Social media management provider SM Advice has announced the launch of its British Sign Language (BSL) translated social media service.
Timed to coincide with Deaf Awareness Week 2025, the new service is designed to build trust and increase accessibility for the deaf community while tackling financial exclusion.
According to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), there are approximately 12 million people in the UK who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus representing about one in five of the population.
Of these, an estimated 151,000 people use BSL, with 87,000 using it as their first language. But despite these numbers, access to financial information in an accessible format remains limited.
SM Advice’s new service provides advisers and firms with compliant, social media posts that are BSL translated and verified, ensuring important messages are clear and accessible to the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities.
The service includes:
- BSL translated video posts alongside English text versions
- Compliance aligned with FCA (and network) requirements
- Direct collaboration with deaf consultants to ensure authenticity and clarity
While the service focuses on improving how advisers connect with the deaf community through social media, it also aims to help advisers to be better positioned to consider and shape a more inclusive client experience throughout the entire advice journey.
The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) Consumer Duty standards emphasise the importance of clear communication and removing unreasonable barriers for consumers, vulnerable customers and underserved groups.
The BSL Act 2022 legally recognised BSL as an official language in the UK, highlighting the need for greater visibility and accessibility across public and private sectors.
Peter Hamilton, disability and access ambassador for the insurance sector, said: “Anything that better enables access to insurance is inherently a good thing.
“Customers with different conditions face barriers at a number of stages of their journeys with financial firms.
“There will always be more to be done, but it’s encouraging to see SM Advice reflecting on some of the challenges and taking initial steps.”
Setul Mehta, founder at SM Advice, said: “As part of our mission to improve financial inclusion, we are proud to offer advisers and firms a meaningful way to engage with deaf clients.
“By removing barriers, this service enables deaf individuals to access financial information in a format that works for them and helps to drive trust, increased financial literacy, and ultimately reduce financial exclusion.”
Chris McQueen, head of sales at Involve Interpreter, said: “We’re proud to be supporting SM Advice with launching their BSL translated social media service.
“For 87,000 BSL users, English is not their first language which can create difficulties in reading captions on videos, so providing BSL translation ensures content is accessible.
“This project is a great step towards being inclusive to the deaf community.”
