Vulnerability Week UK 2024

There are various opportunities for your organisation to participate in the VuThe Collaboration Network is sharing this with their cross-sector Members and wider organisations to give everyone the opportunity to be involved with Vulnerability Week. 

 

Participate in the cost of Living Crisis Survey 2024

In association with YES Energy Solutions, the Collaboration Network is running a survey around the challenges faced from the Cost of Living Crisis

 

The purpose of this survey is to capture what organisations have identified as priority problems that need addressing for UK consumer customers and team members, what they have done, what impact this action has had and what is planned next. The output is to be used to provide a cross sector view of the Cost of Living Crisis and how organisations are supporting their customers and colleagues to provide customer service practitioners with an understanding of how their perspective of the Cost of Living Crisis and actions to combat it compares with the wider market.

 

The output will be in the form of a report that will be published on the Collaboration Network website, on cn-x.co.uk and will be made freely available.

 

To participate please contact mark@collaborationnetwork.co.uk

 

Promote your involvement on Social Media

The Collaboration Network is encouraging all organisations and individuals to use social media to showcase how they are embracing Vulnerability Week. Use #VulnerabilityWeekUK2024 and tag @CollaborationNetwork on LinkedIn in your posts to highlight your activities, showcase your partnerships with support networks and share customer insight stories.

 

Practical Activities to help drive awareness

Share your vulnerable customer insights with colleagues – utilising your internal communication channels, such as blogs, newsletters and intranet pages, share stories of your interactions with vulnerable customers. This could include customer feedback, product testing insights or customer case studies. Highlighting the situation the customer was in and how the business was able to support them showcases the range of support offered.

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Top Tips…

• Think about how to engage all areas of the business, e.g. get your tech team involved by sharing feedback from a partially sighted customer using your app.

• Pick a range of customer vulnerabilities and scenarios to showcase the wide range of support offered.

• Provide an opportunity for colleagues across the business to listen to calls with vulnerable customers to understand the barriers they are facing and how they can be supported.

• Create a safe space for colleagues to feedback on the stories and examples you are sharing – their insights could be invaluable in helping develop the proposition further.

 

Highlight your partnerships with support networks and third party specialists

• Most organisations have a range of organisations who support their customers, such as Citizens Advice, Carers UK, Alzheimer’s UK and many more. This week, pick 5 of these organisations and use your internal communication channels, such as blogs, newsletters and intranet pages, to showcase the support they offer to customers. This is a good opportunity to remind colleagues of the variety of organisations you partner with to support customers and how they can find out more information on who is the most appropriate organisation to signpost a customer to.

• Mix it up - You could do one as a Q&A with frontline colleagues who signpost customers, another as a case study to show how they support your customers, one as an interview with someone from the support organisation, another written as FAQ’s and one as a short list.

• Pick partnerships which colleagues may be less familiar with but are important – perhaps you have a newly formed relationship with an organisation you want to shine a light on, or one which often gets picked up by your Quality Assurance team as a missed signposting opportunity.

 

Encourage colleagues to take volunteering days

• Some organisations give colleagues a couple of days per year to volunteer. Whilst it may not be practical for all colleagues to take their volunteering during Vulnerability Week, use this as an opportunity to remind colleagues that this is available and the benefits of volunteering.          

• Share stories from colleagues who have taken Volunteer Days recently.

• If you have an annual charity partner share information to remind colleagues how they can support them.

 

Live off Universal Credit for a Week

• Trying to understand someone else’s circumstances can be a challenge. By living off the average Universal Credit allowance for a week you will better be able to understand the challenges which people living off benefits and potentially in financial difficulty may be facing.

• If you live with your partner, one or both of you are over 25 and you have no children, you will get on average £617.60 per month for your household. This assumes you are not entitled to other benefits such as childcare costs. On average, this would mean a household of two adults has £296.45 per week to live off. This covers accommodation, bills, food and any social costs. For a week, try covering all of your expenses with just £296.45 and see where you have to cut back. At the end of the week, colleagues who have taken part can share what they had to cut back on through blogs, team huddles and executive meetings.

• Take a packed lunch, drinks and snacks to work instead of eating in the canteen.

• Socialise with your friends and family in the park with food and drink from home instead of going out to a restaurant.

• Give up going to the gym for a week and exercise outside.

• Share a lift with friends and colleagues to split the cost of petrol.

• Try walking to work or taking public transport instead of driving.

 

Reduce your water consumption

• High levels of water consumption can be expensive if you are on a water meter. This week, try to lower your water consumption to save money. This will also have a positive impact on the environment.

• Swap your bath for a shower. According to Ofwat a five-minute shower uses about 40 litres of water. This is about half the volume of a standard bath

• Turn off the tap whilst brushing your teeth

• Only put the dishwasher on when it is full

• Don’t use a sprinkler or hosepipe in the garden – get a watering can instead!

 

Save on your energy bills by reducing consumption

• Energy bills have come down since their peak 18 months ago, but they remain high and often people can struggle to afford them. Energy usage is easy to track with a smart meter so this week try to half you energy consumption. If you don’t have a smart meter, you can still try to reduce your consumption.

• Only use the washing machine once you have a full load and hang your clothes outside to dry instead of using the tumble dryer

• Take shorter showers

• Turn off the lights when you leave a room

• Only fill the kettle with as much water as you need