Our latest 20 minute episode focuses on the more than 5 million unpaid UK carers who are supporting someone with a physical, mental health, or old-age related problem. Trevor Salomon explains to Chris Fitch about the reality and impact of being an unpaid carer to his wife Yvonne (diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s in 2013), and how essential services can better identify and support carers. Find out more about Trevor and Yvonne at https://uk01.z.antigena.com/l/LVTCyv5xA3zInZmZsWhCgC54AfGguVgMXnQEEEky96GQy4tBR1NRt~rcSQbiRj~y2qoVYYK7wjhgM7yTgCFfmTaV8jq0pP2S-vnfnSHcM2QwRm5ZPRyJd~nfDvl03HNQLWFVXyv3B7pp5DG3PmuxqcXFN-3dvXZc5BXJkwimS4pBwoeWL7KshOU6N6vifhNQggoJxzx5fit6aULebGH0CaSOaYvac-QdkjUrG6DsZ3wR-71cdCOnArg~MJzs-0fKM8KXDq~erS0j00D7UX9Nj3qMLc , and access the Alzheimer’s Society guides for essential services at: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-involved/dementia-friendly-resources/organisations/resources

In the UK, half a million older people report going 5-6 days a week without seeing or speaking to anyone, while a younger cohort aged 16-29 are now reporting loneliness twice as much as those over 70. So in this episode, Chris Fitch spoke to Amy Perrin from the only charity in the UK dedicated to tackling loneliness: the Marmalade Trust (named after Paddington Bear’s friendly qualities). Chris asked Amy about the extent of loneliness across the UK, what types of support essential services can realistically give to people who are lonely, and just how we can start a conversation about loneliness from scratch. Amy Perrin: www.linkedin.com/in/amy-perrin-marmaladetrust | Marmalade Trust: www.marmaladetrust.org/stats | Loneliness Awareness Week (10-16th June): www.lonelinessawarenessweek.org

In this episode, we focus on the 1-in-5 UK consumers living with some form of facial or bodily scarring, mark, or condition that makes them look or feel significantly different. Known as ‘visible difference’, our host Chris Fitch talks to Sudha Vijay from the charity Changing Faces about her experiences as a consumer with visible difference, while Jane Rodrick and Michaela Baker explain the approach that Lloyds Banking Group staff are taking in branches and face-to-face contact with customers like Sudha.

Around 12 million UK adults - 1-in-every-5 of our customers - are living with hearing loss which makes following speech and conversations difficult. Inclusion specialist Tim Scannell – profoundly deaf and a BSL user – joins Chris Fitch to discuss improvements to essential service design and operation, and what can be done to avoid customers with hearing loss feeling overlooked, forgotten, or treated as an ‘after-thought’ by our services. More on Tim’s work is at www.timscannell.co.uk and www.linkedin.com/in/tim-scannell. You can also watch this podcast with BSL interpretation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OB_NeZLOFU&feature=youtu.be

Everyone is talking about the importance of ‘lived experience’ and ‘experts by experience’, but what exactly do these phrases mean?  Just how do we practically involve people with this experience in our work? And what difference does it all make anyway? Answering these questions is researcher, writer, and lived experience expert Dan Holloway (from Oxford University spin-out Rogue Interrobang), and asking them is our host Chris Fitch.

Like vulnerability, trust matters. Behavioural scientist, Charlie Nixon from Cowry Consulting talks to Chris Fitch about how trust determines what products we buy, which organisations we agree to let deliver our essential services, and just what we tell these firms about ourselves. And, most importantly, how vulnerable consumers decide who is trustworthy and who is not? Charlie can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/cnbnixon/ and Cowry at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cowry-consulting/ In the podcast, Charlie also talks about the following resources: David Maisters “The Trusted Advisor”( https://bit.ly/3Su34oi), Ken Rotenburg “The Psychology of Trust” (https://amzn.to/3SJvUCp) and Paul Zak on the Harvard Business Review on “the Neuroscience of Trust” (https://uk01.z.antigena.com/l/Hi2Fxuahf8j2KNJlXvG7XYgAjY64Ur-2jHfcSIIxbXFu-f9g3x-SvaphvaZON5SXt9SIobgrdRKAov8SFKNg88l4Q9qrUpkUQV~uQvZl5~-tZ~vqRKqWJLZxGOj1Cz0dwQul3mRej2tkJ27JqIa-KHrvFMy7fmLuIIf-rdRAZexnnuh0PmxkMsIm0a7xwzGNfWwyUYlIga8VbsIbwBRhpYib325hU81nI-3~pCnbf~ZURYXE_rq5hDDWJEmvmLPV5dlooekJ5zuigy7JR2u9 ).

