Member Article

Housing staff sign up to ethical savings scheme

Staff at a North East housing organisation can now save as they earn after signing up to a payroll deduction scheme with a local credit union.

The Northern Housing Consortium has teamed up with the Prince Bishops Community Bank to offer employees an easy and ethical way to save on a regular basis.

Through the scheme money is transferred from an employee’s salary straight into their individual savings account each month, with 28 members of staff already signing up.

Money invested with the community bank supports the local community by providing low interest loans to members, which staff from the Northern Housing Consortium will now also be able to benefit from.

Prince Bishops Community Bank Manager Lesley Richardson said: “The payroll deduction scheme is a really simple and convenient way to save and is great for putting money aside for holidays or Christmas.

“We are really pleased to welcome the Northern Housing Consortium as a corporate member of the credit union and hope that other local companies will see the benefits of joining a scheme such as this and consider doing the same.

“It not only benefits the employees by encouraging them to save regularly but also local people as the money is used to provide low cost loans, meaning people are less likely to turn to loan sharks and other illegal money lenders.”

Prince Bishops Credit Union was established in 2010 and is based in Stanley, County Durham. It has around 2,900 members and operates collection points across the local community including in local schools.

The Northern Housing Consortium is based in Sunderland and represents the views of housing organisations across the North of England.

Head of Commercial Development Tracy Harrison said: “As a membership organisation for social housing providers, the Northern Housing Consortium are obviously very concerned with the problem of financial exclusion in our communities.

“We have done a considerable amount of work to support and promote the credit union movement and the benefits that its brings in terms of responsible lending and encouraging savings, so it’s great that we now have our own staff involved with a local credit union’s savings scheme.”

The Northern Housing Consortium is Prince Bishops Community Bank’s second corporate partner - it’s first was local housing association Derwentside Homes, which helped set up the credit union and has supported many of its initiatives.

For more information about the Payroll Deduction scheme, please call Lesley Richardson on 01207 232351.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Kelly Elliott .