Charlotte Clark - https...

When a customer has needs that go beyond our internal expertise, signposting is our go-to solution. But are we doing it wrong? What should we change? And just how can we use it to help our customers, but avoid over-whelming the charities and specialist organisations that are already struggling with demand? https://www.linkedin.com/in/catdivers

Christine Tate and Dan Holloway talk about a brand new guide “Help! What support can firms give disabled consumers and people in vulnerable situations?”. Dubbed a support-needs-mini-starter-guide-for-the-confused, this new resource brings together over 100 different types of common support needs from a range of essential sectors and people with lived experience for the very first time. www. MoneyA...

Shaun Conner talks to Chris Fitch about setting-up an ‘Empathy’ or ’Accessibility Lab’ to help staff better understand the barriers that disabled people face in their interactions with essential services. But what sort of kit do you find in an ‘Empth’ Lab? And can such simulation ever really work in practice? Shaun Conner (LinkedIn) https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaun-conner/ Government Accessibilit...

Drawing on his experience of supporting people involved in the Grenfell Tower fire, Manchester Arena bombing, and other national emergencies, Andy Langford talks to Chris Fitch about the key steps that we can take during and after such high-impact events to restore safety and diminish distress, and what essential services can learn from this. https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-langford-548979204/

Grace and Phil draw on new consumer and survey data to identify the major vulnerability trends, policy launches, and practical impacts that we’ll see in 2025, and explain to Chris Fitch just what the key events of 2024 were that got us here. https://www.moneyadvicetrust.org/vulnerability

Katie Orme talks to Chris Fitch about Octopus Energy’s decision to employ a team of eight in-house social workers for its customers. Katie shares what a typical day involves as Head of Service for Social Work, the types of customer cases she is helping, and the impact her team of eight are having for Octopus Energy and the customers they serve. https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-orme-764b41282/

Elizabeth Anderson talks to Chris Fitch about what ‘digital poverty’ actually is. Cutting through the most common myths, Elizabeth explains what living in a ‘digital first’ world looks like to the 11 million UK adults who lack the skills to navigate it, or who cannot afford the costs of online life, and what essential services can do for digitally vulnerable consumers. https://www.linkedin.com/com...

Holly Tuke explains to Chris Fitch how understanding the everyday joys of cooking chips, make-up tips, and going to gigs as a blind person, can help essential services tackle the challenges that their blind customers and colleagues face in a majority-sighted world. Holly also schools Chris on visual language, self-descriptions, and why Braille isn’t everything. https://lifeofablindgirl.com/ https:...

Just 11-14% of UK adults in a vulnerable situation have ever disclosed this to an essential service firm, despite the help it might lead to. So why are consumers staying quiet? And how can firms get them to disclose their situation and needs? Alexis Stevens explains what firms can do, and shares her mixed experiences of disclosing her bipolar disorder to get help. www.linkedin.com/in/alexis-steven...

Just how are 999 staff trained to talk, listen, and remain calm as vulnerable callers seek urgent help? In this episode, Mike Modder-Fitch shares his experience of running Police Force Control Rooms and NHS Integrated Care Contact Centres, and explains just what essential service staff can learn from their counter-parts in 999 settings. Mike also explains what his journey from previously running e...

In this episode, Swindon Borough Council give away (for free) their AI tool which translates documents into an Easy Read format for people with learning disabilities or literacy difficulties. Chris Fitch picks up his jaw from the floor as Annie Baker explains more about ‘Simply Readable’, and Tom and Lilly describe their expert by experience role in the project. www.youtube.com/watch?v=leQegdK-1M8...

Of the 650,00 people who die each year in the UK, many will have been living with a terminal illness. David Williams shares the practical strategies used on the Marie Curie Information Support Line to have more helpful, natural, and practically useful conversations with terminally ill people and their families. https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/

Kicking-off our new Season, Celia Chartres-Aris takes us on a crash-course on ‘ableism’ - a term many disabled people have embraced as reflecting their specific experience of discrimination, but which others have sceptically viewed as another buzzword in an already complex discussion. Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/celia-chartres-aris/?originalSubdomain=uk https://unlearningableism.com/