IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nationwide becomes the first building society to achieve ‘Advanced’ mental health accessibility rating
10 April 2025
- The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute has awarded Nationwide an advanced rating through its Mental Health Accessible programme for essential services firms.
- Nationwide is the first building society to gain this rating – which is the second of three levels firms can achieve through the programme.
- This follows a comprehensive review by the charity assessing the accessibility of their services for customers with mental health problems.
- The award recognises the tangible steps Nationwide has taken to support its customers with mental health problems, and the progress it has made after working with Money and Mental Health to make their services more accessible.
Nationwide has become the first building society to receive the ‘Advanced’ rating of the Mental Health Accessible accreditation from the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute. This is the second of three, progressively more demanding levels of accreditation an organisation can achieve through the scheme (the first is ‘Essentials’ and the third is ‘Leading the Way’).
The ‘Advanced’ rating is based on a comprehensive assessment by Money and Mental Health of how accessible Nationwide’s services, communications and products are for people with mental health problems. This included in-depth interviews with Nationwide’s staff team, and incorporated feedback from Money and Mental Health’s Research Community of ‘experts by experience’ on how Nationwide’s services could be improved (1).
As a result, Nationwide has taken steps to make its services easier to use and more supportive for customers experiencing mental health problems, including:
- Delivering training and resources for colleagues, focusing on lived experience insight, to highlight circumstances or challenges customers with mental health problems may face and how Nationwide can support them. This included new tools to assist colleagues supporting customers in vulnerable or high-risk circumstances.
- Designing and embedding a simplified process for identifying, recording and supporting customers across a range of circumstances and support needs.
- Going beyond signposting – Nationwide’s specialist support team can also refer customers to Mental Health UK, who will provide 1-2-1 support from a specialist who understands mental health. This support is provided on an ongoing basis for as long as it is needed.
Money and Mental Health’s Mental Health Accessible programme works with essential services firms, like banks, energy and water providers, to help them understand the difficulties customers with mental health problems can face using their services, and how they can improve support.
The programme was established after Money and Mental Health’s research found that customers with mental health problems face serious difficulties when engaging with essential services (2).
For example, more than half of people with mental health problems face serious difficulties using the phone to carry out essential admin, and four in ten have severe ‘admin anxiety’ – which can make it extremely challenging to manage their accounts and to communicate with firms when something goes wrong.
Money and Mental Health wants to work with other building societies, banks and essential services firms, to help them understand the challenges their customers with mental health problems face and take steps to improve the services they offer. We do this through reviewing communications, testing products and digital accessibility and improving disclosure environments — all of which the FCA highlighted as important for financial services to act upon in its recent review of firms’ treatment of customers in vulnerable circumstances
Helen Undy, Chief Executive of Money and Mental Health, said:
“We’re delighted that Nationwide has become the first building society to achieve the ‘Advanced’ level of our Mental Health Accreditation. We’re really impressed with the progress it has made to make its services more supportive for people with mental health problems, and we will continue to work with them to build on this.
“When you’re struggling with your mental health, communicating with your bank or building society can be a stressful and energy-draining experience. Common symptoms like feeling easily overwhelmed or having difficulty processing information can make this process feel like an uphill climb. But Nationwide has demonstrated that firms can take steps to recognise the challenges that customers with mental health problems may face and to adapt their support, products, communications and services accordingly.
“With 1 in 4 people experiencing a mental health problem each year, it’s vital that firms have services which are accessible and inclusive to a large proportion of their customer base. Money and Mental Health is keen to work with other firms across the financial services and essential services sectors to improve their services for customers with mental health problems, whether that’s through our Accreditation programme or through bespoke projects, including for smaller firms.”
Kathryn Townsend, Nationwide’s Head of Customer Vulnerability, said:
“We recognise there’s no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to supporting customers with mental health problems. We are proud to be working with the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute and their community of people with lived experience of mental health conditions as we continue to take steps to make our services easier to use and more supportive. We are delighted to have become the first building society to achieve the ‘advanced’ mental health accessibility rating because it is further tangible evidence of Nationwide making banking fairer and accessible for all.”
ENDS
Contact:
For Money and Mental Health media enquiries, please contact Alex Goodfellow, External Affairs Officer at Money and Mental Health, on 07935 216 804 or [email protected]
For enquiries about Nationwide, contact Mike Pitcher, Media Relations Manager at Nationwide, on [email protected] or 07587 888295.
Notes to Editors
(1) This research is from Money and Mental Health’s 2018 report ‘Access essentials – giving people with mental health problems equal access to vital services’
(2) Money and Mental Health assessed the bank on six key areas:
- Understanding the needs of vulnerable customers
- Product and service design
- Skills and capacity
- Customer-facing communications
- Member services
- Monitoring and evaluation
About the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute
The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute is an independent charity set up by Martin Lewis, and committed to breaking the link between financial difficulty and mental health problems. We conduct research, develop practical policy solutions and work in partnership with both those providing services and those using them to find what really works. www.moneyandmentalhealth.org
About Nationwide
Nationwide is the world’s largest building society, with over 17 million customers, 16 million of whom have a current account, mortgage or savings product, and are therefore members of the Society. Nationwide is owned by its members and focuses on providing banking products and services to its customers. Nationwide has over 18,000 employees, including those based in its headquarters in Swindon, and those working in its network of over 600 branches across the UK.
Nationwide is the UK’s third largest mortgage provider and holds almost £1 in every £10 saved in the UK, as well as one in ten of the UK’s current accounts. It also supports landlords and those who rely on the private rented sector for their long-term housing needs through its buy to let business, The Mortgage Works. In addition, Nationwide offers a comprehensive range of wider retail financial services and products, including credit cards, personal loans and insurance. These offerings diversify its income, and help it give value back to its customers, through better product pricing than the market average and better service than its peers.
Nationwide’s purpose is “Banking – but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society”. The Nationwide Board believes that its mutual ownership model enables it to balance its need to retain sufficient profit to remain financially strong, with its commitment to share its success with its customers and members.