Vulnerable Persons Policy

Purpose and Scope

This policy details how TLG Group Limited (the Firm) will identify and manage vulnerable persons and ensure a consistency of approach within the firm.

A vulnerable consumer is someone who due to their personal circumstances is especially susceptible to detriment particularly when a firm is not acting with appropriate levels of care. (FCA definition).

This Policy covers all employees.

Definitions

Term	Definition
Employee	Any employee of the firm
The firm	TLG Group Limited
FCA	Financial Conduct Authority
Risk Factors	Characteristics which may mean that customers are more likely to experience vulnerability
TCF	Treating Customers Fairly
Vulnerability	Someone, who due to their personal circumstances is especially susceptible to detriment, particularly when a firm is not acting with due levels of care.

Review of Policy

This policy will be reviewed regularly, at least once a year, and amended as considered necessary by the Firm’s Management Body in the event of changing circumstances or regulations.

Responsibilities

Management Body

The Management Body ensures that all employees are aware of the firm’s policy on identifying and dealing with customers who may be vulnerable, be it on a temporary or a permanent basis. The Management Body provides training and support to assist employees in handling vulnerable customers and monitors those communications to ensure employees comply with the policy.

Employee Responsibilities

Employees will make themselves aware of the Firm’s approach to identifying and dealing with customers who may be vulnerable. Where a customer has been identified as vulnerable, the employee will ensure that they follow the requirements set out in this policy and manage the customer relationship accordingly.

Policy - Vulnerable Persons

Introduction

The firm is committed to treating all customers fairly. This policy has been created to ensure that Vulnerable customers are identified and therefore included in this approach. It is intended that the policy will be followed by its employees, resulting in a consistent level of service across all customers, including those that may be vulnerable.

Policy Definition

It is the policy of the firm to treat all customers, including those who may be vulnerable, as individuals.

Its approach is to equip its employees with awareness of the likely triggers of vulnerability whilst empowering them to use their listening and conversational skills adjusting their actions accordingly to best support the customer.

In the event that the employee is at any point unsure of how to proceed during a customer interaction, they should consult their line manager for assistance.

Managers monitor and assess customer communications to ensure any learnings or improvements required are actioned, creating a culture of continuous improvement supporting its employees to support its customers.

Examples of risk factors for vulnerability

All customers are at risk of becoming vulnerable and this risk is increased by characteristics of vulnerability related to 4 key drivers:

Health

Physical disability
Severe or long-term illness
Hearing or Visual impairment
Mental Health Condition or disability
Addiction
Low Mental Capacity or Cognitive Disability

Life Events

Retirement
Bereavement
Income Shock
Relationship Breakdown
Domestic Abuse (including economic control)
Caring Responsibilities
Other circumstances that affect people’s experience of financial services (e.g., leaving care, migration or seeking asylum, human trafficking or modern slavery, convictions).

Resilience

Inadequate or erratic income
Over indebtedness
Low savings
Low emotional resilience

Capability

Low knowledge or confidence in managing finances
Poor literacy or numeracy skills
Poor English language skills
Poor or non-existent digital skills
Learning difficulties
No or low access to help or support

Impact of change in circumstances and income

A change in personal circumstances can cause a consumer to fall into a vulnerable situation – more so if the consumer already has one or more risk factors.

People are particularly at risk in their interaction with financial services when they experience a change in circumstances that often leads to a financial shock.

This shock could be an unexpected large expense or a loss of income. A drop in income, or income volatility, can cause particular problems due to the ongoing commitment presented by many financial products. A reduction in ability to meet these financial commitments can cause both immediate and longer-term problems.

In some instances, vulnerability and the associated stress can have an effect on people’s emotional state, cognitive ability, and ability to function. This may include feeling stressed and anxious, feeling unable to cope, too upset to talk, finding it difficult to concentrate, think clearly, assimilate information, and make decisions, and finding it difficult to deal with new or unfamiliar tasks.

In these conditions, the impact of a problem or difficult interaction can be magnified, and vulnerability to unscrupulous practices is increased, creating a vicious circle. The individual’s practical ability to seek redress may also be diminished.

Vulnerability Statement

People can all face times of stress and difficulty when their abilities to cope may be compromised.

The FCA’s recent “Financial Lives” research shows that 27.7 million adults in the UK now have characteristics of vulnerability such as poor health, experience of negative life events, low financial resilience or low capability, an increase of 3.7 million compared to pre COVID pandemic figures.

For example, people may experience a change in circumstances such as job loss or bereavement, or onset of a serious illness. In some cases, these difficulties may be short lived, but for many they may be longer term or permanent.

Large numbers of people have longstanding physical or mental conditions that can make interacting with financial firms challenging. Financial services should be designed so that they make the hard times easier – whereas, in reality, some of the barriers people face when interacting with financial services make an already stressful situation worse, and result in further harm for consumers.

