The financial services sector is failing to fully cater for the needs of vulnerable consumers seeking help, the FCA has said.
The regulator's research found some of those looking to financial providers for guidance have been meeting "a computer says no approach, putting them at risk of further detriment".
Officials said that vulnerability can affect consumers across all financial products and services and that the issues raised in its paper were relevant to all financial services firms that engage with consumers.
The report stated: "Our review of all the evidence collected for this project showed that there are problems at every stage, from high-level policy, through system design, to the products that are available and ways that staff implement policies and sell products."
One area marked out by the FCA was "failure of internal systems".

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It said this was "where firms fail to communicate and connect information internally. For example, this can lead to customers having to tell firms multiple times about bereavement, resulting in numerous duplicate letters from different areas of the business being sent."
The FCA Occasional Paper on Vulnerability also found "interfaces or channels of communication that are not inclusive" and regarding "increasing automation and use of call centres" it said these "may create challenges in spotting potential vulnerability and ensuring customers are referred on to specialist teams where necessary".
The FCA said the challenge was "set to grow over the coming years so (there is) a clear need to develop more inclusive policies ".
Martin Wheatley, chief executive of the FCA, said the UK's aging population, as well as changing trends in public health and society, means that developing more inclusive policies will become increasingly important.
He said: "We all know somebody in a vulnerable situation and we can expect the number of people who find themselves in those circumstances to grow over the coming years.
"We all need to start thinking about what the solutions to these challenges will be. Whether it is accessing funds or securing a repayment holiday, we will work collaboratively with firms to identify what inclusive policies could look like and how best we can create the right outcomes for those consumers. It's a challenge for regulators and firms alike."
The FCA's research showed that many consumer protection policies were designed for a 'typical' consumer and sometimes not flexible enough to capture individual situations.
Therefore, if frontline staff could recognise the signs of potential vulnerability, they could more easily refer customers to specialist support where appropriate.
The FCA's analysis also showed that it is not just those people who experience sudden life-changing events that firms should consider when developing vulnerability strategies. It highlighted the following:

• One in seven adults has the literacy skills of a child aged 11 or below (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills)
• 7.1m UK adults have never used the internet, over half have a disability (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills)
• 800,000 people in the UK are now living with dementia, this is expected to double over the next 40 years (Age UK)
• The number of people aged over 85 is predicted to double in the next 20 years (Age UK)
• Almost half of UK adults do not have enough savings to cover an unexpected bill of £300 or more (Money Advice Service).

The FCA paper includes a Practitioners' Pack to support firms' generate better outcomes and develop more inclusive services for vulnerable consumers.