In a recent webinar on effective vulnerability training – hosted in conjunction with leading Vulnerable Customer SMEs, Money Advice Trust – we polled 297 senior financial services professionals to assess their sentiment and confidence in their approaches to delivering effective end-to-end vulnerable customer training programmes.
The results? Nearly a quarter (22%) stated they struggled to design engaging and inspiring training content, 18% were unclear on what makes training ‘good’ and 16% find it hard to measure effectiveness. Over the last three years, we’ve listened to firms sharing these same challenges – struggling to create engaging training content, define success and empower their teams to confidently support vulnerable customers.
Without stronger guidance, frameworks and clear metrics, training programmes risk being inconsistent, underpowered and quickly forgotten. This not only leaves vulnerable customers exposed but also places additional pressure on frontline teams trying to do the right thing for their customers.
That’s why Elephants Don’t Forget has teamed up with the Money Advice Trust to launch an exclusive question set, designed to help your team feel supported, confident and ready to apply vulnerability knowledge in every customer interaction.
The need for a more frequent, continuous learning approach
With more customers than ever before identifying as having some form of vulnerability, simply having a training programme isn’t enough. The traditional approaches, like static e-learning modules or annual refresher courses, are often too passive and the information is easily forgotten. Plus, there’s little emphasis on post-training – for example, how is effectiveness being measured?
This sentiment is echoed by Dr Chris Fitch, Vulnerability Lead Consultant at Money Advice Trust, who believes many firms don’t quite know where to begin when it comes to providing vulnerability support.
“I think people still feel overwhelmed by vulnerability,” he said in one of our recent webinars. “We have to build that golden thread of vulnerability into everything we do. And that’s not just by doing ‘one-off’ training programs; it’s huddles, it’s insight packs, it’s making sure your people understand everything in detail.
“That needs to happen again and again so it’s embedding this into the culture.”
Watch Dr Fitch go into more depth about this in Customer Vulnerability: Actions and priorities from the FCA’s latest review here.
Further research from the FCA has found that half of the firms surveyed by the regulator as part of their customers in vulnerable circumstances review did not tailor training to different roles. And while many took steps to improve support for vulnerable customers, there was little evidence of consistent follow-up, suggesting frontline staff may not always feel prepared or supported to navigate real-life customer situations.
The message is clear: the annual, reactive or sometimes even one-off training programmes aren’t enough. Firms need role-specific, continuously reinforced learning experiences that engage employees and help turn knowledge into in-role competence and confidence.
The solution: A partnership of expertise and tailored intelligence
To address this, we’ve joined forces with the Money Advice Trust, the UK’s leading charity dedicated to helping prevent financial difficulty and problem debt, to develop a solution that goes beyond one-off courses.
Our new, best-in-class question set features 35 questions, written in collaboration with the vulnerability experts at the Trust and based on their Supporting Customers in Vulnerable Circumstances course.
This ensures that the training is grounded in authentic, hands-on experience, providing your staff with the most relevant and credible information available.
How the Clever Nelly Vulnerable Customer Question Set works
We built this question set, the Clever Nelly Vulnerable Customer Question Set, to take the weight off your shoulders. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to training programmes, but you can now be confident that your teams have the tools and materials in place to support customers.
The question set is uniquely designed to test and reinforce knowledge across five key categories:
- Understanding the drivers of vulnerability.
- Identifying a vulnerable customer, from visible to subtle signs during a customer interaction.
- Recognising the risks and harms a customer might be susceptible to.
- Knowing how to talk to a vulnerable customer so staff can handle sensitive conversations empathetically and confidently.
- Recording needs and directing customers to the appropriate support, whether that’s internal or external.
Built on the science of spaced learning and repetition, our solution delivers a few questions each day, requiring no more than a minute of the recipient’s time. This continuous micro-learning approach reinforces key knowledge over time, ensuring employees not only learn the information but actively retain it and can apply it to real-life situations.
The benefits of the Clever Nelly VC Question Set
- Ensures fair treatment and good outcomes: Directly supports the obligation of Financial Services firms to treat vulnerable customers fairly and ensure they receive good outcomes.
- Improves employee knowledge and competence: Improves employees’ ability to recognise and appropriately respond to the needs of vulnerable customers.
- Embeds and sustains knowledge: Reinforces knowledge over time, addressing the challenge of keeping training effective long after the initial investment.
- Builds confidence and preparedness: Employees remain confident, competent, and prepared when it matters most, thanks to the expertly created VC questions.
- Closes knowledge gaps: Identifies and eliminates gaps in employee knowledge related to vulnerable customers.
- Supports training assessments & evidence of effectiveness: Provides best-in-class questions that can be used for both training initiatives and formal assessments.
Next step: Empower your team and protect your customers
When people are vulnerable, they’re at greater risk of experiencing harm from organisations. Effective training isn’t just about compliance; it’s about helping customers feel heard and supported, building trust and ensuring your teams are confident and competent in every interaction.
The key is to ensure that your staff are equipped with the knowledge and confidence to accurately identify vulnerable customers and offer the right level of support. As Dr Chris Fitch told us in Customer Vulnerability: Actions and priorities from the FCA’s latest review, persistence and creating the right culture matter because even after a decade of focus, many firms are still asking the same questions about vulnerability.
“That’s why the FCA keep repeating their guidance – they want us to act,” he said. “The culture has to run deeper, with purpose, leadership, people, and governance all aligned to support vulnerable customers.”
With the Clever Nelly VC Question Set, you can maximise knowledge retention and ensure employees can apply what they’ve learnt to real-life situations.
Ready to close the confidence gap? Reach out to us to learn more about the Clever Nelly Vulnerable Customer Question Set.