Vulnerability has many forms. It can be caused by long-term characteristics such as a disability, or short-term circumstances such as job loss. It can be sudden, such as the diagnosis of serious illness, or gradual, like dementia. It can fluctuate and be episodic, as in the case of some mental illness.

Most of us will experience some sort of vulnerability at some point.

People are particularly at risk in their interaction with financial services when they experience a change in circumstances that leads to a financial shock. Income shock is common and could come in the form of an unexpected large expense as mentioned previously, or a loss of income due for example to job loss, reduction in hours, illness, bereavement, or taking on caring responsibilities.

Vulnerability is not just something to do with the characteristics of the consumer – it can be created or exacerbated by the policies and practices of firms. The way firms design their systems and processes can make a huge difference to the ease with which consumers interact with them. Training staff to listen and understand, equipping them with flexible options and, where appropriate, providing staff with the ability to refer particular problems to specialists within a firm that have the expertise and discretion to address difficult situations can also help.

Rather than designing products and processes for a mythical perfect customer the broad range of experiences of real consumers’ needs to be taken into account.

The impact on the consumer of a firm failing to deal appropriately and flexibly with vulnerability can be severe. From a financial point of view, people may be tipped into a spiral of debt, feel the need to take out high-cost products (such as payday loans) or take on higher risks (e.g., travel without insurance). Some may withdraw from the market altogether, preferring to maintain control by keeping cash at home. An unsatisfactory interaction with financial services can create additional stress, increase isolation, dependency, or exposure to fraud (for example by sharing cards and PINs), and take up valuable time and energy for people who are already in a difficult situation.

Types of vulnerability

Vulnerability can come in a range of guises, and can be temporary, sporadic, or permanent in nature. It is a fluid state that needs a flexible, tailored response from us.

Many people in vulnerable situations would not diagnose themselves as ‘vulnerable’
The clear message is that we can all become vulnerable
To enable us to identify potential vulnerability and prioritise our efforts, the Firm uses a risk factor approach

Summary

Vulnerability involves the interplay between individual circumstances, situations, and market factors
A consumer’s state of mind can have a major impact on behaviour and decisions
A change in circumstances, and multi-layered risk factors, are particular flags for potential vulnerability
The number of people involved is large and rising - prioritisation is vital to achieve a realistic approach

Vulnerability is not just to do with the situation of the consumer. It can be caused or exacerbated by the actions or processes of our firm. The impact of vulnerability is strong, and many people are trying to cope with difficult situations and limited resources, energy and time. Stress can affect state of mind and the ability to manage effectively. In such conditions, being confronted by a complex telephone menu system that gives no option of talking to a person; a ‘computer says no’ response; a call handler without time or inclination to listen, or a system that fails to record what may be distressing circumstances and forces the customer to repeat themselves at every point of contact, can all create a spiral of stress and difficulty, resulting in detriment.

In order to address the needs of vulnerable customers correctly, it is important to be able to identify them. In many cases, more than one risk factor is present which increases the consumer's vulnerability.

The Firm’s sales team need to be alert to the signs that the person they are talking to may not have the capacity, at that moment in time, to make an informed decision about the implications of the agreements that they are being asked to make. This is not a diagnosis of a condition; it is just an extension of staff's existing skill of listening, identifying needs, and adjusting their approach accordingly.

FCA Research (From Occasional Paper 8 Feb 2015)

Financial services, products, and systems often ‘streamline’ consumers and are not designed to meet nonstandard needs of those who don’t fit into a set mould.

The response of frontline staff – whether it’s in a branch or on the phone – is crucial to the customer’s experience. The firm may have great specialist teams or policies, but if frontline staff don’t deal with the situation appropriately, access to a good outcome may be missed.

Staff on the frontline do not need to be experts, but they need sufficient training to facilitate a proper conversation, to know where internal expertise lies, and know how and when to refer on.

Most problems relate to poor interactions, or systems that don’t flex to meet needs, therefore making people’s situations more difficult.

Some consumers are overwhelmed by complex information and can find it hard to distinguish between promotional material and important messages about their products.

In some areas, an inaccurate interpretation or overzealous implementation of rules (such as those around data protection or affordability) is preventing firms from meeting the needs of vulnerable customers.

Many vulnerable consumers may be valuable customers if firms respond to their needs and treat them flexibly. However, these consumers may withdraw from the mainstream market and their problems may spiral if their needs are not met.

A good vulnerability strategy will benefit all customers.

In many ways, products and services that are designed in an inclusive way to respond better to the needs of those in vulnerable circumstances will also work better for the majority of customers, increasing levels of customer satisfaction. So, embedding an inclusive strategy that aims to make services available, usable and accessible to all regardless of personal circumstances, will lead to better performance for everyone in the longer term and, arguably, greater levels of consumer satisfaction across the board.

Part of the FCA’s role is to protect consumers - fair treatment is integral to this.

