Context
A major UK high street bank served over eight million personal customers across current accounts, savings, mortgages and lending. The bank had invested in vulnerability training and built processes around Consumer Duty and FG21/1 requirements. But when Delehanty Consulting listened to the experiences of vulnerable customers themselves, a different picture emerged.
Challenge
Vulnerable customers described having to retell their story every time they contacted a different part of the bank. A customer who had disclosed a health condition during a mortgage application would need to repeat that disclosure when calling about their current account. The bank’s systems did not carry vulnerability information throughout the vulnerable customer journey or into other products.
For customers already managing difficult circumstances, this was not a minor inconvenience. It eroded trust, increased the emotional cost of every interaction, and meant that the support customers received depended on whether they had the energy to explain their situation again. Colleagues, meanwhile, were making decisions without the context they needed.
What we did
Delehanty Consulting led a Vulnerability Review, followed by an Inclusive Design sprint to develop a new approach to how vulnerability information was captured, carried, and used.
The review drew on three sources of insight: vulnerable customers, the colleagues who served them, and operational data across the bank’s product lines. Working with the same groups, the team ideated a ranked set of ideas designed to close the needs gaps the review had surfaced. The priority solution was an online vulnerable customer self-disclosure tool that allowed customers to share their circumstances once, on their own terms, with that information then carried through and used at every subsequent touchpoint.
Prototypes were tested and evolved alongside vulnerable customers and colleagues until the customer, colleague, and commercial impact was sufficiently demonstrated.
What changed
Vulnerable customers reported a measurably better experience. Solicited and unsolicited insights showed that customers felt heard and supported without having to repeat themselves. Repeat contacts on the same issue fell by over a quarter. Colleagues had better information at the time of the conversation, which improved their confidence and the quality of their responses.
Outcome
The bank recorded annual savings of over £500,000 from reduced repeat contacts and more efficient handling. Colleague engagement in frontline teams improved. The Consumer Duty Board Report cited the work as evidence that the bank’s Vulnerable Customer Strategy was now delivering tangible change that vulnerable customers notice and value, creating better outcomes for all customers who interact with the bank.