This episode focuses on stammering (also known as stuttering). Talking with Lyndsay Edgington from the national stammering charity STAMMA, our host Chris Fitch listens as Lyndsay explains how staff in banks, energy, and retail organisations can better understand and meet the needs of the 1 in 100 customers who will stammer. You can find out more about STAMMA at https://stamma.org/, including their guide for contact centre staff https://stamma.org/about-stammering/stammering-customer-contact, while Lyndsay is at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndsay-edgington-672090198/

In this episode on empathy, Chris Fitch asks Mathieu Lajante: just what is empathy? Is it possible to train people to become more empathetic? And are empathy training courses a worthwhile investment in terms of time, money, and results for our organisations and staff? Mathieu is Associate Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, Director of its Consumer Neuroscience Laboratory, and lead author of a new review of the scientific literature on the effectiveness of empathy training. More at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathieu-lajante-ph-d-b5b3461b2/?originalSubdomain=ca and mathieu.lajante@torontomu.ca, while Mathieu’s paper is at: https://uk01.z.antigena.com/l/Bk274bwsgooqOwaAQymiEvetfqZ4yYl0wu2ZtR061K7P42Vw9fKOul1EC~E15OcpYSuUGhJJrh-rWbeA3NEPQKTnCyGIdaJ~Q0YMeOyg8B_~ekrapyJ-_xDAsXK2Jx82yIx3X2SFp0FLzmXassrsSZF3OOk7a-o4wLojWWI9gMwDssPMVvaKyYc0qaNlnQCRQqio

For this fascinating ‘end of 2023’ episode, Lee Walls talks to Chris Fitch about the science, experience, and lessons for life and vulnerability, of being a fire-walker. Lee explains how walking over 350 degree red hot coals can help understand and reframe situations of personal and customer vulnerability, and how her own lived experience of alcohol addiction led to her stepping into, and onto, fire-pits across the world. Lee and Firewalk Scotland can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lee-walls and https://www.firewalkscotland.co.uk/

Katie Mackay and Jack Hatcher – from the Nationwide Building Society – talk to Chris Fitch about their ‘Speak Easy’ initiative to support non-speaking and non-verbal customers. Katie explains how her experiences of being non-speaking in certain situations informed its development, while Jack shares findings and communication lessons from the ‘Speak Easy’ pilot in Nationwide branches. You can find both on LinkedIn, and access the finalised ‘Speak Easy’ card system at: speakeasy@nationwide.co.uk | https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-mackay-a2a90512a/ | https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-hatcher/

Joshua Aspden – a specialist in financial inclusion among refugee and asylum seeker populations joins Chris Fitch to talk about his work in helping helped thousands of people to make sense with not just a new country and culture, but with an entirely different system of financial and essential services. Josh talks about his own experience of being new to the UK, his work with asylum seekers and refugees, and the difficulties and vulnerabilities that people can experience with money. Josh can be found at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-aspden-0730423b/

Best-selling author Tim Farmer joins Chris Fitch to chat about mental capacity, decision-making, and his latest book “Grandpa on a Skateboard. The practicalities of assessing mental capacity and unwise decisions”. Clinical Director at Comentis, Tim takes Chris on a tour of the practical action needed to identify and support customers with decision-making limitations (both online and off-line), as well as explaining the definitions and law that can surround and cloud this topic. More on Tim and the work of Comentis (the cognitive assessment specialists) can be found at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timfarmertsf/

Steve Donovan from Ovo Energy talks with Chris Fitch about a tool that everyone working with customers will use every single day, but which most of us probably don’t give enough attention, care, or love to: our voice. Steve walks Chris through the Ovo training team’s ‘tone of voice’ model (covering pitch, pace, volume, energy, and articulation), talks about using this with vulnerable customers, and shares his top tips on how to protect and look after our voices. Steve is Vulnerability Lead at Ovo Energy and can be found at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-donovan-865a40131/

