Citizens Advice Service in new partnership with Credit Unions

16-03-2007

National charity Citizens Advice has linked up with ABCUL (the Association of British Credit Unions Limited) to launch a new Financial Inclusion Partnership Project. The aim of the project is to assist bureaux to develop partnerships with local Credit Unions and help financially-excluded and vulnerable groups in their local area.

Teresa Perchard, Citizens Advice Director of Policy is announcing more details at the ABCUL conference in Blackpool this weekend (16th-18th March). The project is supported by Barclays bank, which has funded a development post.

The Financial Inclusion Partnership project will encourage joint working between bureaux and Credit Unions through joint promotion, meetings and seminars. It will help identify benefits for clients and agencies; share best practice and learning and make recommendations for future service delivery.

More than a dozen bureaux in rural and urban areas have been awarded grants to take part, with some building on existing relationships with local credit unions. Workshops are being run at the ABCUL conference to show how the project will work. The Abbey Charitable Trust is funding small individual grants to the participating bureaux.

Teresa Perchard from Citizens Advice said;

This is an exciting new project which will help people who are financially excluded. People on low incomes often struggle to find affordable credit and feel forced into taking out loans with sky-high interest rates, sometimes through unscrupulous loan sharks. Credit unions give them an affordable, safe and dependable alternative.  We want to thank Barclays and Abbey Charitable trust for making the project possible and ABCUL for their input. We look forward to developing local partnerships through the scheme.”  

Speaking about the grants, Mark Lyonette, Chief Executive of ABCUL said:

"As the leading provider of face-to-face debt advice, Citizens Advice is ideally placed to provide support and information to people worried about debt, as well as helping people improve their financial literacy skills.

We are delighted to be working with Citizens Advice to link up our credit unions with their bureaux at a local level. Together we will be able to provide a more comprehensive service with credit unions directly helping vulnerable customers avoid serious debt.”

Projects

A number of bureaux and credit unions are already working together; learning about each others services, developing joint referral schemes and developing joint services.
·Weymouth and Portland CAB will be working with First Dorset Credit Union on a Financial capability partnership focussed on younger people.

Ipswich and Suffolk Credit Unions will be working with Ipswich CAB, Felixstowe CAB, Leiston CAB and Bury St Edmunds CAB. This is building on some pre-existing partnerships and extending across all the bureaux.

The Advice Service in Speke, Liverpool, the second most deprived electoral ward in England and Wales will be working with Riverside Credit Union. The Credit union is moving to new premises in a new shopping area presenting opportunity for reaching more customers, targetting low-income saves and borrowers and older people.

·Caledfryn Credit Union and Denbigh CAB will be working together in rural Denbighshire villages. The credit union and CAB will develop a referral process and jointly promote their services by take the Mind mobile bus to rural villages twice a month.

One of the aims of this project is to map what partnerships are already developing, and to assess how many bureaux and credit unions would like to develop a local partnership in the future. Other projects will run in York, Caerphilly, Bolton, Cardiff, Plymouth, Hillingdon, Hull/East Yorkshire, and Penicuik (Scotland).

Notes to editors on Citizens Advice

1. The Citizens Advice service is a network of independent charities that helps people resolve their money, legal and other problems by providing information and advice and by influencing policymakers. For more information in England and Wales www.citizensadvice.org.uk
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