A few weeks ago, I was browsing the pages of Money Marketing (as you do) and noticed a story.
Aberdeen Adviser, working in partnership with The Loss Foundation, a UK national charity supporting adults who have lost loved ones to cancer, have developed training for staff to provide compassionate and knowledgeable assistance to bereaved customers.
A very worthy initiative, and one I wholeheartedly applaud.
At the start of 2024, my family lost my mother. We were fortunate enough to have some time in the final weeks to start to get finances in order. But there were still multiple institutions to deal with, and with a couple of exceptions, most made an already bewildering and painful time even worse.
It was the first time any institution had made me feel like I was actually human
Starting with the positives. Mum had a small pension with TPT Retirement Solutions. I called them and as soon as I mentioned the words bereavement you could tell their training kicked in.
They told me they would take notes and email me straight after the call to confirm our conversation and actions. They said if things got too much, I could end the call at any time. And they made me feel like they genuinely cared.
The interaction only took a couple of minutes, and they did everything they said they would at the first time of asking. Whoever this person was, you made me cry but in a good way. It was the first time any institution had made me feel like I was actually human.
Other pension providers took around eight weeks and several requests to stop giving us money. One bank couldn’t deal with an account closure in branch, despite me being there with all the relevant paperwork. I had to call their centralised team, which put more delay into the process.
We were made to feel like the death of a relative was something unusual and awkward to deal with
Another bank, meanwhile, lost a copy of the probate certificate (pro tip – get multiple copies of these and death certificates) and ended up paying over £500 to us in compensation. Rest assured, my family will never trust these institutions again.
Beyond the admin incompetence, the common factor among these institutions was the impersonal and insensitive nature of their “support”. We were made to feel like the death of a relative was something unusual and awkward to deal with, as opposed to something that every single one of us will experience.
Elsewhere during 2024, the FCA were conducting their own review of how banks and building societies treat customers through the bereavement process. Their review highlighted some of the poor practices I experienced, as well as several examples of good practices. As their review states, “no firm can afford to be complacent in this area”.
When I speak with financial advisers and planners, I’m often told “it is never about the money”. My experiences over the last 18 months or so highlight just how right they are.
My experiences of the last 18 months show just how important it is to humanise the process wherever possible
Just 9% of the population are fortunate enough to have the support of a financial adviser, and our research shows just how much this support is valued. The challenge is to improve outcomes for the 91%.
The FCA’s work to evolve the Advice/Guidance Boundary will help firms develop new services and propositions via targeted support and simplified advice. The former is designed to deal with specific and relatively simple needs, so I wouldn’t expect bereavement support to be handled this way.
However, my experiences of the last 18 months show just how important it is to humanise the process wherever possible. This is especially important for digital services, where there is a risk of focusing on speed and ease of use at the expense of being able to identify customers in vulnerable circumstances and those who might need additional support.
These regulatory initiatives should be a positive, but only if combined with specialist and thoughtful support and training such as that being adopted by Aberdeen. This is very much an area where there should be a focus on continuous improvement, as sadly everyone of us will have to experience what I did last year.
Mike Barrett is consulting director at the lang cat
