MorganAsh Urges Financial Firms to Better Support Unpaid Carers Under Consumer Duty

Quick Summary

MorganAsh is calling on financial services firms to prioritize vulnerable customer support for unpaid carers. By leveraging the Consumer Duty framework, firms can identify caring responsibilities - a top-five vulnerability factor - to ensure fair value and better financial outcomes for millions of individuals facing emotional and financial strain.

How Does Consumer Duty Protect Unpaid Carers?

The Consumer Duty regulations mandate that financial firms must proactively identify and monitor vulnerable customer support needs. For unpaid carers, this means banks and insurers must recognize that caring responsibilities often lead to reduced financial resilience and significant emotional strain. To meet these regulatory obligations, firms should:

• Implement robust data systems to track vulnerability characteristics.
• Ensure fair value outcomes for customers with complex life events.
• Collaborate across the distribution chain to share relevant vulnerability data.

What Role Does the MARS Platform Play in Compliance?

The MorganAsh Resilience System (MARS) provides a consistent method for identifying vulnerable characteristics across financial services and utilities. By generating an objective Resilience Rating, the platform allows firms to move beyond visible disabilities and capture life events like caring duties. Key metrics from MorganAsh data include:

• Caring responsibilities rank in the top five vulnerabilities recorded.
• The system provides a credit-score style rating for vulnerability.
• Supports compliance with FCA and ICO joint data-sharing statements.

Why Must Financial Firms Join the Carer-Friendly Movement?

While the Building Carer Friendly Communities blueprint is a vital step, it lacks specific financial services obligations. MorganAsh argues that financial resilience is the foundation of carer support. Firms must deliver flexible and accessible services that reflect the daily realities of carers, ensuring they do not have to repeatedly explain circumstances to different providers. This proactive approach mitigates the risk of carers remaining invisible and unsupported within the UK economy.

FF NEWS TAKE:

This announcement moves the needle by highlighting a massive blind spot in vulnerable customer support. While many firms focus on age or disability, MorganAsh correctly identifies that caring responsibilities are a primary driver of financial fragility. Under Consumer Duty, the "invisible" nature of carers is no longer a valid excuse for poor outcomes. Firms that fail to integrate these insights into their CX and data strategies risk significant regulatory friction.