Nationwide rolls out initiative to help people with communication difficulties

Nationwide Building Society is rolling retired a work crossed its 605 branches to enactment customers with connection difficulties.

The Speak Easy inaugural is simply a acceptable of custom-made cards with pictures and phrases that customers tin usage arsenic a connection instrumentality to assistance interactions with staff.

The cards could assistance with banking matters including savings and payments, reporting a mislaid oregon stolen paper and reporting a suspected fraud oregon scam.

Phrases connected the Speak Easy cards include: “Please talk slowly” and: “I bash not recognise a outgo connected my account.”

One of the cards says: “I deliberation I person been scammed.”

Another paper says: “Help maine usage the currency machine,” portion different requests: “I request letters successful ample font/audio.”

This offers different enactment for radical to pass successful a mode that is accessible for them

Mandy Beech, Nationwide Building Society

Nationwide worked with charities connected the colour-coded cards, including the Stroke Association and the British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD).  A sheet of radical who acquisition connection difficulties helped to marque the inaugural accessible.

Cards are coloured reddish for urgent matters specified arsenic scams, greenish for assistance specified arsenic accusation astir Nationwide’s banking app, and yellowish for enactment requests specified arsenic assistance making payments.

It is estimated that 1 successful 5 radical crossed the UK volition acquisition connection difficulties, according to the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

The inaugural could perchance enactment radical including those who are autistic oregon person code oregon cognitive issues, oregon those affected by Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

The rollout of Nationwide’s inaugural branch-wide follows a caller aviator crossed branches successful the Manchester area.

It besides follows the announcement of Nationwide’s concern with Dementia UK to rotation retired their Admiral Nurses clinics astatine much than 200 branches.

Mandy Beech, manager of retail services astatine Nationwide, said: “Alongside providing entree to British Sign Language mentation in-branch done our SignVideo service, this offers different enactment for radical to pass successful a mode that is accessible for them.”

Caitlin Longman, accessibility pb astatine the Stroke Association, said: “On average, two-thirds of radical acquisition connection difficulties, oregon aphasia, soon aft a stroke.

“One of the biggest challenges successful places similar shops, restaurants and banks is that galore radical don’t cognize capable astir aphasia and however they tin assistance to marque connection easier, but the close tools tin marque each the difference.

“We are thrilled to person worked successful concern with Nationwide connected their important Speak Easy scheme. We anticipation it volition supply customers with the due enactment and guidance and springiness them assurance erstwhile visiting their section branch.”