A Guide to the Vulnerability Registration Service (VRS)
What is the Vulnerability Registration Service?
We all experience moments in life where we feel overwhelmed or unable to cope. It can be challenging to talk about these feelings or find the help you need.
The Vulnerability Registration Service (VRS) is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting individuals who may be vulnerable due to health conditions or unexpected life events affecting mental and financial wellbeing. This service alerts businesses and organisations to customers’ circumstances and allows them to manage customer journeys, provide appropriate support, and tailor communications and products.
What is Vulnerability?
We recognise everyone’s circumstances are different and unique to them. Often ‘vulnerability’ can affect people in different ways, change over time and be triggered by a variety of events. Everyone has the right to disclose a vulnerability and expect organisations that are aware to take this into account when making decisions.
There are many different forms of vulnerability. Financial vulnerabilities may include losing your income or facing unexpected costs your budget cannot accommodate. There are also non-financial vulnerabilities such as life events, be it bereavement, relationship breakdown, or mental or physical health conditions.
The combination of these can affect an individual’s capacity to manage their financial responsibilities, including their ability to make debt repayment(s). Missed payments can significantly and negatively affect an individual’s ability to access additional future lending. Whether it’s a mobile phone contract, credit card or mortgage, it’s not hard to see how vulnerabilities can have devasting impacts on an individual’s quality of life.
In fact, half of those in debt crisis suffer from poor mental health.
The VRS puts context around why somebody may be facing financial difficulties; it illustrates the causes and effects by highlighting other vulnerabilities. Registering a vulnerability is free, and you may notify the service of any mental or physical disabilities, mental capacity or cognitive disorders, or life events such as bereavement, becoming a caregiver, experiencing coercion or addictions, or a range of accessibility challenges.
Typically, individuals registering with the VRS identify with more than six different forms of vulnerability. Recognising that vulnerability can be transitional and change from day to day or year to year, it’s also possible to remove any records or vulnerability indicators from the register. 10% of people registering with the VRS are actively monitoring and updating their registration through the VRS Consumer Portal, reflecting how vulnerabilities change.*
What are the benefits of registering?
Registering with the Vulnerability Registration Service (VRS) provides vulnerable consumers with a consumer portal designed to offer easy access to appropriate support. The VRS enables individuals to register their vulnerabilities — which will be communicated to any organisations accessing the service. This allows individuals to inform VRS of their vulnerabilities just once, rather than having to repeat the often emotionally draining conversation with multiple organisations.
Organisations that use the VRS service will be alerted to the fact a person's situation needs to be considered — whether they’re contacting them for the first time or have an existing relationship. VRS is accessible to any sector, including banks, utility companies and lenders because the fact somebody is vulnerable can be relevant to any of their service providers.
There’s no charge to register with the Vulnerability Registration Service; once you’ve registered, circumstances can be made visible to the necessary organisations.
To protect the people registering, VRS holds only essential details like name, address and date of birth, plus some contact information. VRS will not do anything with the information that has been provided — other than running the service for the benefit of those who register.
VRS also partners with the National Support Network to offer access to helplines, self-help apps and guidance, local services, and peer support groups all in one place.
Where can I find further information?
You can register on the Vulnerability Registration Service (VRS) for free by clicking on the button.
*VRS Data, March 2025.