Key actions
- Develop a trauma-informed training programme and ensure that all frontline employees complete this.
- Develop and review your existing digital inclusion strategy to ensure that data poverty is addressed, along with support for digital inclusion and the promotion of digital literacy skills.
- Ensure that appropriate and accessible financial literacy guidance is provided for survivors alongside all financial products and services.
- Consider how to support survivors to be “work ready,” by expanding access to existing initiatives and resources and partnering with relevant survivor support organisations.
- Ensure survivors are not barred from wider banking products due to their “survivor status” and actively support survivors to access these products, when appropriate.
Important guidance for collaborating with survivor support organisations
- Identifying key referral partners and spending time strengthening these relationships will help to improve survivor financial inclusion. Actively seek new partners and signpost them to the FAST Survivor Inclusion Initiative to increase referral rates.
- Assigning referral partners to an appointed senior level “Survivor Banking Champion” with a designated email address for survivor enquiries can ensure that survivors and survivor support organisations have a clear point of contact with the bank.
- Making sure to not exclude support organisations that support survivors who have not entered the NRM in the U.K. or who do not identify as survivors but may be vulnerable.
Important guidance for employee training and protecting vulnerable customers
- Create an impactful programme by involving survivor leaders to inform, review and present your modern slavery and trauma-informed training programmes. This will also help raise awareness amongst employees of the challenges faced by survivors.
- Identify which employees will be working with survivors and who should undertake trauma-informed training, such as dedicated “survivor banking champions” or specialist support teams. All employees should be aware of trauma-informed training and be encouraged to learn more.
- Consider how intersectionality impacts your customers and how you can adapt your policies to support customers and survivors of all different gender, races, classes, sexual orientations and physical abilities.
Important guidance for internet banking
- Consider how to support survivors’ access to internet banking and resources. This could include expanding and improving in-branch Wi-Fi and access to tablets or computers across all retail banks, as well as providing drop-in sessions and virtual classes that develop digital literacy skills.
- Explore opportunities to collaborate with digital poverty initiatives such as the National Databank, Digital Poverty Alliance (U.K.) and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (U.S.).
- Consider which employees can assist survivors with online banking and advance their financial capabilities. Explore the option of nominating digital champions.
Important guidance for financial literacy education
- Recognise the importance of providing access to in-person financial literacy sessions as well as signposting appropriate online learning resources. Aim to ensure all online resources are concise, easy to digest and offer multiple options for translations.
- Increase accessibility by helping survivors with their financial mindset. Show survivors that they are supported by providing incentives to participate in financial literacy training and signposting all available resources. This could also include matching survivors to a support specialist who can support them and provide 1-on-1 financial literacy guidance.
Important guidance for employability support
- Consider how you can boost survivors’ employability skills. This could include providing coaching and skills-based employability sessions, which give guidance on practical skills such as CV writing or signposting survivors to relevant online resources and lessons.
- Explore the development of a work experience or apprenticeship programme for survivors. Review the existing initiatives and consider how a trauma-informed pathway for survivors could be offered.
Important guidance for access to wider banking products
- Work to promote access to survivor-orientated grants schemes, small business loans, support for survivor-led businesses and survivor mentoring programmes for survivors who understand the risks and have a stable income.
- Understand the potential business and survivor wellbeing risks associated with further banking products and implement relevant safeguards to help manage these risks.
Helpful links and resources
Where to next?
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TRIBE Survivor Financial Empowerment Hub
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