Demise of Essex Savers credit union

This week Essex Savers went into voluntary liquidation.  All savings are protected and will be paid back within seven days,

I have known for some time that Essex Savers was short of  operating funds.  I have no knowledge of the size of the shortfall.  The social cost of liquidation will be enormous as disadvantaged people will go to lenders who charge astronomical interest rates.

In Kent, the county council was the major player in the development and funding of the credit union - up to £500,000.  In Essex the county council did not contribute a penny.  Surely it was not beyond the wit of various councils and housing associations to come up with interest free loans or other mechanisms to support the credit union?  The cost to these bodies of the loss of the credit union will outweigh the cost of rescue as pressure will mount on social services, social security and housing.

What area does Kent cover?

I asked this question at a meeting a few years ago when Kent County Council was setting up Kent Savers Credit Union. Obviously the credit union covers the administrative county of Kent.  It also covers Medway which most people regard as part of Kent,  although Medway is a unitary local authority.

But what of the areas that were formerly part of Kent but have been swallowed up in London outer boroughs?  Not included I was informed.

A few years on I note that Kent Savers has moved into areas now part of London outer boroughs.

From the latest Kent savers newsletter:

Welcome to Bexley

Kent Savers has now extended our membership area to include the whole of Bexley. Bexley, Sidcup, Erith and Crayford were all part of Kent until the local government reorganisation of 1965, and we are pleased to be able to extend membership of Kent Savers to those areas.

Community: what does it mean?

The word community is bandied about a lot: faith community, community spirit, community engagement, local community, European Economic Community, community development are examples which spring to mind.  But what is community?  At best it is a chameleon word, at worst it can be used as shorthand and be meaningless.

My opinion is that there are two major usages: community of geography and community of interest, although there is a third usage gaining traction to which reference will be made .

Community of geography is quite straightforward, isn't it?  The village in which I live is a community of geography in the sense that we share a physical location.  It is a small area.  Would the town I live close to be regarded as a community of geography, or a county, or a nation?  The test surely must be: do the people within a geographic area feel they have a common belonging?  Credit unions have a defined geographic area within which there is a common bond (subject to a caveat: see later) which binds them together, or at least that is the theory.

Communities of interest covers a multitude of things. Members of a church have a common interest, as do supporters of a football club and members of a lunch club.  Indeed any membership organisation is a community of interest. A credit union can be formed for members of the co-operative: the common bond being that of membership of the co-op.  It strikes me that in order to belong to a community of interest requires an individual to take a positive step to join and belong to that community.

The third use of the word community relates to status or condition. There is the gay community, ethic community, disability community, feminist community. It is really a form of categorisation or labelling and I am not sure the word community is appropriate.

Our lives are spent as members of a number of communities determined by where we live, work and play, by our interests and if one accepts the third category by what we are.  During our lives we will join and leave communities.  We leave the school community, we go to college or university and become part of the academic community and a new community of geography.  Our interests change and our inter-actions with other people change.

Before Mrs Thatcher destroyed the mining industry there was the mining community.   At one level this referred to miners, but it referred also to the tight-knit communities in which they lived and included their families and people in other jobs who lived and/or worked in the area.  People working in the post office, the co-op, the miners' welfare were part of the mining community.

Most community development and engagement is around communities of geography, but not exclusively. Working with ethic communities and hard-to-reach groups involves community development and engagement.  Within a community of geography there are a number of communities if one applies the third use of the term community.

The danger is that the term community can be used to lump people in a geographic area together even though they have little in common except living in the same area.

In the final analysis community is a label and the danger is that community development and community engagement presupposes a commonality which does not exist.  The relative failure of community development and community engagement initiatives is rooted in a simplistic understanding of the complexity of  peoples' diverse attitudes, needs and concerns within a given geographic area.

NB: Interesting article on communities - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8693558/Immigrants-love-this-country-more-than-we-do.html#.TkPeY3519JQ.facebook

Rip-off merchants

Please look at the item below

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/parliament/2011/07/tory-mps-debate-4500-interest-rates-charged-by-legal-lenders.html

It is a disgrace that it is legal to charge over 4,000% interest on loans. 

It is with some pride that I say that I played a small part in the formation of Essex Savers Credit Union and also Kent Savers Credit Union.  Credit unions are regulated and deposits with them are protected.  Interest rates on loans are fair. 

Go to the Association of British Credit Unions website for more information (link below)

http://www.abcul.org/home

A success story!! Kent Savers.

According to the Chief Officer of Kent Savers Credit Union no other credit union has issued so much money on loan to its members in the first year.

It is proposed that Kent Savers' pays a dividend of 3%.  No bank is offering anywhere near 3% on current or savings accounts.  A good reason to join Kent Savers - but you have to live or work in Kent.

Congratulations to the directors and staff of the credit union for what has been achieved so far. It is important to remember that the funding to set up the credit union came from Kent County Council.  Credit to the politicians who drove the project to form the credit union.

For more information about Kent Savers press on the link at the bottom of the right hand column of this blog.

Bed of Nails

I have been active in the voluntary sector since 1996, as a volunteer, self-employed or in paid employment. Most of the organisations I have had an involvement with have not been working in areas which generate the 'aah factor' with the general public. Homelessness, mental health, debt and food poverty do not send the collective pulse racing. Now, had I engaged in activities relating to animals, lifeboats or hospices life would have been so much easier.

Frank Field

According to press reports David Cameron has lined up Frank Field, the Labour MP and former minister, to be his "poverty tsar" as he puts the fight against deprivation at the heart of his agenda.

I hope this story is correct.

