Money Advice Trust

12.5 million people in the UK have a criminal record – representing almost one in four working age adults. However, while these are not small numbers, navigating essential services like banking, energy, or telecommunications are often a minefield of exclusion for those individuals who serve a prison sentence. Chris Fitch speaks with Debbie Sadler from Unlock about the lived reality of financial exclusion for prisoners and their families, and how essential services can build more flexible systems to help support them.

Across the UK today, over 2 million people are estimated to be borrowing from illegal lenders. But what happens when what starts as a friendly offer of help then spirals into extortion, physical threats, and cuckooing? Michael Hilton from Three Hands Insight speaks with Andrew and Steve about their lived experiences, and how essential services can spot the warning signs of loan sharks and protect people before crisis hits.

We focus on protecting customers from harm, but what about our colleagues? Paul and Andy share with Michael Hilton from Three Hands Insight how gambling addiction gripped their working lives, from hidden tactics during office hours to the spiralling crisis of workplace fraud, and what their colleagues and employers could have been done to help them.

We all know that the ‘poor pay more’. And we’ve all heard of the poverty premium affecting the lowest-income households in the UK. But just why has this premium risen by 75% in the last four years? And, more importantly, can we do anything at all about it? Rebecca Deegan from Fair By Design talks about new research with the University of Bristol’s Personal Finance Research Centre that may well give us the answers (and a sliver of hope too).

Imagine receiving a letter that looks official, important, and urgent, but being unable to read it. For over one million people in England and Wales who do not speak English as their first language, this is potentially an everyday reality, and it's one where household bills and debt repayment notices can go unread and unacted upon. Louise Allemagne from the Credit Services Association joins Chris Fitch to talk about the CSA’s new review of what is known about such customer language barriers, and most importantly, what can be done practically to overcome them.

Of the 70 million people living in the UK today, nearly 11 million are from a minority ethnic background. But to what extent might your heritage determine the cost of your everyday living? Jerry During, co-founder of Money A+E, joins Chris Fitch to explore the ‘ethnicity premium’ - the hidden and higher costs faced by diverse ethnic communities.

Every day, 1500 people in the UK die. But given this is a daily certainty, many organisations and businesses still appear under-prepared for the multiple challenges that death can bring to their customers.  In this episode, Deborah and Jamesey share their experiences of navigating personal grief at the same time as often difficult organisational processes. Michael Hilton from Three Hands Insight hosts.

Is a vulnerability flag just a piece of data in a company system, or a lifeline that could change a customer’s world? As Sarah Liddon from Nationwide explains, behind every vulnerability flag lies a delicate balance of precision and compassion, reflected in Nationwide’s redesigned approach to ensure that every digital marker can lead to an effective and empathetic response.

In our fourth ‘Vulnerability Voices’ instalment, Owen describes how he suddenly became an unpaid carer. He explains to Michael Hilton from Three Hands Insight about the shock of taking on the carer role, how he under-estimated the challenge of looking after someone, and the frustration (and occasional joy) of engaging with essential services.

Tom and Gordon explain how their lives were suddenly turned upside down by unexpected and devastating drops in their incomes. Describing the impact that the resulting debt and exclusion had on every aspect of their personal and family lives, they share with Michael Hilton what was probably the greatest shock of all: the ineffective responses of the very organisations they thought could help them.