60 Seconds Interview

1. What do you see as the biggest blocker when tackling vulnerability in the UK?

A: Essentially, it can be really difficult for anyone, but especially vulnerable groups or someone experiencing crisis, to access the right support at the right time due to a combination of complex systems and processes that aren’t in place that are hard to navigate and that aren’t always joined up, and service gaps in our communities.

2. What one piece of advice would you give to a company that is trying to improve their support for vulnerable customers?

A: Work in participation and collaboration with your vulnerable customers, and with people with shared protected characteristics, not just to better understand them and their need for different resources for different complexities, but to provide a space and a platform for them to become decision makers and influence the services they need.  Think about how you can stay with someone and have a longer term impact on their journey, look at their broader experiences and how you fit into that and work in partnership with others on a joined up approach.

3. What is the most common type of vulnerability you are seeing in your industry? 

A: Key drivers of FB use and helpline callers are single parents, large families, people with caring responsibilities, people with health issues and disabilities. We see a lot of people who are on the cusp of being able to survive, who are barely making ends meet, for whom, one change of circumstance can push them into real poverty.