About

We started this consultancy because we knew what it felt like to be on the other side.

Why we exist

Before Delehanty Consulting existed, its founder, Carolyn Delehanty, spent nearly two decades in the utilities sector, leading on vulnerable customer inclusion at E.ON. She knew the policy world inside out. She also knew what it felt like to be a customer in debt, navigating systems that were not designed with her in mind.

That experience changed everything. It made the gap between policy and practice impossible to ignore. Firms were writing vulnerable customer strategies without ever involving them. Decisions about customer journeys were being made in rooms full of people who had never experienced what those journeys felt like when things went wrong.

Delehanty Consulting was founded in 2019 to close that gap. We work with financial services firms, energy and utility companies, and housing organisations to identify where risk lies across vulnerable customer journeys, and redesign those moments so they work for customers, colleagues, and commercial teams.

Our Inclusive Design methodology uses co-discovery, co-design and co-delivery with vulnerable customers. We do not design for people. We design with them. That is not a principle we adopted. It is the reason this consultancy exists.

If this feels familiar

We help you understand where vulnerability
creates risk and what to do next.

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What drives the work

We bring bad news. This is the most honest description of what we do.

Most firms we work with have already invested in vulnerability. Training has been delivered. Policies are in place. Someone has accountability. But when we look at what is actually happening in vulnerable customer journeys, the picture is usually different. Identification rates may have improved, but customer outcomes have not followed. Foreseeable harm is still concentrated in the same places.

We exist to find it, say it clearly, and help you do something about it. Our sources of truth include vulnerable customers, the colleagues who serve them, and the data. Everything we recommend is anchored to one or all of these.

We equip you to make better decisions about vulnerable customer risk, strengthen board assurance, and turn vulnerability from a compliance obligation into a managed risk and a commercial opportunity.

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Where we work

We work across financial services, utilities, and housing. Carolyn is the Chair of Scottish and Southern Energy Networks’ Inclusive Service Panel, judges the Collaboration Network’s awards, and contributes to industry thinking through speaking and writing. We are embedded in the sectors we serve, not observing from the outside.

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The team

Carolyn Delehanty, Founder

Carolyn founded Delehanty Consulting after nearly 20 years in the utilities sector. She helps firms identify where foreseeable harm concentrates in vulnerable customer journeys and redesign those moments to reduce regulatory exposure, strengthen board assurance, and turn vulnerability from a compliance obligation into a managed risk. Her methodology, Inclusive Design, ensures that service redesign works for all customers, not only those who need it most. Carolyn chairs Scottish and Southern Energy Networks’ Inclusive Service Panel, judges for the Collaboration Network, and is a school governor and volunteer with two local charities.

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Julian Sammells, Sales Director

Julian has over 20 years’ experience helping regulated organisations strengthen their approach to complaints, complex casework, and customer vulnerability. He has worked across financial services and the public sector, and understands how processes, data, and frontline behaviours shape customer outcomes under Consumer Duty and vulnerable customer requirements. Julian brings a practical, grounded perspective on identifying and supporting customers with additional needs, drawn from experience in both customer-facing and internal casework environments.

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David Lloyd, Associate Consultant

David is a service design and customer experience leader specialising in inclusive design and vulnerable customer journey optimisation across utilities and financial services. With two decades of experience at organisations including E.ON and Close Brothers, he has embedded customer journey governance, design thinking, and voice of the customer frameworks that drive measurable improvements in customer outcomes. David has led inclusive service design sprints across multiple markets and trained hundreds of colleagues in inclusive design methodologies.

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Andrea Archer, Executive Assistant to the Founder

Andrea brings over 20 years of senior administrative experience across organisations of all sizes. She ensures the smooth running of business operations, from strategic diary and inbox management to coordination across the team, so that our consultants can focus entirely on the work that matters to clients.

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“They told us what we needed to hear, not what we wanted to hear. That changed everything.”

Sarah Head of Customer Experience, Insurance | After an Inclusive Design sprint

“The Vulnerability Review gave us a clear picture of where the real risks were. We had been focused on the wrong things.”

James Chief Risk Officer, Banking | After a Vulnerability Review

“What made the difference was working directly with customers. It completely shifted how we designed the service.”

Rachel Head of Vulnerability & Affordability, Energy | After an Inclusive Design sprint

“We thought we had a training problem. Turns out we had a journey design problem. That insight saved us a year.”

Mark Director of Operations, Lending | After an Inclusive Design sprint

“They left us with the tools and capability to keep going without them. That is rare in consulting.”

Claire Customer Strategy Lead, Water | After Operational Embedding

“The Inclusive Design sprint gave us something we had never had before: evidence that our changes actually worked for vulnerable customers.”

David Head of Customer Experience, Housing | After an Inclusive Design sprint

Financial services

Banks, insurers, lenders, and pension
providers navigating Consumer Duty,
FG21/1, and the challenge of turning
regulatory expectations into outcomes
vulnerable customers actually notice.
Energy and utilities

Energy and water companies focused
on their Vulnerability Strategy and
Priority Services Register requirements,
affordability, and designing services that
reach vulnerable customers before harm
materialises.
Regulated sectors

Housing associations and other
regulated organisations where
vulnerability creates operational and
compliance risk, and where services need
to work for the people who rely on them
most.