Project Nemo, the not-for-profit initiative driving to improve disability inclusion in the fintech and financial services industries, has revealed that adults with a learning disability are being let down by banks, which are failing to meet their needs, in a new report.
Despite efforts to crack down on financial exclusion and make banking more accessible to a wider population, Project Nemo spotlights new research, sponsored by Nationwide Building Society, which finds that 61 per cent of people with learning disabilities say banks don’t always do enough to meet their needs.
As a result, around 32 per cent don’t even have a bank account in their own name, due to the challenges surrounding creating and operating one.
On Thursday 19 June, Project Nemo launched ‘Safe Spending for Adults with a Learning Disability: A Call to Action for Financial Services‘, revealing the findings of the most comprehensive research to date into the barriers faced by adults with a learning disability and those who support them when managing money.
Kris Foster, co-founder of Project Nemo, who has a learning disability himself, comments: “Too often, people speak for us, about us or in front of us, and it’s never our voice. This project, including this research report, for the first time, has centred adults with learning disabilities and seeks to understand what we want and need from financial services.
“Now, it’s up to banks to take action. I want to see them break down the existing barriers and ensure that others don’t have to fight the same battles for financial independence that I did.”
It comes as the UK quickly moves away from cash, with cash transactions falling from 60 per cent of payments by volume in 2008 to just 12 per cent in 2023, according to UK Finance. Because of this, much of the learning disability community has been forced into a digital payments system that has not been designed with their needs in mind.
Increasing challenges when support reduces
The challenges of managing bank accounts for everyday spending have resulted in 87 per cent of adults with a learning disability and their supporters turning to informal workarounds, often without disclosed statutory authority such as Lasting Power of Attorney or Deputyship.
Project Nemo warns that these workarounds, such as family members pretending to be the user while on the phone to the bank, or sharing bank card PIN numbers, introduce unnecessary risks. Whilst there are some dedicated fintech-supported payments solutions, these don’t appear to be particularly well-known.
The report shines a light on the fact that many of the recent advances in payments have actually made it significantly more difficult to make, receive, and manage payments for the 1.5 million people in the UK living with a learning disability and their supporters. Digital payments are a particular concern, as cash offers a physical sense of value and control that digital methods struggle to replicate.
The increase in self-service terminals, decrease in physical bank branches and growth of shopping online have all reduced human interaction, which this community can be more reliant upon to help with understanding and completing purchases. Meanwhile, increasingly sophisticated fraud tactics, including exploiting identified vulnerabilities, also make managing everyday money riskier for this underserved group.
Making improvements
The research explored a range of potential money management features to aid safer spending for adults with a learning disability, and identified that:
- To aid independent user understanding, any features should use clear and simple language, supported by visual explanations where possible.
- The ability to customise to suit individual needs is critical to the success of any products built for this community.
- Notifications or settings that give supporters oversight of spending and the opportunity to intercept risky purchases provide reassurance for both supporters and users and have the potential to enable greater independence.
- Accessible and specialist customer support must be available to boost confidence and support longer-term independence goals.
- Priority features for products built for this community include saving pots, the option to turn on a Calm Mode that reduces overwhelm, and wearable alternatives to payment cards.
“This report shows how trends in payments, which many of us think of as improvements, are compounding challenges for an already vulnerable community,” explained Joanne Dewar, co-founder and project lead of Project Nemo. “This comprehensive research gives voice to the learning disability community whose needs are often overlooked even within the context on disability inclusion or financial inclusion.
“I hope that UK banks use these new insights to re-evaluate the solutions that they offer to this vulnerable community, which would benefit many other consumer groups too. With the current focus on the National Payments Vision and Financial Inclusion Strategy, I hope this report ensures the needs of this community are better understood and prioritised.”
A call for change
Project Nemo has joined forces with Kathryn Townsend, Government Disability and Access Ambassador (banking sector) and Nationwide head of customer vulnerability and accessibility, to launch four separate workstreams to improve the financial inclusion of adults with a learning disability.
The new report is a key deliverable of the Research & Insights workstream, delivered in partnership with organisations including Mencap, the learning disability charity and Dosh, the financial inclusion organisation. Members of this working group are primarily those working in the financial services industry who are parents of young adults with learning disabilities, so are highly attuned to their needs and the gaps in service provision.
Townsend adds: “Everyone deserves to manage their money with confidence, dignity and independence but for the 1.5 million people in the UK living with a learning disability, that basic right is often denied. At Nationwide, we are continuously looking at ways we can improve support for those with vulnerabilities. However, there is so much more we can all do, and I am calling on my peers in the banking industry to not just remove the potential pitfalls and potholes for those with a learning disability, but to consider the opportunity to build services with these users in mind.”
Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Mencap, also commented: “People with a learning disability tell us that they can struggle to make payments safely because of complex banking systems, inaccessible payment options and a lack of easy-read information. Because of these barriers, many worry about being more vulnerable to financial abuse and not being able to spend their money in the way they want to. Project Nemo’s work is a hugely important step towards ensuring the 1.5 million people with a learning disability across the UK can make their financial choices safely and independently.”
