Collaborating with survivor support organisations

To build strong referral partnerships and increase survivor referral rates, we have outlined three key steps that financial institutions and survivor support organisations can take.

Financial institutions can benefit if they identify and train specific members of staff to become “Survivor Banking Champions.” These staff can provide a personal point of contact for survivors and survivor support organisations.

Suggestions for a “Survivor Banking Champion” could include:

• Undertake trauma-informed training.
• Be a senior member of branch staff, to create a more successful and impactful survivor support programme.
• Have access to a dedicated survivor inclusion email address to ensure survivor support organisations and survivors can easily access support.

FAST provides template resources and referral processes to streamline and simplify survivor account opening for banks and survivor support organisations. This enables financial institutions to verify a survivor’s identity and satisfy traditional Know Your Customer (KYC) standards, helping to overcome the challenges faced by survivors who may have no official identity documents. They also provide training resources, basic financial literacy tools and periodic opportunities for peer learning.

Another step is to actively seek new referral partners and signpost potential partners to the FAST Survivor Inclusion Initiative. This is especially important in the U.S., where there are a large number of small survivor support organisations that support smaller numbers of survivors. Without actively reaching out to partner with new survivor support organisations, banks may find that they do not receive enough referrals to create sustainable, long-term impact. This is also apparent in the U.K.

Onboarded survivor support organisations can provide the confidence that necessary due diligence has been conducted to overcome challenges regarding survivor identity documentation.

It is important to note that in the U.K., not all survivors will have been identified under the National Referral Mechanism and many will receive support outside the Modern Slavery Victim Care and Coordination Contract. Reviewing policies that may exclude survivors outside the National Referral Mechanism or who may not self-identify as a survivor may be necessary.

When starting a survivor financial empowerment programme or looking to grow existing programmes, it will be necessary to reach out to local survivor support organisations to develop new partnerships and increase survivor referrals. Below are some of the key directories financial institutions can use to find survivor support organisations to partner with.

In collaboration with the U.K. Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and ATLEU, the Human Trafficking Foundation has created a map of survivor support services available in the U.K.

In the U.S., the National Human Trafficking Hotline has created the Referral Directory detailing over 650 survivor support organisations offering support for survivors, ranging from emergency help to long-term services.

The Polaris Global Modern Slavery Directory is an interactive database of 2,160 organisations and agencies which address the issue of modern slavery and human trafficking.

Tip: Select “Case Management” as a filter to exclude organisations not working directly with survivors.

Increasing awareness of existing services and ensuring that new programmes are being clearly signposted helps to improve access to financial services for survivors.

Support workers at survivor support organisations play a key role in disseminating information. However, they have limited capacity to navigate available services if they are not clearly advertised.

By working closely with survivor support organisations and creating a streamlined process of referrals and onboarding, financial institutions can help to relieve pressure on support workers and increase referrals.

• Create clear information packs and accessible resources on the products available to survivors, including clear guidance on accepted documentation.
• Offer in-person and virtual talks for survivors and frontline staff to explain the services available and the account opening process.
• Ensure that all customer-facing staff have undertaken trauma-informed training to provide a safe space for survivors.
• Provide financial literacy support alongside all financial products accessible to survivors.

1. Identifying key partners for survivor referrals and investing time in strengthening these partnerships through clear communications and support will help to improve survivor onboarding and collaboration.
2. Appointing a senior-level “Survivor Banking Champion” with a designated email address for survivor enquiries will allow survivors and survivor support organisations to have a clear point of contact with the bank.
3. As appropriate, it is important for financial institutions to actively seek new survivor support organisations to partner with and signpost potential referral partners to the FAST Survivor Inclusion Initiative.
4. Consider exploring partnerships that support survivors who have not entered the NRM (in the U.K.) or who do not identify as survivors but may be vulnerable.