In this webinar, the team at Inclusive Outcomes (part of the Big Window Group) will discuss what the FCA's Consumer Understanding Good Practice review really means for customer outcomes.
The FCA published its Consumer Understanding good practice review on 13 March 2026, one of six good practice papers in the first ten weeks of the year, and a clear signal of what the regulator now expects firms to evidence. The central problem the FCA identifies runs through financial services: firms are measuring the wrong things, treating complaint volumes and sales data as evidence that customers understood what they agreed to. The FCA surveyed 38 firms across insurance, retail banking, payments and consumer finance, looking at governance, testing, MI, communication design and support for customers in vulnerable circumstances.
This session will unpack what the paper actually says, where the gaps are, and, crucially, what "good" looks like in practice by mapping the FCA's findings against the Inclusive Outcomes Maturity Framework. The framework can be used as a tool to help firms move through five stages: Awareness, Foundations, Embedding, Leading, and Pioneering, and this session will show where each of the FCA's examples of good and poor practice sits on that journey.
Key takeaways for attendees
Understand where you sit today. Using the Inclusive Outcomes Maturity Framework as a lens, attendees will be able to self-assess where their firm currently falls, from "Awareness" (we know it matters but we're not doing it yet) through to "Pioneering" (equitable by design). The FCA's own examples map neatly onto this. For instance, firms still relying on absence of complaints as evidence of understanding are firmly at "Awareness." The FCA explicitly found that some firms continued to rely on sales data or the absence of complaints as evidence of understanding, which does not provide reliable assurance. Firms with frameworks and policies that aren't consistently applied sit at "Foundations." Some firms said they had tested communications but provided little evidence, testing was often superficial, one-off or poorly documented – again it is likely these firms would be at “Foundations” level.
See what "Embedding" and "Leading" look like through real examples. The FCA highlights firms designing with vulnerability in mind from the start. A firm tested all new product communication with a sample of customers in vulnerable circumstances, captured comprehension scores against its own internal target of at least 80% correct recall of key points, and reviewed and redrafted communications until results met the target. This is "Embedding" moving toward "Leading", inclusion becoming part of product DNA. The session will bring these examples to life with other examples from Inclusive Outcomes’ own experience of industry best practice.
Learn from lived experience, don’t just implement compliance checklists. A theme running through the FCA paper is that policies and frameworks alone aren't enough, while many firms can describe their frameworks, controls and policies, far fewer can demonstrate using credible evidence that these are actually improving customer understanding. Inclusive Outcomes' approach to co-designing with people with lived experience of vulnerability offers a practical route from box-ticking to genuine outcome improvement. The section will share insight on what happens when you bring the complexity of real lives into design.
Walk away with a practical next step. Whether you're a large firm needing to really embed inclusive design in your DNA or a smaller firm looking for proportionate testing methods, the session will give you a clear view of what to prioritise (the FCA noted that smaller firms used simple, effective and proportionate testing methods, such as post-sale comprehension calls using short questionnaires to confirm that customers understood key aspects of the product). The maturity framework gives you a roadmap to interpret the FCAs guidance and take the next logical step for your firm to achieve and evidence better customer outcomes.
Speakers
Lauren Peel - Managing Director, Inclusive Outcomes
Vicky Ward - Senior Partner, The Big Window
TBC - Member Case Study
TBC - Member Case Study
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