Are you the ‘digital PA’ for your parents?

By day, I work for the Financial Times. But my most important side hustle is acting as a “digital concierge” to my parents, who are in their mid-eighties.

Last week, I organised a trip to Wales for a family funeral, a poignant example of how the digital-first economy leaves millions of people behind. You need multiple apps to book travel, securely authorising payments in a banking app. Boarding passes and train tickets are now QR codes stored in a digital wallet. Further apps are required to park or hail a taxi.

When the ticket inspector came round, Dad told him: “You’ll have to speak to our concierge.” I would do anything to make life easier for my folks (frankly, it’s payback for how utterly awful I was as a teenager). But the more I take on, the more I worry I’m taking away their independence. And what on earth can people do if they don’t have a relative, friend or neighbour who could help them?

I was deluged with comments after posting about this on LinkedIn. Hundreds of people told me they also acted as the digital “help desk” for older relatives who were frustrated that they could no longer complete basic tasks without aid. This undermined their confidence and self-worth and increased social isolation. Others said they helped their parents make medical appointments, access council services, claim benefits, pay tax and — most commonly — assist with online banking.

It feels increasingly ridiculous still to refer to Britain’s high street banks when more than one in three branches have closed over the past five years. Banks are saving money, but forcing older customers to use apps has shifted the problem to a hidden army of helpers.

A recent report estimated that some 11mn adults help others manage their money online — that’s one in five UK adults. However, our banking system is not set up to support this. The Hidden Heroes study found more than half of digital helpers lacked formal authority such as a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). Instead, many used risky workarounds, such as sharing passwords, security codes or logging into a relative’s account from their own device.

Faith Reynolds, consumer advocate and founder of Devon Fields Consulting, which carried out the research, says the widespread use of such tactics shows how urgently a “halfway house” is needed to help older customers manage the digital transition without having to activate an LPA earlier than necessary. After all, they have not lost mental capacity — just the ability to keep up with constantly changing tech demands.

“They don’t want to cede control, but let a trusted person see into their account, get notifications and spot any unusual activity, or just help them check their balance or provide reassurance when making a payment,” she says, urging banks to provide dedicated tools that would allow financial helpers to do so.

Her study found that the biggest reason older customers asked for help was because they feared doing something wrong. Poorer eyesight, slower fingers and the need to type in sort codes and account numbers or switch at speed between multiple screens to complete two-factor authentication make things more challenging. Many wished there could be simpler versions of banking apps designed for older customers (Reynolds points to the HSBC “lite” app, which is available to customers in Hong Kong). Plus, the ageing population have ageing smartphones. If they can’t run the latest operating software, they might need to buy a new phone for their banking apps to continue working. What if they can’t afford it?

The banks have been shamefully slow in trying to bridge this digital gap, but fintechs have been innovating. Just look at the Sibstar pre-paid debit card, designed to enable people living with dementia to carry on spending, with guardrails. “What we choose to spend our money on is a big part of who we are, and this does not need to change just because you have dementia,” says Sibstar co-founder Jayne Sibley.

The fear of being defrauded is another anxiety-inducing problem. My fellow digital concierges may wish to tell their parents about the free scam-checking tool AskSilver.com, which can check out suspicious texts, emails or websites.

Innovations like this don’t just benefit the elderly and their helpers but also those supporting adults with learning disabilities and mental health issues, as the impactful Project Nemo campaign rightly points out.

Yet if you need to activate a Lasting Power of Attorney, FT readers tell me it’s increasingly hard to find a physical bank branch where you can do it. I’ve argued here before that it should be possible to carry out such tasks in shared banking hubs that are popping up around the UK.

The 250th hub opened in Chepstow last week and this number should rise to 350 by 2029. Funded by the banks, the project was set up to ensure that communities and businesses left without a bank branch still had access to cash, but access to banking services is equally important. It’s not just dealing with LPAs — I think community bankers should be able to help customers of all ages deal with moments of stress and distress such as bereavement, being a victim of fraud or having their phone stolen, not to mention more everyday tasks such as opening an account or transferring an Isa.

Next month, the Treasury will receive the hotly awaited Access to Banking Services review, setting out what further support measures are needed in hubs, and its recommendations are likely to be incorporated in the financial services bill currently being debated in parliament.

There’s a lot of focus on the number of hubs needed to support a wider range of services (my guess is more than 350) and whether the digital banks should have to contribute to the cost of this.

Services provided by different banks sharing the hubs must be consistent and not reliant on a voluntary commitment. Banks should also do more to tell their customers which days of the week their community bankers will be present in certain hubs.

But I hope the report also addresses what more banks could and should be doing to make their online services more accessible so that customers with additional needs can be better supported without having to travel to a hub or branch.

For the sake of millions of “digital concierges” like me, banks shouldn’t wait for legislation to force this much-needed innovation. Provide the services we need, and there are 11mn people out there who would willingly become your customers.

Claer Barrett is the FT’s consumer editor; claer.barrett@ft.com Instagram @ClaerB