Context
With energy prices volatile and cost of living pressures growing, a mid-sized energy firm had seen its Priority Services Register (PSR) grow to over 30% of its customer base. Its response to customers in difficulty, however, was almost entirely focused on affordability. Vulnerability insight played little part in how payment plans were set, reviewed or adjusted.
Challenge
The firm’s affordability approach treated debt as a financial problem to be solved with a payment arrangement. It did not pause to consider the broader circumstances driving the difficulty. A customer managing a long-term health condition, a recent bereavement or a mental health crisis might receive the same rigid payment plan as a customer who had simply overlooked a bill.
When those plans failed, the response was often to reset them rather than ask why they failed. Colleagues in the affordability team described wanting to do more but lacking the insight or flexibility to tailor their approach.
What we did
Delehanty Consulting delivered a Vulnerability Review and Vulnerability Strategy that brought the firm’s approaches to vulnerability and affordability together. The review drew on three sources of vulnerability insight: customers managing both vulnerability and debt, the colleagues who served them, and operational data showing where the two processes diverged.
The Vulnerability Strategy introduced a circumstances-led assessment in which a customer’s situation was considered alongside their ability to pay. Payment arrangements were designed to adapt as circumstances changed rather than remain fixed and fail. Vulnerability insight was made visible at the point of affordability decisions, so colleagues could see the bigger picture before setting a plan.
What changed
Customers whose circumstances were understood alongside their affordability were more likely to sustain a payment arrangement. Repeat contacts from vulnerable customers in debt fell by over 20%, and customer satisfaction among this group improved. Colleagues reported that having the bigger picture made their role more effective and less stressful.
Outcome
The supplier estimated annual savings of over £300,000 from reduced repeat contacts, fewer ombudsman cases and lower write-off rates. Colleague satisfaction improved, and absence in the affordability team fell. The work showed that when vulnerability insight is embedded into affordability decisions, debt management becomes more effective, more humane and more commercially sustainable for all customers.