Everyone is talking about AI. Unsurprisingly, across every business and every sector people are keen to harness the power of emerging technology to improve efficiency and meet their challenges at scale. Customer communications are no exception to that.

I did my Plain Numbers training over a year ago now. As a Copywriter for a credit card company, participating in the training seemed a no-brainer. Working for a business in the financial industry, part of my job as the Copywriter was ensuring our communications were clear and easy to understand.

Plain Numbers is proud to announce its latest partnership with Legal & General, a partnership aimed at enhancing the clarity and accessibility of financial communications, with a primary focus on pension-related information.

David Lever, Senior Customer Experience Manager at RSA, is passionate about the RSA’s commitment to enhance their customer experience by prioritising clarity in communication and helping to improve customer understanding.

As we step into 2024, it’s a perfect moment to look back on the year. We’ve had a fantastic 2023 forming new partnerships, participating in exciting events, engaging with diverse audiences, and spreading awareness about the significance of our work.

The Lord Mayor, Nicholas Lyons, has led a group calling for a raft of new measures to tackle financial illiteracy in the United Kingdom.

Our Chief Executive, Mike Ellicock, enthusiastically joined forces with the Financial Literacy and Inclusion Steering Group, led by the Lord Mayor of the City of London. The Group have announced a six-point plan to address low levels of financial literacy and numeracy across the country.

Plain Numbers works with leading brands to improve customer understanding by changing the way they present numbers in their customer communications.

The statistics around numeracy are stark. In Ireland, 1 in 4 adults score below level 1 for numeracy . In the UK, almost half of working age adults have the numeracy levels of a primary school child, that’s around 20 million people. Northern Ireland is the second worst performing area of the UK for numeracy skills.

NewDay has achieved Plain Numbers Certification on key customer communications – a first for a credit card provider. Certified documents are those that reach the highest level of clarity in terms of the way numbers are presented.

How the new Consumer Duty regulation is only the first step in our drive to enable people to better understand the choices they face in life.

This week has seen the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)’s Consumer Duty regulation come into force. It has been billed as the biggest shake up in Financial Regulation for decades.

Bupa has achieved Plain Numbers Certification on key critical communications, a first for a health insurer. Certification means the document has been assessed by Plain Numbers and has reached a high standard of clarity in the way numbers are communicated.

Consumer Duty – what do the changes mean?

As we are all aware, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are bringing in the new Consumer Duty, which has the potential to fundamentally improve how firms serve consumers. In its simplest form it will raise the standards for how financial services firms care for their customers. This goes further than the existing Principle 7 and includes asking for improvements in consumer understanding of communications.

Anne Marie: We started our three-year partnership with Plain Numbers in 2022 and I was part of the first cohort of Bupa colleagues to become an accredited Plain Numbers Practitioner.

As an experienced communicator, I’m pretty confident that I can write a customer communication that’s clear, fair and not misleading. So, I was slightly sceptical about what the training would offer.

May marks the one-year anniversary of the Standard Life and Plain Numbers Partnership.

Standard Life, part of the Phoenix Group, were one of the leading firms in the sector to join Plain Numbers as a Partner. This Partnership reflects an ongoing commitment on Standard Life’s part to improve their communications for their customers.

Browne Jacobson has become the first ever legal firm to partner with Plain Numbers – in a move that shows their commitment to leading the way in understandable policy documents.

The leading UK law firm has an experienced team of lawyers who advise on and draft policy wordings and associated documents in all categories of insurance business.

At Plain Numbers we are pleased that the Prime Minister has put a focus on numeracy. It is the consumer vulnerability which impacts the largest number of adults in the UK and one that has been largely missed. We welcome initiatives that support people with their number confidence. While education is a part of this, more needs to be done to help adults who struggle with numbers outside the education system.

Vanquis Banking Group are the latest financial services organisation to join Plain Numbers as an Implementation Partner. Together, over the next three years, we will work on improving consumer outcomes with clear and understandable financial communications.

Joining other Advisory Partners such as The Bank of England and HM Treasury and the Building Societies Association, the ABI became part of the Plain Numbers community in February 2022. ABI-member firms that have joined Plain Numbers so far include Admiral, Aviva, Bupa, Direct Line Group, Fidelity International, Royal London, RSA, and Standard Life (part of Phoenix Group).

UK’s biggest building society joins Plain Numbers on a three-year Implementation Partnership

Nationwide Building Society has become an Implementation Partner with Plain Numbers in order to enhance member communications and communicate numerical information in a clearer and more effective way.

Fidelity International has become the latest financial services provider to join Plain Numbers as an Implementation Partner. Fidelity International will use the skills and knowledge gained during the Partnership to build the confidence of their workplace pension scheme clients and members as they engage with the products and investments.

Plain Numbers is delighted to welcome Manchester Credit Union among its ever-growing portfolio of Partners. MCU is the first credit union to work with us and is pioneering in the sector, leading the way on supporting customers who struggle with numbers.