bdi

business disability international (bdi) pledges support for the Keep Me Posted campaign.

business disability international (bdi) is delighted to announce their support for Keep Me Posted.

Now three years old, Keep Me Posted is a coalition of representatives from charities, interest groups and businesses who are passionate about consumer choice. The campaign calls on service providers including banks, utility companies and telecoms providers to give their customers a choice in how they are communicated with.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics’ report on internet usage, show that 25% of UK adults who would describe themselves as disabled have never used the internet* meaning that paper correspondence with companies and service providers is essential.

Additionally behavioural finance research previously undertaken by the campaign, found that consumers who receive financial correspondence by post are much more likely to be able to correctly assess the health of their accounts (75 per cent vs 48 per cent for those who received electronically).*

Susan Scott Parker OBE, CEO of business disability international, said: We are delighted to support the Keep Me Posted campaign. Evidence shows that large numbers of disabled and older people prefer to receive paper communications, either due to ease of understanding or because websites are inaccessible. In addition, the growing numbers who discover they are unable to use computers due to fluctuating mental capacity caused by conditions such as Alzheimer’s and dementia – and their families – will find it much easier to manage their affairs when vital information is provided in hard copy.

Judith Donovan CBE, Chair, of the Keep Me Posted campaign, said: “We are very pleased to have the support of business disability international (bdi). bdi’s work to help businesses improve their practices for more than one billion people worldwide with disabilities is commendable and we are delighted to welcome the organisation to be part of our campaign.”

*Research taken from Keep Me Posted ‘Managing money online – working as well as we think. Keep Me Posted Campaign – 2015’ report prepared by London Economics with research conducted by YouGov, January 2015.

About the campaign:
The Keep Me Posted campaign is chaired by Judith Donovan CBE and is a partnership of representatives from 90 concerned organisations such as mental health charity Mind, DementiaUK, The Money Charity, and the National Consumer Federation.

Keep Me Posted campaign partners believe that it is every consumer’s right to choose, without disadvantage, how they are contacted by banks, utility companies and other service providers in the face of an increasing trend of businesses switching their customers to mainly digital communication, which isn’t always preferable or suitable for a large proportion of UK consumers.

About business disability international:
business disability international (bdi) is the unique business-led social enterprise, enabling global business to consistently deliver the best practice we brand ‘disability confidence’. Member businesses commit to delivering consistent, fair and effective treatment of people with disabilities as customers, colleagues and potential colleagues, using the bdi Charter as a framework for organisational change.

For further information or for more information on the Keep Me Posted campaign, please contact:

Annabel Rivero/Cordelia Jacob, Lansons, 020 7294 3610/ 020 7566 9726 keepmeposted@lansons.com