North West Debt Advice Partnership

What is the CRT?

The CRT helps deprived areas of England that previously were coal mining areas.


Why is Welcome Credit Union (WCU) running this CRT project?

The CRT asked us to run this project for the North West, and WCU accepted the challenge. The Partners are WCU (Lead partner) Wigan CAB, St Helens CAB, Whitehaven CAB, and Cleator Moor and District Credit Union. About 7 staff in total are funded.


So does WCU give people debt advice?

No. But Wigan CAB does, as they are a partner in the project. What we do is help people to manage their money. This is also known as financial capability or financial literacy.


Who is benefiting from this project?

The people who attend the group sessions. So far we have run sessions for the young unemployed who are keen to get a job and who are with Job Centre Plus. The sessions are run by Vernon Fuller in association with St Helens CAB, which is also a member of the Partnership formed by this project.

Sessions have also been run at Sunshine House, a resident's association in Scholes, and sessions are scheduled for Westleigh High School, the central library in Wigan, and Wigan Children's Library.
Discussions are under way with many of the major players in Wigan including:

• Wigan and Leigh Housing
• Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust
• Ashton, Wigan and Leigh Primary Care Trust
• Groundwork
• Wigan Skills Shop
• Work Solutions
• Wigan and Leigh CVS

What further initiatives are planned?

Discussions will take place with other organisations who have face to face contact with the public, and who aim to help those in difficulty. Money management may be one of the difficulties that their client groups face.


What are the main details of the project?

The specific output is to help 250 people in Wigan and Leigh by giving debt advice or financial capability training. The CRT funding pays for two staff at WCU, plus a trainer for the sessions, plus administrative back up.

It started on 22 March 2009 and it ends on 31 March 2010.


But what's it really all about?

In essence, the unwritten philosophy behind the funding is to encourage people to manage their money and thereby get out of the poverty trap, however defined. In a sense, this is the same as the ethic of the credit union.


And what are other organisations in Wigan doing about debt problems?

Lots. That's why we are working with them or we will be soon. We are also involved with helping Wigan MBC to formulate a policy on financial inclusion and financial capability. The concept is that the organisations in Wigan and Leigh should work together as appropriate to help people solve their money problems.


Why are you different from everybody else?

Our main activity here is to deliver financial capability training. We also emphasize the importance of such training to people in other organisations.  We are fanatical about financial capability as a life skill.

We would like all young people to have had such training before they leave school or college. We would also like training sessions to be available to all adults and communities in Wigan and Leigh.


Is that goal realistic?

We believe it can be achieved, but all organisations need to join in and be prepared to work together and to put some effort into achieving the goal. Actually, they are already doing this on other policy areas, so we are much encouraged.


© October 2009, Welcome Credit Union, Whelley, Wigan