10 qualities of a future money service
As part of the cash discovery, the team came up with a set of qualities that the future money service needs to do at the British Red Cross in response to our findings. Read about our discovery findings — Learning from people who struggle with money.
When delivering a service where money is a part of the offer, it’s important to remember that money isn’t an end in itself. It needs to be offered as part of a tailored package along with other types of support:
- Practical support [e.g. giving blankets or a baby carrier]
- Emotional support [e.g. being a good listener to help them maintain their mental and emotional wellbeing
- Casework
- Referring them to other organisations where they’ll get better or longer term support.
Otherwise, there’s a risk of ‘throwing money at the problem’ and not fixing the root causes of why people struggle with money in the first place.
Here are the qualities that the service needs to do in the future, where money is a part of the offer of supporting people.
The service needs to:
- Give money as long as someone needs it
- Give money the moment people need it
- Provide different options for getting money
- Just work, no instructions needed
- Be accessible to anyone
- Let people speak to someone when they need to
- Trust people to spend money however they need
- Prove who people are in dignified ways
- Be clear who it gives money to and why
- Measure impact on lives, while respecting privacy
1. Give money as long as someone needs it
Life is messy. Each journey someone has, is unique and different. Tailor the fixed term support based on people’s situation and actively refer them to other organisations for longer term support.
2. Give money the moment people need it
Time is precious, and people don’t have time to wait. The more they have to wait, the more it will add a toll to their mental wellbeing and situation. Respect people’s time and give them money as soon as they need it. It’s simple and possible with today’s technology.
3. Provide different options for getting money
One size doesn’t fit all. People need choice over how to get their money in a way that works for them. Give people options to choose from — bank transfer, cash or cash card. It’ll empower them to make informed choices of how to get their money and spend it.
4. Just work, no instructions needed
Services should work with no instructions. The way people get and use their money should be intuitive for them. They don’t need to learn how to use the money service.
5. Be accessible to anyone
When we give money, make sure that we’re inclusive to people who use our services and have a range of access needs — people who don’t speak English, are time poor or may not have a computer.
6. Let people speak to someone when they need to
When something goes wrong, people need to speak to someone to help them navigate out of their issues they face with using the service. Give people a way to get in contact for help if something goes wrong.
7. Trust people to spend money however they need
When we give money, give it without judgement and trust that they’ll make the right choices that works for them. We’re not here to save them, we’re here to empower them to help themselves. Empowerment comes with letting go of control and trusting service users.
8. Prove who people are in dignified ways
People access British red cross services when they need support or are in a vulnerable situation. With thoughtful design and technology, we can reduce fraud without compromising usability and dignity.
9. Be clear who it gives money to and why
We can’t support everyone. Meaning its key that we are clear on who we support with money and why we’re doing it. This would reduce the uncertainty among staff and volunteers over who to support when we have limited amounts of money to give. This starts with answering policy questions like; are we giving money to improve people’s lives or are we trying to stop their situation getting worse?
10. Measure impact on lives, while respecting privacy
When we give money, there is a need to understand how it’s helping people and whether it leads to a positive outcome. Only collect data where necessary and let's challenge our reasons for collecting data. Data is political. Privacy is a right, not a luxury. Data should only be collected if it’s going to used to materially improve the future money service, its policies and the lives of its users.
How to use these qualities
These qualities can be seen as guiding principles to help the team make the right decisions when delivering a service and giving money is a part of helping people get what they need.
It can also be used as a set of design challenges where each quality is a design brief where you prototype ideas, test and iterate as you continuously learn and deliver a future money service.
