Clients with support needs

We're right here, helping your clients get the support they need - whatever their circumstances.

Lending criteria
Service update
Packaging requirements

Understanding clients with support needs

A client may be in a vulnerable circumstance due to their personal situation. This means they may need additional support to understand information, make decisions, manage their mortgage or communicate with us. These circumstances can increase the risk of harm - especially if the right level of care and support is not in place.

There are four key drivers that may indicate a client has support needs. Not everyone experiencing these situations will necessarily require extra support, but they may benefit from additional consideration.

Drivers of support needs:

Health	Life events	Resilience	Capability
Physical disability	Retirement	Over-indebtedness	Poor literacy or numeracy skills
Severe or long term illness	Bereavement	Low savings	Poor English language skills
Hearing or visual impairment	Income shock	Low emotional resilience	Poor or non-existent digital skills
Mental health condition or disability	Relationship breakdown	Inadequate (outgoings exceed income) or erratic income	Learning difficulties
Addiction	Domestic abuse (including economic control)		No or low access to help and support
Low mental capacity or cognitive disability	Caring responsibilities		Low knowledge or confidence in managing finances
	Other circumstances that affect people's experiences of financial services e.g. leaving care, migration or seeking asylum, human trafficking or modern slavery, conviction

Identifying when a client may need extra support

Some clients will openly share their circumstances with you, while others may not recognise that they need additional help. The FCA recommends being aware of behaviours or indicators that may suggest a client could be in a vulnerable circumstance.

Behaviours that may indicate support needs:

Payments stopping suddenly
Late or missed payments
Regular unarranged overdrafts and charges
Unusual activity on an account
Signs of financial abuse, such as another person acting on their behalf without authorisation or appearing to control the interaction.

Phrases that may indicate support needs:

"I can’t pay" or "I'm having trouble paying"
"I can’t read my bill"
"I don’t understand the letter you sent me"
"My partner always handled these matters"
"I'm no good with computers/phones/digital stuff - my son/daughter/friend/neighbour/carer usually does this for me"
Clients may also reference breathing space/debt moratorium or mention involvement with a debt advisor.

Other signs to lookout for:

Shortness of breath or signs of agitation
Repeating questions or repeatedly asking for the same information (a sign that the client is not retaining information)
Signs that the client has not understood, or signs of confusion
Mention of medication, illness or disability.

Letting us know about a client's support needs

If you're supporting a client who may need extra help - for example due to communication needs, a temporary life event, or a longer-term circumstance, it's important to let us know as soon as possible so that we can put the right supports in place. You can let us know by getting in touch as soon as possible.

We can offer a range of tailored support options such as:

Changing how and when we contact them
Documents in large print, braille, on coloured paper, screen reader or audio format
Speaking to us through a BSL interpreter or Relay UK
Getting a trusted third party authorised to help manage the mortgage.

Head over to our submitting applications for clients with support needs page for further information.

Once you share the details with us, we'll record this on our system and let you know how we can support your client. In some cases, we may contact the client directly to understand their needs more clearly. We'll only do this after we've offered the mortgage or if they're an existing customer.

We're here to support both you and your clients every step of the way.

Further support

Our existing customer website has a help and support section for life events and you can also find a list of organisations that provide help for you and your clients. You can also view our product information sheets which contain more information.