Defining Vulnerability
I’ve recently finished a wonderful project with Nile - an Edinburgh based consultancy who use a human-centred approach in digital transformation projects within the financial sector. We were tasked to better understand the needs of vulnerable customers for a financial services provider - in order to improve their support offer going forward.
Here are some reflections from myself and the wonderful Katherine Snow, as researchers on this project thinking about…
Vulnerability vs Challenging Circumstances.
According to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), ‘a vulnerable customer is someone who, due to their personal circumstances, is especially susceptible to harm.’ The risk of vulnerability is seen to be increased by the following 4 drivers: health (a physical or mental health change), life events (like bereavement or job loss), resilience (something that affects a person long term, like reduced savings) and capability (something that affects a person day to day, like reduced time).
We did a lot of work unpacking this and expanding on characteristics associated with these 4 drivers and how they present in different people. One element was to include things like ‘systemic discrimination’ - looking at how having limited educational opportunities, challenges with housing and food or experiencing discrimination through life, for example, may affect how people interact with finances and financial services. This is something that isn't always given enough attention in the conversations about the idea of vulnerability and how vulnerability happens, or how it can become persistent.
We spoke in depth with 32 customers who would technically be defined as 'vulnerable' - many of who however wouldn’t describe themselves as vulnerable. All of the customers talked about challenging circumstances they’d experienced, related to their finances, such as: struggling to understand and manage finances, outgoings exceeding income, struggling to cope with stressful situations, dealing with ongoing hospital treatment or going through bereavement to name just a few.
We will all experience challenging circumstances throughout life. And at times, ‘challenging circumstances’ can be a more helpful term than ‘vulnerability’.
Going through challenging circumstances may mean we need additional support from financial providers; either in the immediate / short-term, or longer-term, depending on the situation. This is support to help us readjust, build routine, gain visibility or structure payments in new ways.
We found the term ‘challenging circumstances’ really speaks to the principles of inclusive design and that services may not need to design journeys or interventions as add-ons for vulnerable customers, but build support and inclusion for everyone into existing journeys or products. It also really highlights the need for flexibility within products and services - this might be tailored support or simply choices to opt in/out.
Through our work it was clear that there are different levels of challenging circumstances that may require different levels of support and we were keen not to minimise people’s situations by removing the word vulnerability altogether - some people expressed the need to be explicit, especially if customers do identify as vulnerable.
This blog post is a mix of thoughts and highlights from conversations we had throughout the project. It’s not about drawing firm conclusions, but if we were to sum up some reflections on the language we use to describe people, here they are:
Challenging circumstances are something everyone experiences, which is why it’s important to design services that are inclusive and work well for all
Language matters – but so does clarity - language needs to be used sensitively, but also clear enough so people can recognise when support is available and feel comfortable accessing it
Vulnerability isn’t a fixed identity - it’s often temporary or based on a person’s situation at a particular time, and circumstances can change over time
Read more about the great work and team at Nile @ nilehq.com