Money Advice Trust

Katie Orme talks to Chris Fitch about Octopus Energy’s decision to employ a team of eight in-house social workers for its customers. Katie shares what a typical day involves as Head of Service for Social Work, the types of customer cases she is helping, and the impact her team of eight are having for Octopus Energy and the customers they serve. https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-orme-764b41282/

Elizabeth Anderson talks to Chris Fitch about what ‘digital poverty’ actually is. Cutting through the most common myths, Elizabeth explains what living in a ‘digital first’ world looks like to the 11 million UK adults who lack the skills to navigate it, or who cannot afford the costs of online life, and what essential services can do for digitally vulnerable consumers. https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-poverty-alliance https://digitalpovertyalliance.org/

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.

Holly Tuke explains to Chris Fitch how understanding the everyday joys of cooking chips, make-up tips, and going to gigs as a blind person, can help essential services tackle the challenges that their blind customers and colleagues face in a majority-sighted world. Holly also schools Chris on visual language, self-descriptions, and why Braille isn’t everything. https://lifeofablindgirl.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollytuke/

Just 11-14% of UK adults in a vulnerable situation have ever disclosed this to an essential service firm, despite the help it might lead to. So why are consumers staying quiet? And how can firms get them to disclose their situation and needs? Alexis Stevens explains what firms can do, and shares her mixed experiences of disclosing her bipolar disorder to get help. www.linkedin.com/in/alexis-stevens-ab6192157/ www.moneyandmentalhealth.org/disclosure

Just how are 999 staff trained to talk, listen, and remain calm as vulnerable callers seek urgent help? In this episode, Mike Modder-Fitch shares his experience of running Police Force Control Rooms and NHS Integrated Care Contact Centres, and explains just what essential service staff can learn from their counter-parts in 999 settings. Mike also explains what his journey from previously running energy and financial service telephone contact centres, to now being Head of Service (IUC) at Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, has taught him about the meaning of ‘vulnerability’. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-modder-fitch-6b318229

In this episode, Swindon Borough Council give away (for free) their AI tool which translates documents into an Easy Read format for people with learning disabilities or literacy difficulties. Chris Fitch picks up his jaw from the floor as Annie Baker explains more about ‘Simply Readable’, and Tom and Lilly describe their expert by experience role in the project. www.youtube.com/watch?v=leQegdK-1M8 source code: github.com/aws-samples/document-translation

Of the 650,00 people who die each year in the UK, many will have been living with a terminal illness. David Williams shares the practical strategies used on the Marie Curie Information Support Line to have more helpful, natural, and practically useful conversations with terminally ill people and their families. https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/

Kicking-off our new Season, Celia Chartres-Aris takes us on a crash-course on ‘ableism’ - a term many disabled people have embraced as reflecting their specific experience of discrimination, but which others have sceptically viewed as another buzzword in an already complex discussion. Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/celia-chartres-aris/?originalSubdomain=uk https://unlearningableism.com/

In this episode, we tackle the Sunflower Lanyard scheme, a global initiative that helps people with hidden disabilities signal their need for support and understanding in public and workplace spaces. Talking with Paul White (Chief Executive), we look behind the green and yellow lanyard to uncover the scheme’s origin story, its lesser-known support offerings, and imminent digital evolution. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-white-61aabb56/ https://hdsunflower.com/uk/

This episode dives into the fascinating world of accessible numbers with Laura Parker, a ‘numbers’ specialist. Laura explains to Chris Fitch what accessible numbers are, how they affect everyone’s life (including her own experience of dyscalculia), and shares five tips for making numbers more accessible for everyone. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauramarieparker/

Kathryn Townsend, the out-going Government Disability and Access Ambassador for Banking, asks the question we’ve all asked ourselves at some point: have I actually made things better here?   In a personal and frank conversation, Kathryn reflects on the extent to which she has reformed the banking sector for disabled customers, the obstacles and conflicts she has encountered in doing this, and how to make progress in a role which has been both celebrated and criticised for its potential to bring about change. You can find out more about Kathryn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynjanetownsend/

What happens when ‘good intentions’ create ‘bad design’? In this 20 minute episode, the internationally renowned writer Liz Jackson talks about how well-meaning attempts to design innovative products and services for disabled people often end in practical failure, and outlines 5 ways to distinguish ‘good’ from ‘bad’ disability designs. You can find out more about Liz and her work at https://linktr.ee/eejackson | @elizejackson | https://www.linkedin.com/in/eejackson/

In the UK, we send around 110 million texts every day. In today’s episode, Victoria Hornby (Chief Executive of Shout, the UK’s only 24/7 text service for anyone struggling to cope) talks with Chris Fitch about text-based conversations and crisis, how Shout works, and what essential services can learn from Shout’s strategies for managing crisis conversations on a digital channel. You can find out more about Shout at www.giveusashout.org. Or if you are struggling to cope and need to talk, you can speak to a trained Shout Volunteer by texting the word ‘Shout’ to 85258.

In this 20 minute episode, we examine what it is like to work on ‘vulnerable consumer’ issues for a living, while personally experiencing vulnerability, harm, and difficulty at the same time. Sharing their thoughts, experiences, and advice with Chris Fitch on “being vulnerable, while working in vulnerability” are Makedah Simpson (UK Regulators’ Network) and Rosie Lyon (Vulnerability Specialist at AIB). Makedah Simpson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/makedahsimpson/ Rosie Lyon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosie-sarah-lyon/

Our latest 20 minute episode focuses on the issue of dependency, addictions, and what essential services can do to support customers with drug, alcohol, gambling, or other related problems. Jamie Compton-Rea explains to Chris Fitch about the steps that services can take, and just what is realistic and effective action in such dependency situations. Find out more about Jamie at his upcoming course on addiction and essential services at www.moneyadvicetrust.org/training and follow the link titled 'addictions'.

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