What this is about
Every piece of work we do is designed to leave you more capable than when we started. We build your methods, tools, processes, templates, and ownership structures so that your teams can run this themselves.
But there are moments when an external perspective helps. A regulation shifts and you need to understand the implications. You are launching a new product and want to sense-check it against vulnerable customer risk. You are running your own Inclusive Design sprint and want a second opinion on the findings. Or you simply want someone who will challenge your thinking rather than agree with it.
Advisory Support is retained access to that challenge and guidance, without the overhead of commissioning a full project every time.
Who this is for
- Firms that have completed a programme of work with us and want continued access for specific questions, reviews, or challenges.
- Firms building internal vulnerable customer capability who need a sounding board as they develop their approach.
- Vulnerability leads and CX leaders who want external expertise they can call on without a procurement process every time.
How it works
Flexible by design. We agree a retained arrangement that works for your needs, reviewed quarterly. This might include ad-hoc guidance on specific questions, review of key documents or strategies, participation in steering groups or governance forums, or support on specific Inclusive Design sprints when volume, urgency, or complexity requires it.
There is no fixed format. Some clients use advisory support weekly. Others call on us once a quarter. The arrangement reflects what you actually need.
Typical arrangement: Ongoing retained relationship, reviewed quarterly. Scope and shape agreed based on your needs.
What you get: Access to ongoing guidance, challenge, and oversight. Someone who knows your organisation, your customers, and your history well enough to add value without a briefing document every time.
In practice
After a twelve-month programme covering review, ambition, Inclusive Design sprints, strategy, and embedding, an insurance group moved to advisory support. The firm’s vulnerability lead retained quarterly strategy reviews and ad-hoc access for specific questions.
In the first year, advisory support was used regularly: reviewing a new product launch for vulnerability implications, sense-checking proposed changes to the complaints journey, and providing input to the firm’s annual Consumer Duty and vulnerable customer board reporting.
By year two, the firm was running its own Inclusive Design sprints independently, using the methods and templates embedded during the programme. Advisory support shifted to an annual strategy review and occasional input when regulation changed or something unexpected surfaced.
Three years on, the relationship continues. The firm is self-sufficient in its day-to-day vulnerability work. We join when they want a second opinion, when the landscape shifts, or when they want someone in the room who will tell them what they might not want to hear.
The value of advisory support is continuity. We already know your organisation, your customers, and your journey. That means every conversation starts where the last one left off.
Your questions answered
Some of the practical points organisations often ask us about.
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Most of our engagements fall between £20,000 and £80,000, depending on scope, duration and the number of services involved. A Vulnerability Review sits at the lower end, while a full Inclusive Design sprint with Vulnerability Strategy sits at the higher end. We scope every engagement individually, so the investment reflects what you need. Let’s talk about where you are, and we can give you a clear picture of what’s involved.
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From one month for a focused Vulnerability Review to six months or longer for engagements that include an Inclusive Design sprint and Operational Embedding. Most engagements run for two to four months. The timeline depends on the scope of the work, the number of customer journeys involved, and how quickly your teams can engage with the process.
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No. A Vulnerability Review is designed to meet you where you are, whether you have an established vulnerability framework or are starting from scratch. What helps is access to the right people: someone who can open doors to vulnerable customers, frontline colleagues, and the data across your systems. We will guide you on what we need.
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Yes. Every service is designed to deliver standalone value. Many clients start with a Vulnerability Review to understand where they are, then decide what comes next based on what the review surfaces. The pathway is the ambition, not a requirement.
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Training builds awareness. Our work builds capability and changes outcomes. An Inclusive Design sprint works directly with your vulnerable customers, the colleagues who serve them and others who enable the journey, such as product designers or digital teams, to redesign how your services actually work. The result is not a training module but embedded changes to journeys, processes and ways of working that deliver measurably better outcomes for vulnerable customers.