Rose walks our host Dr Chris Fitch through the science, experience, and impact of ‘being cold’. Explaining how the cold affects us in physical, mental, financial, and social terms, Rose outlines the actions that staff can take to help customers likely to experience detriment from colder temperatures and fuel poverty. Inclusive designer and researcher for a fair, low carbon energy future, you can find out more about Rose and Energy Systems Catapult at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-chard-35526625/

Elizabeth discusses her own experience of chronic pain, how it affects millions of customers in the UK on a daily basis, and how organisations can work to support customers living with it. Advocate, policy specialist, and writer, you can find out more about Elizabeth at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethblakelock/

Phil shares new research data on what essential service firms are saying their biggest themes, fears, and challenges are for consumer vulnerability in 2023/2024. Senior Training Consultant at the Money Advice Trust, Phil can be found at: https://www.moneyadvicetrust.org.uk/vulnerability

Sarah talks about working more effectively with trans customers, life as a transwoman, and how she is bringing about change herself. Co-founder of Simply Equality and Joint Head of Equality and Diversity at Oxford University, Sarah can be found at: https://www.simplyequality.com/

Back in February, The Financial Conduct Authority published its finalised vulnerability guidance. As firms continue their work to translate these expectations into practical action, it is made clear by the FCA that firms need to be able to evidence that their outcomes for vulnerable customers are as good as those of other customers. So, just what is an 'outcome' and how do we decide which outcomes we need to monitor? Why do they matter so much when it comes to vulnerability? and most importantly, how do firms go about doing all of this? Joining Vulnerability Lead Consultant Chris Fitch to answer these questions and more are: Peter Tutton - StepChange, Head of Policy Jane Rodrick - Lloyds, Head of Customer Vulnerability Ian Phillips - Vulnerability Academy, Co-Facilitator. Find out more about the Vulnerability Academy in partnership with UK Finance here: https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/events-training/vulnerability-academy-improving-outcomes-customers-vulnerable-circumstances

‘Expert by experience’ is increasingly recognised as an approach to help ensure markets are inclusive, especially for customers in vulnerable circumstances. Charities and people with a lived experience of vulnerability want to increasingly shape the thinking and practice of organisations. Most regulators (including the FCA) recognise this and expect firms to consider such an approach. However, just how do organisations practically do this when there are 28 million vulnerable customers (all with different needs) and just 24 hours in a day to make this all work? Our latest podcast recorded as part of MALG's Virtual Connect, brings together five experts to explain just what an ‘expert by experience’ is, how organisations go about selecting which experts and charities to work with and what difference this engagement can make to the way in which organisations operate. Joining our Vulnerability Lead Consultant, Chris Fitch are: Multi award-winning disability campaigner and Euan’s Guide Ambassador, Jon Attenborough. Head of Customer Vulnerability, Strategy, Insight and Engagement at Lloyds Banking Group, and Vulnerability Academy graduate Jane Rodrick. Chair of the Money Advice Hub, St Georges House Leadership Fellow, and service design innovator, Sam Nurse. Managing Director at Three Hands, an organisation that brings people with lived experience of vulnerability with organisations who want to understand and connect with the lived experience perspective, Jan Levy. Head of Corporate Engagement at Fair By Design (funded by the Barrow Cadbury Trust), Carl Packman. www.moneyadvicetrust.org

To mark the release of the finalised FCA vulnerability guidance, the Money Advice Trust held a special webinar to discuss what the guidance means for firms and how you and your organisation can change the regulator’s expectations into reality for your customers. Joining Vulnerability Lead Consultant, Chris Fitch for a very special discussion on the content of the FCA guidance are: - Sarah McKenzie - FCA, Head of Consumer Strategy and Policy - Mike Songer - Lloyds, Director Group Customer Vulnerability - Fiona Turner - UK Finance, Head of Vulnerability - Tim Hawley - Capital One, Head of Customer Vulnerability - Ian Phillips - Vulnerability Academy, Co-Facilitator Listen for insight, practical discussion, and the opportunity to hear directly from the FCA what your firm should do in response to vulnerability. You can also download our new free whitepaper to help your firm meet the FCA expectations and achieve positive outcomes for your vulnerable customers here: https://mailchi.mp/fd7a2c10e676/meeting-expectations-and-achieving-outcomes