Press Release: UK Debt Service Attended Vulnerability Week Conference

With a responsibility to support vulnerable people with their finances, UK Debt Service are proud to announce their attendance at the first annual Vulnerability Week, running from 1^st to 5^th July 2024. The Collaboration Network event was set up to increase awareness of how organisations treat people in vulnerable situations and how their products and services might impact individuals. It allows businesses to shine a spotlight on various vulnerable circumstances and how they may affect customers and colleagues to improve outcomes for all customers and raise cross-industry standards.

Dr Neda Mahmoodi, Industrial-Organisational Psychologist & Company Secretary at UKDS, attended the conference as a speaker on July 2^nd 2024 alongside Cat Divers, Founder & CEO of the National Support Network.

At the conference, Dr Neda Mahmoodi shared a case study of how tailored signposting is driving better outcomes for UK Debt Service and its customers. The focus of the business is on providing tailored solutions for unsecured debts, including payday loans, credit cards, CCJs and HMRC debt. She shared some of the challenges their vulnerable customers were experiencing, such as continually changing services, difficulty accessing support, and time-consuming processes.

Working with the NSN to support these vulnerable customers, UK Debt Service explained how they are able to empower and educate employees on overcoming these challenges. As a result of the partnership with the NSN, they implemented the NSN support hub to provide customers with 24/7 access to unlimited free support and tailored tools. 

Following implementation, Neda reported that the business’s employees were more confident, compliance and call quality had increased, and customer satisfaction was boosted.

Dr Neda Mahmoodi said, “75% of UKDS customers have a vulnerability such as a physical disability, mental health or illness, so it’s important that as a financial service, we uphold our responsibility to support these customers and remove any barriers to getting the right support.”

She added, “We believe signposting is the cornerstone of effective customer support strategies. It provides a crucial foundation upon which more advanced support methods, such as warm referrals, can be built.”

At UK Debt Service, we offer free access to our Support Hub where you can be signposted to a variety of support resources such as apps, videos and organisations.