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Supporting Vulnerable Customers

What is a vulnerable customer?

A customer is defined as being vulnerable if due to their personal circumstances they are more likely to suffer detriment in comparison to a typical customer for a wide variety reasons such as:

  • Physical or learning disability
  • Age
  • Physical or mental illness
  • Changes in circumstances, such as a bereavement
  • Communication difficulties

A vulnerability may be a permanent or it could be temporary because of changes in personal circumstances. This policy is also available in a accessible formats but by contacting a member of the Origin Team.

How does Origin support the needs of its vulnerable customers?

At Origin we are committed to protecting the interests of our vulnerable customers and, where required , putting measures and adjustments in place to support our customers. We have a range of support tools in place such as providing your communications in accessible formats. We will also work with you if you are in financial difficulty and struggling to pay your monthly bills.

As vulnerability does not impact everyone in the same way, we train our customer facing teams to treat all our customers as individuals, so that we can always consider needs on a case-by-case basis.

Account Management

The easiest way to ensure that you do not miss a payment is to ensure that you pay your bills with us via direct debit, that way you will not need to worry about missing a bill or losing access to your services. If your payment is late, we will send you reminders and will offer you another chance to pay us.

It is important that you let us know if you are having trouble paying your bill so that we can help you. It is always better to get in touch as soon as possible so that you do not fall further in debt and potentially incur additional charges. Our team are here to help you get back on track and keep up with your payments.

If your debt is left unpaid and you do not let us know of your personal circumstances, then we will pass your account on to a debt recovery agency. The agency that we use will always work with you to agree a fair and affordable repayment plan.

How to make us aware of your circumstances

You can get in touch with our customer support teams 7 days per week. Our team will ask you for your permission to keep a record of any information that you share with us so that we can ensure that we can provide you with any additional support that you need.

Family and Friends Account Management

To make your contact with Origin as easy as possible, we want to ensure that support is in place to help during long hospital stays, or where you have accessibility needs. You can give permission for a third party to help manage your account and ensure payments are kept up to date. They will also be able to raise faults and complaints on your behalf.

The person that you nominate to contact us on your behalf will need to know your account details, including a password that will be placed on your account.

There may be times when we need set up and operate a Power of Attorney, we will explain what this is and the process where it is needed with particular customers.

Below are the details of advisory organisations that can provide independent support to you:

National Debtline

Online: www.nationaldebtline.co.uk Phone: 0808 0808 4000

Citizens Advice

Online: www.citizensadvice.org.uk
Phone (England): 03444 111 444
Phone (Wales): 03444 77 20 20

Citizens Advice Scotland

Online: www.cas.org.uk
Phone (Scotland): 03454 040 506

Money Advice Service

Online: www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk
Phone: 0800 138 7777

Can’t find what you’re looking for?

While we’ve tried to cover the most important stuff, if you’d like to suggest a topic we’ll be happy to add it to the help and support page. In the meantime, our live chat team are always ready to help!