A credit union which provides award-winning financial services to nearly 20,000 people in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire is poised to build its membership further after agreeing a partnership with a major employer.
British Steel will promote membership of HEY Credit Union to its 4,000 workers in Scunthorpe, Teesside, Skinningrove in North Yorkshire and Lisburn in Northern Ireland.
Matthew Stevens, HEY Credit Union’s Chief Executive, said: “We have been trying for some time to get a large employer on board in our area and it’s fantastic to now partner with British Steel.
“To have an employer of that size encouraging its workforce to use credit union services is a real feather in our cap. We hope this partnership will build confidence among other employers and increase awareness of how we can help them and their people.”
The payroll save and borrow initiative enables employees of member organisations to have money deducted from their wages and transferred direct to their credit union account where they can use it to build savings and pay off loans.
By signing up, British Steel has joined more than 30 other payroll partners including Ongo, Dunlop Oil & Marine, Groupe Atlantic, ResQ and Sewell Group. Public sector partners include local authorities north and south of the Humber. The University of Hull, Hull College, Bishop Burton College and North Lindsey College are among the partners from the education sector.
Sharon Drane, Head of Service Delivery responsible for pay and benefits at British Steel, said: “We were already looking into setting up a savings scheme and heard about the Credit Union from one of our employees which offered what we were looking for plus other benefits we couldn’t offer.”
“People were enquiring to find out more as soon as they heard about it and we were signing people up very quickly. We’ve got more than 4,000 people and they are all eligible to join.
“It costs nothing for us to operate. HEY Credit Union sends us a spreadsheet and we just upload it. We will advise our workers about the opportunities through our regular comms emails and on the employee self-service portal where their payslips are available. It’s about the benefits that the scheme gives to our employees and the flexibility in terms of paying off loans and building up savings.”
David Martin, who spent more than 49 years with British Steel, became a credit union volunteer in 1993. He said: “I was ecstatic when I heard about British Steel joining. It’s a bit of a dream come true. It means that people working there can now readily access the credit union’s ethical financial services and share in its success”.
Patrick Scott, Scunthorpe Branch Leader for HEY Credit Union has a personal link with British Steel through his father, who worked there for 15 years.
Patrick said: “It’s Scunthorpe’s biggest employer and they are offering our services across their business to other centres in England and Northern Ireland. Everyone in the town knows of someone who worked at the steelworks. There were more than 20,000 people there at one point.
“If the biggest employer in the town trusts us to work with their employees that’s the strongest message we could send out. It’s a big vote of confidence. They found people were asking for advances with their pay and needed help with budgeting and they see us as a trusted solution. They initiated the partnership because they wanted to help their workers develop good financial practices.”
The partnership was announced as HEY Credit Union also completed the transformation of its office in Scunthorpe to create a safe and welcoming space for its members and attract people to the town’s High Street.
Matthew said: “It’s really important when the banks are closing their High Street branches on an almost daily basis that we keep our presence in Scunthorpe. The branch had not had any investment in refurbishment for a number of years and it was decided to smarten up the counter area.”
The branch remained open throughout the refurbishment and completion was marked with an open day with members invited to meet directors of HEY Credit Union as well as Patrick Scott and his colleague in Scunthorpe, member services officer Rasa Kairaityte.
Services for members include specific packages to help people meet the cost of Christmas, holidays, home improvement and other major purchases. The whole process can be managed online and the network of branches helps people who want to access services face to face.
Patrick also visits Westcliffe Community Centre in Scunthorpe regularly and the branch team also attend events in the community in collaboration with local education providers, community groups and North Lincolnshire Council.
He said: “The office is now a much more pleasant place to work. The members can see this is much better than before and they enjoy coming here.
“It’s brighter and more welcoming and it feels bigger. It’s much easier to attract people in and that should help us increase the membership. We are proud to welcome people here to a place which is nice and bright and reflects the quality of our organisation.”