Consumers in vulnerable circumstances may be less likely than others to be able to represent their own interests, and more likely to suffer severe detriment if something goes wrong. In order to be treated fairly, customers need well-designed, straightforward to understand products that meet their needs over their lifetime, and flexible service that is able to respond to individual circumstances.

Implementing the Policy

To ensure a consistent approach that is embedded across all operations, it is important to have a high-level policy on consumer vulnerability in place and it is important that all relevant staff are aware of the policy.

Ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of a vulnerability strategy plays a significant role. External research demonstrates that it is important for staff on the front line to have sufficient training to facilitate a proper conversation and that they know where internal expertise lies.

Flexibility in the application of terms and conditions of products and services plays a significant role in ensuring the needs of consumers in vulnerable circumstances are met.

An efficient process for referring consumers on to specialist teams who have authority to make flexible decisions is important.

Good policies and practice in handling disclosure or communication needs of consumers and recording of that information effectively play a key role for consumers and are helpful to staff. Actively encouraging disclosure, by staff able to have proper conversations, has been shown to be helpful here.

Clear, simple information and explanation throughout the product life cycle is important to all consumers.

Policies around data protection in particular, but also safeguarding and affordability, need to be implemented based on a correct understanding. If staff are well trained, they are less likely to apply such policies in an overzealous manner which can create problems for customers. For example, proper affordability is vital to the wider protection of consumers, but firms should have systems in place to allow for appropriate discretion.

Choice of ways of communicating

The Firm has a choice of ways of communicating available whenever customers need to make contact with it and these are designed in an inclusive way so that they are flexible, clear, easy to understand and meet customer’s needs.

Treating people as an individual

The Firm recognises that each individual is bound within an individual set of circumstances and our responses are tailored accordingly – it is the Firm’s intention to always listen carefully, let the conversation take its course without judgement and ensure the message from the customer is clearly understood before undertaking any actions.

It is the Firm’s intention to diligently record information properly so that customers do not have to be repetitive if they contact it later and it is able to refresh its understanding prior to making any further contact with them.

The Firm is committed to deal openly and transparently with a vulnerable person’s representative / carer and be as upfront with any help and information it is legally able to provide – the Firm will always seek ways to help and not rely on overzealous interpretation of regulations to exclude.

For example, if someone is recently bereaved, has a power of attorney or a third party mandate, the Firm will ensure they receive consistent advice and treatment.

If appropriate the Firm will refer customers on to someone who has the authority and discretion to take a tailored approach to their situation and offer flexible solutions, including use of specialist sources of help and advice if necessary.

Training and feedback

The Firm’s approach to vulnerability includes extensive training, a specialist customer support team, and signposting to support agencies at every opportunity. Incentives for staff to identify and deal effectively with vulnerable customers by building this into their performance assessment are also key. Performance assessment includes managers listening to a sample of calls and assessing how potentially vulnerable people are handled. If these customers are not passed onto the customer support team appropriately, and if calls are not dealt with in a friendly, empathetic manner, this will impact on staff rewards. Managers can then assess how these calls have been handled, and give feedback where improvements are needed.

As a business the Firm is committed to changing the way it deals with vulnerable customers that may not be effective and, like Treating Customers Fairly, this is a standing item on the board agenda.

The Firm promotes a culture where staff are encouraged to understand and empathise with vulnerability. The Firm recognises that staff who provide the first point of contact with customers may not have much experience of people in vulnerable circumstances. Building knowledge of various vulnerabilities and the number of people involved, encouraging an appreciation of what life can be like for some people in difficult circumstances and encouraging a desire to help, is key to this culture.

All staff who deal directly with customers need to know enough about vulnerability to pick up on warning signs or triggers and signpost/refer on appropriately. It is acknowledged by the Firm that staff cannot be expected to be experts on all types of illness. Rather they need to spot clues that enable them to refer on to more specialist assistance. The Firm provides staff training on what to look out and listen for.

The Firm avoids rigidly scripted responses: Staff have the flexibility to allow a conversation to develop if they sense that a customer may be experiencing difficulty.

Removing the fear, enabling difficult conversations: It is recognised that the Firm’s staff may feel awkward or scared of having conversations around issues such as mental or other forms of illness, stressful situations and dealing with customers who may be distressed. They may not therefore, feel able to encourage customers to disclose vulnerabilities. The Firm aims to remove as much of this fear as possible, via increased understanding, clear guidance on how to respond, role play, listening to sample calls are all ways that this can be achieved.

Record Keeping

All records will be kept for a period of 5 years.

Breaches of Vulnerable Persons Policy

Any breaches of the Vulnerable Persons Policy will be recorded on the Firm’s breach log in conjunction with its Regulatory Breach procedure.

If any employee has a concern that they believe this policy has not been adhered to, they should discuss this with their line manager. If they feel uncomfortable in doing so, they should raise the concern with an alternative manager or follow the firms Whistleblowing Policy.