StepChange
Plan Check In: proof that built momentum
StepChange Debt Charity set out to reinvent how it helps people out of debt. We built a working product with their team in three months and gave them the confidence to drive the whole transformation forward.
The impact
The Challenge
StepChange helps hundreds of thousands of people take control of their debt. Almost all of them start in the same place: an online debt advice journey. That journey wasn't built to harness AI, and was limiting the number of clients that StepChange could support.
StepChange knew exactly what they wanted to create: a seamless client journey that could be flexed to suit a wide range of situations. Easy to use, so the charity could support more people. What they needed next was proof it could be done.
One size fits all
The journey asked every client the same questions in the same order, whatever their situation. People repeated themselves. The steps felt clunky.
Hardest at the worst moment
People come to StepChange worried and under pressure. When the journey got complicated, some dropped out before they got help, or started a plan that wasn't built to last.
A platform StepChange couldn't change
Adapting the journey or plugging in modern tools like open banking and credit reference data meant going back to the supplier. Good ideas had nowhere to go.
Our Approach
First, we helped StepChange create its own cloud capability, so their in-house team controlled their own platform. Then we ran service design workshops with their people, mapping every step of the client journey to the technology behind it, from the CRM to credit checks to payments. From that, we proposed the architecture to carry it.
StepChange wanted to see modern delivery work before committing to a full programme. So we built a proof of concept, end to end: Plan Check In.
We built it as a joint squad. StepChange led product design and worked beside us on architecture, delivery and platform. We brought the engineering and an AI-assisted build approach. Decisions were made together, in the open. This was StepChange's transformation, built with them, not handed over and left.
Technical Solution
Passwordless access
Clients open a secure, personal link and confirm a postcode and date of birth. No username, no password. Low friction from the first tap.
Works everywhere
One web app for mobile and desktop. It opens on a personal welcome, so clients know it's genuinely for them, not a phishing link.
A five-minute check-in
Six clear questions about how the plan feels and what has changed. Done in about five minutes.
Clear next steps
Every client gets a plain outcome and the reason behind it: all good and see you next year, or here's a full review, with a link straight into it.
StepChange in control
StepChange edits the questions and reorders them by drag and drop, through a content management system. No engineering, no waiting.
Built fast with AI
Designed and delivered end to end in three months, using an AI-assisted engineering approach.
Plan Check In, end to end
Every client on a debt plan needs an annual check-in. It's a compliance must, and the best chance to catch a problem early. We made that moment quick, clear and genuinely useful for clients, and we built it so StepChange can run and change it themselves.
The Impact
The prototype proved more than a feature. It proved the architecture, the content model and the pace of delivery, the things a transformation rests on. Seeing it run beats months of analysis.
That changed how StepChange moves. The team now designs around real experience, not assumptions. Their people know how a modern squad works because they were in it. The skills and the ownership stay in-house. And the big investment decisions ahead are made on evidence, not guesswork.
Outcomes delivered
- Mindset shiftPlanning became deliveringThe transformation is live and hands-on, not a slide deck.
- CatalystA transformation programme kick-startedOne working prototype kick-started a crucial transformation programme.
- Built togetherA joint squadStepChange led key roles and owns what we built.
- Tech fluencyUpskilled in-houseStepChange's team are upskilled in how AI-assisted delivery works.
Long-Term Value
What we delivered
A working product changed what comes next.
- •A mindset shift: transformation happening now, shaped by real experience.
- •A catalyst: a bold programme brought to life by a working product.
- •Built together: a joint squad, with StepChange owning the outcome.
- •New tech fluency: a team that knows modern, AI-assisted delivery first-hand.
- •Decisions de-risked: proven foundations to invest with confidence.
The future for StepChange
StepChange is reimagining the whole debt advice journey: built around a lasting client relationship rather than one case at a time, on a single, joined-up view of each client.
- •A transformation with real momentum, and a team confident to lead it.
- •An in-house team that knows modern, AI-assisted delivery first-hand.
- •A proven, prototype-first way to de-risk every programme that follows.
Related Capabilities
Explore how we can help your organisation
Product & Delivery
Service design workshops and a joint squad delivering a working product end to end
Learn moreEngineering
AI-assisted build approach delivering Plan Check In in three months
Learn moreCloud & Platform
In-house cloud capability so StepChange controls and changes its own platform
Learn moreWant proof before you commit to a programme?
We build working products with your team that prove the architecture, the pace and the model, so your biggest decisions are made on evidence, not guesswork.
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