Supporting customers in vulnerable circumstances
At FSCS we are committed to continually improving the service we provide for our customers. We want to make it as easy as possible for everyone to make a claim.
Part of this is making sure we can offer the most appropriate help to any customers with additional needs or vulnerabilities.
At the start of a claim application, we'll ask whether you have any vulnerabilities or additional support needs. We also understand that personal circumstances can change at any time, so please update us if you find you need additional support.
Reasonable adjustments and preferences
Let us know if you need any reasonable adjustments or have specific preferences during your claims journey. You can update these at any stage of your claim by speaking to your claims handler or our contact centre.
Reasonable adjustments or preferences could include:
- Larger print communications;
- Alternative contact methods;
- Interpreter support.
There may also be other circumstances where you need extra support. Please do let us know.
Vulnerabilities
If you are going through financial difficulties, a health condition, bereavement, or any other circumstances that may make it harder for you to manage your claim, please tell us so we can discuss how best to support you.
What else is FSCS doing to help?
We’re continuing to evolve our service in other ways to support our vulnerable customers:
- We now have customer care champions who have had extensive training to deal with every customer’s individual situation. We partnered with the Money Advice Trust to deliver this training.
- Our customer care champions meet regularly to share hints and tips and spread this knowledge as widely as possible. This network of champions means we’re more joined-up and consistent and better able to help those who need us.
- All our front-line staff now use an interactive toolkit that shares the key training and lessons learned.
- We now have a customer care dashboard that helps tell the story behind the data, and the types of vulnerability we see, so we are better able to make adjustments and serve our customers more personally.
- We work with an accessibility needs provider to enhance our offering to meet different accessibility care needs, e.g., providing alternative formats like braille and large print.
Looking forward
We will continue to enhance our approach by listening to our customers and ensuring they can tell us about any care or communication needs at the earliest opportunity, so we can further tailor the service we provide.
We’re here to help you every step of the way when you claim with us. We want everyone to feel they can claim with us directly so they can keep all the compensation they’re entitled to. Some customers use a representative, such as a Claims Management Company or a Solicitor, to claim on their behalf, but a representative will take a cut of any compensation you receive. It’s no quicker to use a representative as they must follow the same process as you would to make a claim.
If you do feel you want someone to handle your claim for you, another option is to use a trusted friend or relative as your representative. You can find out all you need to know on our personal representative page.
