Supporting vulnerable customers: building confidence in frontline teams with vulnerable customer e-learning

It’s reasonable to assume that if staff know the rules, they’ll apply them. But in practice, handling vulnerabilities is more complicated than a written process or a list of definitions can convey.

Policy and strategy form the foundation of a firm’s approach to supporting customers with characteristics of vulnerability, but it falls on frontline staff to spot signs of vulnerability and handle disclosures in a way that supports, not discourages. Confidence is key here. Without this, even well-intentioned staff can hesitate, or worse, miss crucial opportunities to support the customer. In fact, poor staff training and failures in identifying and supporting vulnerable customers are both cited in FCA publications as examples of poor practice.

The FCA’s guidance and the Consumer Duty sets out a wide range of expectations around how firms should support vulnerable customers. These include:

• Understanding the drivers of vulnerability and the risk of harm

• Training all relevant staff to recognise signs of vulnerability

• Enabling appropriate disclosure and support

• Tailoring communication and support to the customer’s situation and needs

• Communicating clearly and with empathy

• Handling personal and sensitive data in line with legal requirements

• Monitoring outcomes

• Using monitoring data proactively to improve customer outcomes.

  
  

Training hasn’t been a simple compliance task for many years now. Defining compliance requirements, listing the rules and ticking the ‘training delivered’ box; following the introduction of the Consumer Duty, supporting vulnerable customers doesn’t work like that.

Staff need training that builds confidence in their own abilities to:

• Spot when something’s not right, even when a customer doesn’t use the word “vulnerable”

• Know how to support a disclosure without pushing or probing

• Ask questions in a way that feels human and respectful

• Offering support options clearly, and without overwhelming the customer

• Being sure of how to record and escalate cases appropriately.

Our Fair Treatment of Vulnerable Customers e-learning course is designed to build this confidence, giving staff the tools, language and context they need to respond well, even in challenging situations. Our training helps your staff to understand:

• The FCA’s definition of vulnerability, the main drivers of vulnerability, and how more than one vulnerability impacts the customer

• How vulnerability can change over time, via real examples

• How to recognise the signs, through common and less common indicators of vulnerability, featuring videos and interactive exercises to help staff tune in to subtle clues

• How to use frameworks like BRUCE, IDEA and TEXAS for managing conversations

• Shows examples of supportive questioning and active listening

• Highlights the importance of tone, empathy and offering tailored options

• The basics of GDPR and special category data

• The importance of plain language and alternative formats

• How to support customers in understanding their options.

Our training isn’t just about passing an exam. What matters most is that the person on the other end of the phone, email or live chat knows how to help vulnerable customers.