Nikki Bond, Head of Innovation, Money and Mental Health
Launching our new Suicide Prevention Action Lab for financial services
10 September 2026
Please note: this post contains information about suicide that readers may find distressing. If you’re in need of support, you can call Samaritans for free on 116 123 anytime of the day – or you can text SHOUT to 85258. For information about where to find support with your money or mental health, you can find some resources on our get help page.
- On World Suicide Prevention Day 2026, we are launching our new Suicide Prevention Action Lab.
- Each year more than 420,000 people in problem debt in England consider taking their own lives.
- Banks are unique in terms of the insight they have and the frequency with which they encounter people experiencing financial difficulty.
- We’re pleased to announce that five banks – Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds, Monzo and Nationwide – are signed up to our new Action Lab.
- Together, these banks will innovate, learn from one another and from people with lived experience – understanding better how firms can help to prevent financial difficulty escalating into a crisis.
Today, on World Suicide Prevention Day, we’re launching the Suicide Prevention Action Lab. It’s a new 26-month programme bringing together five financial services firms and people with lived experience to explore how the sector can play a greater role in preventing suicide.
Suicide is complex and rarely has a single cause. But we know that financial difficulty and problem debt can be significant contributors to suicidal thoughts and behaviours. People experiencing problem debt are three times more likely to have considered suicide than those who are not – and each year more than 420,000 people in problem debt in England consider taking their own lives.
Long-term factors such as persistent poverty and financial difficulties can contribute to people becoming at risk of suicide. For someone already struggling, a threatening letter, escalating debt or the fear of losing their home can contribute to a crisis.
“When you are suicidal, your whole being is overwhelmed anyway, meaning that any shock bill, demand or payment request can literally tip you over the edge. Additionally, when someone is at this breaking point, motivation, the desire to get up and fight, and the ability to utilise executive function skills is dire, and so feeling like you are failing financially too can further exacerbate a person to move towards becoming a victim of suicide.” Expert by experience
Why financial services have a role to play
Financial services firms may not have a statutory responsibility to prevent suicide, but they are uniquely placed in the frequency with which they encounter people experiencing financial difficulty.
In many cases, a creditor or financial services provider may be one of the only organisations with insight into someone’s financial circumstances. Firms have regular contact with customers, access to information that can indicate escalating financial difficulty, and established processes for providing support and for responding to vulnerability and financial difficulties. This creates a significant opportunity: to identify people earlier, respond differently and connect people to appropriate support before a crisis escalates.
But there is still much to learn about what effective, financial services-led suicide prevention looks like in practice. While some individual firms have already taken action, the evidence base is limited and approaches are often developed in isolation.
Working together to prevent suicides
That’s why we’re pleased to announce that over the next two years, we’ll be working with five financial services firms – namely, Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds, Monzo and Nationwide – bringing the sector together with people with lived experience of suicide and financial difficulty to develop, test and improve new approaches to identifying and supporting customers at risk of suicide.
Our aim is to create a space where firms can experiment, learn from one another and, crucially, from people with lived experience – to understand what effective support looks like and how financial services can intervene earlier, before financial difficulty escalates into a crisis.
We’ll use our tried-and-tested Action Lab model, built around four interconnected pillars:
- An 18-month collaborative Action Learning Set – enabling firms to share challenges, develop ideas and learn collectively.
- New research with our Research Community – of 5,000 people with lived experience of mental health problems, generating research insights into what people need and what effective support looks like.
- Coaching support – helping firms translate new research insights and learning into practical organisational change.
- Internal firm work – giving participating firms the space to conceptualise, design and pilot new or improved approaches.
The ambition of the Suicide Prevention Action Lab is bigger than the five firms taking part. By working collaboratively and sharing our findings, we want to support the wider financial services sector to move faster towards approaches that genuinely make a difference.
At the end of the programme in summer 2028, we’ll share what we have learned – including what worked, what didn’t, and a suite of tried and tested steps financial services firms can take to better support customers experiencing suicidal thoughts and feelings and financial difficulties.
If you require support or are experiencing financial or mental health difficulties, you can find sources of support on our ‘get help’ page here.
If you have lived experience of mental health problems or suicidal thoughts or feelings, either personally or caring for someone who does, and would like to contribute to our work, please join our Research Community here.