Having pressed for a credit union for Kent I am now directing my energies to establish a foodbank in the county. There is a substantial number of people living in poverty in Kent. The Labour government failed to make any significant inroads into the problem. What is needed are radical changes which attack the many causes of poverty, rather than dealing with the symptoms.

Having worked amongst some of the poorest people in Kent and East London I recognise that there is no easy or quick fix to the problems. Reducing poverty significantly will take years to achieve.

I have supported the work of the Centre for Social Justice for a few years and broadly agree with its recommendations on poverty issues. It will be fascinating to watch as the 'Right' of UK politics makes progress on issues the 'Left' has failed to address.

Apologies for returning to this......

When Kent County Council announced it was investing significant resources to develop and sustain a Kent-wide credit union I was amazed. Amazed that a Conservative led council was taking this initiative, particularly after my experience with Essex County Council which was less than helpful in advancing the cause of Essex Savers Credit Union.

I was very disappointed by the failure of the voluntary sector (including faith groups) in Kent to support this initiative, as the groups likely to benefit most from a credit union are the very ones voluntary and faith groups help.

My latest endeavour is to promote a foodbank for Kent. One of the leading charities in the UK is FareShare which has a number of projects across the nation. One is in Leicester where it is partnered by the Leicester Diocese of The Church of England, or to be more specific, by the Diocese's Social Responsibility Department.

The Canterbury and Rochester Dioceses used to have a shared social responsibility department - Church in Society - which became an independent charity.

Now there is nothing (at least nothing in the public domain). It would have been sensible to explore the potential for a foodbank with FareShare and CIS as partners along the Leicester model. Who speaks now for social responsibility in the two dioceses?

Huge Demand for Kent Savers Services

From Kent Savers Credit Union website:

Kent Savers has received an unprecedented demand for loans and saving accounts which have surpassed any previous credit union launch in the UK.

I am not surprised. My campaign for a credit union started in 2000 as I could see the need and the demand. A meeting was held with Kent County Council over seven years ago. Had the Council shown any initiative then, thousands would have been helped by a credit union. Indeed one officer was actively discouraging the formation of a credit union.

Mutualism

In its dying days the Government has published a report on mutualism and how public sector activities could become mutuals. The report: Mutual Benefit:giving people power over public services is an interesting read.

The Conservatives have promised to develop co-operatives. The Government document regards co-operatives as mutuals. However there are some important distinctions between the two. For example, building societies are mutuals, but they are not co-operatives. Credit unions are co-operatives.

Kent Savers Credit Union: Update

I have membership application forms and information about Kent Savers. If you would like to join Kent Savers send me an e-mail (you will find my e-mail address by using the link on the home page to take you to my profile).

You can join Kent Savers through its website . Make sure you have your NI number to hand as this is the only evidence of identity you are required to supply.

Poverty on our doorstep

Tunbridge Wells is affluent, but the poor are always with us. Today's Tunbridge Wells edition of the Kent & Sussex Courier carries a two page story about a family on low income. In an excellent hard-hitting editorial a number of key points are made:

• Deprivation in this country is often overlooked.
• The lady who is the subject of the article is like thousands of others, struggling each week to feed herself and her family
• The families' situation is an all-to common one: They have found themselves in a vicious circle of spending too much and racking up debt. Fuelled by a mixture of poor budgeting, low income and easily accessible credit they are now in a particularly vulnerable financial position.
• Such people are society's forgotten poor. They are not homeless and begging on the street, so it is easy for people to pretend such problems are not rife among us.

The editorial rightly argues that the current benefit system needs to be changed as it is hurting individuals and society as a whole by trapping people in poverty. The Courier has a clear understanding of the problems of poverty and is to be congratulated on publishing this story.

I make two observations:

1. The newly formed Kent Savers Credit Union has statutory duty to provide advice on budgeting and thrift.

2. Should we be looking in Kent at setting up a foodbank along the lines of those established in the USA? For an example follow this link . Foodbanks in Kent are small and not much is known about them. Perhaps an opportunity for a social enterprise?

Day Trip to Gravesend

Gravesend is not a likely tourist destination. However, it has a large tourist information centre, probably the best civic centre in the county and much to admire: parks, monuments, the old fortress, the heritage quarter and the recently renovated Old Town Hall. And you can take a boat trip across the Thames to Tilbury!

Gravesend has many social problems, hence the decision to launch Kent Savers Credit Union, locate the credit union's office and concentrate the credit union's initial activities in the town (although anyone in Kent can join as of now).

Soon the credit union will focus on Swale and Dover districts.

Kent Savers Credit Union Open for Business

Kent Savers went 'live' today. It was launched at a press conference held at Little Pebbles Children's Centre in Gravesend. BBC local television made it a 'special report' item which followed a report on two individuals who have been hit by hefty charges by Alliance+Leicester.

Later in the day there was good turnout of organisations, which it is hoped will support Kent Savers, at a working lunch held at the Old Town Hall in Gravesend.

For information about Kent Savers click on the link.

JOIN KENT SAVERS CREDIT UNION

I have discovered how to create links to other websites!

Find out all about Kent Savers Credit Union

You can apply on-line to become a member. (You will need to have your National Insurance number to hand.)

Join Now! Kent Savers open for business

Just Google 'Kent Savers Credit Union' and, assuming you do not finish up on the USA website, you will find a link to an application form to become a member of the credit union.

Go for it!

Kent Savers Credit Union to launch on 4th March

The wait is nearly over! For those of us who have been working towards the formation of a credit union the 4th March is a landmark date. From then anyone living or working in Kent (which is not just the administrative area covered by Kent County Council but includes Medway and bits of what is now outer London) will be able to join a credit union for local people run by local people.