The nation's mental health has suffered drastically over the course of 2020 as worries over Covid-19 gave way to anxiety during lockdown, and then the financial pressures of redundancy and threats to business growth took hold. 

Mental health experts have suggested that up to 50 per cent of all Britons may have suffered some form of mental ill health as a result of Covid-19 and the resultant economic uncertainty. 

Whether your clients are older and feeling particularly at risk, or whether they are small business owners fearing for the future of their livelihoods, or Generation X concerned over potential redundancies and what this might mean for their pension savings, it has been said all clients could be considered as vulnerable right now.

On top of this, many clients may be suffering from protracted periods of mental ill health, receiving a medical diagnosis and perhaps even being put onto a course of medication to help them manage their symptoms and live their lives as best as they can. 

For these clients, having a trusted adviser to help guide them through to financial health is vital, but even then the financial services industry can make it harder to get accepted for certain products, such as insurance or mortgages, especially if they have had several periods of unemployment and been unable to meet liabilities in the past. 

This guide will explore the challenges facing financial planners when it comes to assessing vulnerability, making sense of the Financial Conduct Authority's guidelines on vulnerability and financial advice, explore the minefield that can be purchasing insurance and guiding through the tricky conversations that advisers might need to have, without being intrusive.

This guide qualifies for an approximate 60 minutes' worth of CPD.

Contributors to this guide include: Kathryn Knowles and Alan Knowles, co-founders of Cura Financial Services; Peter Hamilton, head of retail protection for Zurich Insurance; Andrew Wilkinson, director of Moneysworth; Glen Carnall – insurance adviser and team leader, Cavendish Online; Financial Conduct Authority; FCA Practitioner's Pack; Legal & General;/FTAdviser webinar; The Health Foundation; Jonathan Cavill, senior associate, Pinsent Masons; Mental Health UK; Rethink.

simoney.kyriakou@ft.com