Credit where it's due

Earlier this week I popped along to see our local credit union to help them celebrate ‘International Credit Union Day’. I’ve had an account for a few years now and have just signed-up to their new online account, which for me is ideal. 

 

It was great to see the work the credit union is doing in Wolverhampton. The Chair of our Board, Sue Roberts MBE even opened her first account...I'm proud to say I signed up years ago!

Credit unions have been around for years and years – but it’s only in the last year or two where they’ve been widely talked about in the press.

Almost one million people in the UK are members of credit unions but if the concept is new to you – they’re basically a non-for-profit financial organisation, set-up to benefit the local community. There aren’t any shareholders to satisfy or make profits for, so any profit they do make goes back to its members.

If you want to know more about credit unions then take a look at Martin Lewis’s Money Saving Expert website. He’s the chap off the telly who always talks a lot sense to me!

It’s got me thinking about the financial crisis over recent years and how we all, well, most people I think, simply started to live beyond our means. Credit was being thrown around like confetti and with technology moving on at such a pace, you can see why families wanted to have the latest gadgets and gizmos. 

It feels like credit unions are the one constant in the financial sector which have been saying for years ‘use us, we’re cheaper and safer’. It makes you wonder how much financial heartache could have been spared if the credit union voice had been heard sooner?

This of course comes just a week after figures released by the homeless charity ‘Shelter’ suggest that 1 in 59 homes in Wolverhampton are under threat from repossession.

But years of bad lending, even from reputable financial organisations, as well as the alarming growth of loans sharks and pay-day loan companies means people are now struggling to make ends meet. And it’s not just people ‘feeling the pinch’, some people in our city are relying on the local food bank to get regular meals and some are at a real risk of losing their homes.

It feels like we all need to – dare I say it – get back to basics. As a society, we need to adopt the mentality of ‘I need a roof over my head, I’ll pay my rent/mortgage first and anything after that is a bonus’. But of course it’s not quite that easy.

We’ll continue to team up with the council and the CAB to help as much as we can. But perhaps our first step is making sure people know there’s an alternative to loans sharks and extortionate pay day loan; and it comes in the form of your local credit union.

At the Wolverhampton City Credit Union, more than 1,300 of our tenants have an account – as do more than 100 members of staff. It’s wonderful to see those numbers rising all the time. And with new ‘jam-jar’ budgeting accounts being launched soon, there’s never been a better time to be part of a credit union.

If you live or work in Wolverhampton then pop in and visit them – or check out their website. With Christmas fast approaching, it could be one of the more sound investments you make.

Sue Roberts is the latest of more than 1,300 local tenants to sign up to an account with the credit union

The Apprentice

“Tackling long term unemployment”, “cutting the benefits bill”, “making work pay” – these are the big topics of debate right now amongst all of the major political parties. You can hardly pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV without these being right at the heart of the news agenda.

But sometimes it feels like we never really take the time out to celebrate the success of seeing someone taking those steps back into work – and how life changing that process can be.

Last year we launched our LEAP apprenticeship programme. Long gone are the days when managing council housing was just about bricks, mortar and rent collecting. They’re still our main business, of course, but we want to be more than that. We want to give something back and be a real player in helping our city thrive in the years to come. That’s why we set up LEAP; we wanted to give our tenants tangible skills and support to help them get back into work.

Twelve months on and more than 80 of our tenants have benefitted from LEAP in one way or another – we’ve even taken on seven of them full time. Of course the real benefit of apprenticeships is when they result in someone getting full time work. So far, 14 of those who enrolled on LEAP have now found work and we’re just about to appoint our 29th apprentice; we’re proud of that achievement.

But in the case of one apprentice in particular – just being given the chance to come to work has transformed her life and last week, I was delighted to hear that, she’s been named as an Apprentice of the Year for the West Midlands – and now has a shot at being crowned a national champion.

Michelle’s now 41 and up until twelve months ago had never worked. She left school at 16 with no qualifications and then went on to raise three kids. At the age of 40 – she got the chance to frame her very first pay packet – and she’s still beaming with pride one year on. The Michelle who walked through our doors a year ago is unrecognisable to the Michelle who went on stage last week to claim her award.

As the Chief Executive of a company, nothing fills me with more pride then when you see how much of a difference you can make by offering someone an opportunity. When the opportunity is there and they grasp it with both hands it can be truly life changing. Michelle’s testament to that.

Yes, there are people who abuse the system – but there are plenty out there who just need that chance and opportunity to build their skills and build their confidence. That’s why apprenticeships are so important and why more and more companies need to embrace them.

There are success stories out there, like Michelle and our other apprentices, and I’m proud that we’ve been able to give something back.