I was recently listening to Andrew Tyrie, former Chair of the Treasury Select Committee and the new chair of the Competition and Markets Authority, when he said: ?Governments should have two priorities - looking after citizens at home and abroad, and protecting those who are vulnerable.? It was refreshing to hear this put across so clearly.

UK Finance's recent ?Vulnerability and Inclusion? conference provided an opportunity to reflect on this point and the progress made by financial services firms in supporting customers in vulnerable circumstances.

It is now over two years? since the publication of the Vulnerability Taskforce's report, Improving outcomes for customers in vulnerable circumstances. The Taskforce was set up to identify best practice, to establish what gaps remained, and where implementation, policy, technology, products and services could be improved.

Nine key principles were outlined that were deliberately not prescriptive. The intention was not to stop firms from competition or innovating. Instead, the focus was on high-level principles and how firms could incorporate these into their processes.

What progress has been made?

I am pleased to say that good progress has been made. It is important to recognise the hard work that many firms have done to embed the principles. The Lending Standard Board's summary report provides a more detailed look at how firms are working to achieving this.

The Financial Conduct Authority has also continued to play an important role in the period since the publication of its Occasional Paper on vulnerability. The regulator's Financial Lives research, which found that 50 per cent of the UK adult population show characteristics of vulnerability, continues to highlight the necessity of this work. By retaining its original definition of vulnerability and announcing new guidance for firms to be published next year, the FCA has shown its commitment to build on the momentum already gained.

There is increasingly a recognition of the important role that charities have to play, with some impressive partnerships in place in areas such as mental health and cancer. We have also seen examples of debt advisers being embedded in collections environments.

Through the Money Advice Trust's work on vulnerability with hundreds of creditors, we have seen first-hand how receptive the industry is to improving support for customers. We have developed and evolved our award-winning training on a wide range of vulnerable circumstances including identifying and supporting customers with addictions as well as mental capacity limitations.

This partnership approach is crucial and is one of the factors that led to the set up of the Vulnerability Academy. Run by the Trust's vulnerability experts Chris Fitch and Colin Trend, the Academy gives participants the opportunity to meet, listen to, question, and work with leading speakers and thinkers across sectors on how to improve support for customers in vulnerable circumstances.

While there has rightly been a focus on vulnerability for personal banking customers, Business Debtline also helps small business owners and self-employed people on a regular basis. Our recent report with the Lending Standards Board highlights some of the work still to be done in this area.

Finally, the emergence of new technology has also provided opportunities, such as how the power of data and machine learning have been used to support people in vulnerable circumstances.

What next?

While important progress has been made, more work is still needed. A few areas include:

• Using the opportunities data and new technology present in early identification and support
• Ensuring we look beyond financial services for best practice
• Also supporting self-employed and small business owners in vulnerable circumstances.
• Ensuring staff skills and knowledge is constantly up-to-date.

The vast majority of staff want to do what's best for customers, particularly those in vulnerable circumstances. Ensuring they have the tools, training, systems and the confidence to identify and assist them is central to this work.

At the Trust, we are looking forward to working with UK Finance to make our new Vulnerability Academy a success - and to seeing the results on the frontline.

To find out more about the Vulnerability Academy, from UK Finance and the Money Advice Trust, click here, or contact us at training@ukfinance.org.uk.