Accelerating Inclusive Design in Financial Services: Why 2026 Is the Year to Act

Across financial services, utilities, and other essential service providers, the conversation about customer vulnerability and inclusive design has shifted.

It is no longer enough to be only talking about inclusive design. Firms are expected to move faster, embed lived experience and inclusive design consistently, and demonstrate meaningful progress to inclusive customer outcomes.

2026 will be a defining year – and a year where we’ll clearly see the differences in outcomes between firms who act, and lead the way, and those who are falling behind.

The Inclusive Outcomes Design Sprints help firms at all stages of their customer inclusion journey to make meaningful progress to better customer outcomes.

A Faster, Defined Path to Inclusive Design Maturity

Inclusive Design shouldn’t take months of deliberation – we need to be working to deliver better outcomes now. Our Design Sprints are grounded in lived experience and customer immersion, and designed to help teams make tangible progress in days.

Our signature “1-3-5” approach means we offer three sprint formats, each aligned to different stages of the Inclusive Outcomes Propositions Maturity Framework. This Framework was released in July 2025, and based on learnings from dozens of organisations.

Summary of the Inclusive Outcomes 1-3-5 Design Sprint Approaches

Number of days

Who is this for?

Organisations where vulnerability leaders are seeking wider engagement and understanding around customer needs – or as an introduction to a vulnerability strategy
Firms with established vulnerability capability who want to embed inclusive design into everyday ways of working
Firms with established customer vulnerability and inclusion practices who want to lead the market, set new standards, and ensure inclusive design is part of their product DNA

What does it include?

A one day lived experience immersion session, this helps organisations to gain a deep understanding of customer vulnerability looks like in their customer base, and what experiences and challenges leave customers most susceptible to harm.
This three day session builds on the lived experience immersion (on day one) to move into problem definition and prioritisation. We’ll then begin scoping and prioritising solutions, as well as developing inclusive design concepts and principles.
A five day proposition sprint for the most advanced firms, or those who are looking to accelerate progress. Everything from our one and three day sprints, followed by prototype development and testing for rapid feedback to deliver better outcomes.

Position on the Inclusive Outcomes Maturity Framework

From Awareness to Foundations

From Foundations to Embedding

From Embedding to Leading, and into Pioneering

The above is a high level summary of the 1-3-5 approach – for more information on this, or help identifying the best approach for you, get in touch.

Accelerating inclusive design progress in 2026

No matter where you’re starting from as an organisation, we all have a role to play in embedding inclusive design further. The organisations that will make the most progress to deliver good outcomes are the ones that will:

  • Move quickly from lived experience insight to action
  • Embed inclusive design across the whole product lifecycle
  • Be able to track and monitor improvements in customer outcomes
  • Build capability that lasts beyond single initiatives or projects

Our Design Sprints are built to help firms do exactly that.

Ready to accelerate your inclusive design maturity?

Whether you’re just starting out or ready to pioneer new standards, our Inclusive Design Sprints give you the clarity, framework, and momentum to move forward with confidence. And always grounded in the needs of customers in vulnerable circumstances.

If you’d like to explore which sprint is right for your organisation, get in touch now – wed love to hear from you.

Find out about Lauren Peel
Lauren Peel

Lauren is a leader in consumer and financial vulnerability with over a decade of experience in consumer strategy and delivery, from insights and co-design through to experience and propositions.