Disclosure is a bit of a loaded word, isn’t it? Disclosing something suggests it was hidden, like sharing something personal with a friend who you really trust. The Oxford dictionary tells me that to disclose is “to reveal (esp. new or secret information)”.

I feel like the word “secret” is carrying a lot of weight. In regulated organisations, disclosure is what we want to see more of. To be able to better support people, we need to understand if and what kind of support they need, right? And yet disclosure rates for vulnerability remain low.

The FCA Financial lives survey 2022 says that 47% of UK adults show 1 or more characteristics of vulnerability. That means around 1 in 2 people will be experiencing a vulnerability characteristic at any one time.

Does that mean that our firm’s disclosure rates should be close to 47% for their customers? Not necessarily…

Firstly, just because someone has a characteristic of vulnerability, it doesn’t necessarily mean it impacts their day to day lives. And that makes it hard to identify without a customer explicitly sharing the information.

We carried out some additional analysis of FCA Financial Lives data. One example we found is about the impact of health conditions. In the chart below, it’s clear that the % of people with a health condition lasting 12 months or more increases with age.

However, within in each age group, the % of people saying that they have a health condition that impacts their ability to manage their day to day finances is fairly static. This tells us two things;

If you’re looking for indicators of vulnerability characteristics, they’re only likely to show up when the person is impacted – and those %s may be a lot lower than 47%.

Aiming for 47% suggests that every person is willing to tell us about their lives openly. It even assumes that 47% of our customers are actively engaging with us at least once a year, which won’t be true for lots of products and services.

In our desire to increase disclosure rates, we might forget that lots of people don’t want to tell us about their additional needs.

Trust plays a big part, as does fear of consequences. Those of us working in vulnerability know that the information people provide will only be used to help and support customers to good outcomes. However, people with disabilities, with neurodiversity, with low capability and many other types of characteristics will have experienced discrimination and exclusion regularly as a result. There is a lifetime of poor experiences to overcome.

There is an important role for essential services providers in building trust, providing clarity on how information will (and won’t be used), and doing this consistently across all communications.

I’m sure we’ve all had times where, looking at the list of characteristics, we could have ticked the box on at least one of them. If our bank, our energy company, our broadband provider, had asked us at the time if we were vulnerable, would we have said yes?

Maybe not if we couldn’t realise it at the time, or if we just don’t see ourselves that way. Maybe not if we don’t want others to see us as vulnerable or needing help.

The best practice I’ve seen is when questions are built into relevant points of the journey. Last month, at the time when many people are turning their heating on for the first time, I logged in to do a meter reading and was asked explicitly if anyone in my house might be vulnerable, and given specific examples of what this means.

If there isn’t a relevant point in the journey, how about at regular points when you’re collecting other information? TNPS surveys are a great chance to look at not just vulnerability, but outcomes for customers who declare themselves vulnerable vs those who don’t.

And, organisations need to be clear on how the information people provide will be used. Which might mean being more clear about the support available, how information is used, and what that means for customers.

If you’re looking at disclosure rates overall, or by product, and would like to know more – or to find out more about the work we do – get in touch at info@inclusiveoutcomes.co.uk