Just COO wins Vulnerability Leader of the Year
21 September 2023
Just is delighted to announce that Natalie Tate, Chief Operating Officer, has been awarded Vulnerability Leader of the Year at the 2023 Women in Credit Awards, hosted by Credit Strategy.
This is following her innovative work with Steve Coppard, Group Director of Debt Policy & Strategy, to better identify and advocate for vulnerable customers in the collections and recoveries industry. Natalie played an integral part in the implementation of a range of initiatives and tools into the processes used at Just and its enforcement agents.
- New industry standards through toolkit guidelines - The Doorstep Vulnerability Toolkit and Just Breathe are revolutionary to the enforcement industry, setting out explicit standards around how face-to-face interactions between enforcement agents and customers should be conducted.
- Helping victims of domestic violence – Employing the ‘Ask for ANI’ codeword that enables victims to discreetly ask agents for immediate assistance. This has been added to Just’s Notices of Enforcement and implemented alongside industry-leading training and signposting to domestic violence charities.
- Enhanced signposting that reflects vulnerability in 2023 – Just has introduced enhanced signposting, the most comprehensive across the entire industry for debt advice, whilst also including the many underlying issues that can be linked to problem debt (e.g., domestic violence, economic abuse, mental health, bereavement, and illegal money lending).
Natalie commented, “I’m delighted with the win for the whole Just team last night. The work we do at Just is really important; for our clients, our suppliers and the end consumer. Some vulnerabilities are so much more prevalent to enforcement agents, they see and hear things that you would never know about via a phone call or web chat.
Domestic violence, coercive control, economic abuse and severe mental health are all things that agents encounter in the course of their work, in more vivid colour than perhaps anyone else working in the debt space
Giving enforcement agents the tools to help make the right decisions provides genuine lifelines to people in terrible circumstances, and allows them to engage with wider networks of professional support; these are all things that I believe can become hygiene factors in this industry. . “
The Women in Credit Awards champion the work of incredible women and those who empower them across the entire credit and financial services industry. They support and uncover achievements among inspirational women and allies in the industry. View the full list of winners.