Not all energy consumers are equal. Some are more vulnerable than others and need extra and immediate help. In an audience where everyone is vulnerable, prioritisation is more difficult and that can have a huge impact for the consumer, potentially increasing the risk of harm or even be life threatening. These outcomes impact friends, families and our staff working with the consumer.

Consumers don’t always clearly and succinctly outline their concerns or feelings, which can make detection and identification of priority cases difficult under a load of information, some of it more relevant than others and the sheer volume can hide those in need of greatest help.

The Solution

HelpFirst empowers care organisations to give vulnerable clients the priority they deserve. It ensures that:

• At-risk customers get priority support. By flagging potential risks and vulnerabilities, HelpFirst increases the likelihood of early intervention where necessary.

• Caseworkers are effectively supported. HelpFirst helps caseworkers identify critical details and make informed decisions, ultimately enhancing client outcomes.

• Cases are effectively triaged, reducing the cognitive burden on supervisors.

HelpFirst reduces risks for clients, and helps systematise staff safe-guarding and improves resource allocation.

The Opportunity

Many organisations in the energy, finance and care sectors have statutory obligations to vulnerable clients. Currently they struggle to fulfil these obligations in a systematic, scalable way. Advances in machine learning mean that software can now make a useful contribution to solving these problems.

Next Steps

The initial version of HelpFirst will go live at the Extra Help Unit in early November. We are keen to talk to other organisations who have responsibility for potentially vulnerable clients. As we develop HelpFirst, we want to ensure that it fits the needs of other organisations with similar responsibilities.

The Team

The HelpFirst team have deep domain knowledge, with 10 years in the field working in situations similar to EHU, and experience delivering innovation via CivTech. Their solution to a previous Challenge was recently winner of ScotlandIS ‘Tech for Good’ Digital Technology Award.