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<p>Churches across England have responded to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s call to
support credit unions and other forms of responsible credit and savings. At least
31 out of 40 dioceses have been actively involved in supporting over 50 credit unions
in various ways, such as:</p><ul><li>promoting the local credit union in their congregation
and wider community</li><li>recruiting credit union volunteers</li><li>hosting training
sessions</li><li>opening church premises as credit union access points</li><li>encouraging
payroll savings schemes among local employers</li><li>helping to set up school savings
clubs</li></ul><p> </p><p>Through the Church Credit Champions Network, one of the
core initiatives of the Archbishop’s Task Group on Responsible Credit and Savings,
the pilot scheme has engaged over 350 churches in London and Liverpool alone and trained
more than 260 Credit Champions to date. Other creative diocesan responses include
the Murston Community Bank in Canterbury diocese, Lichfield’s Funeral Project, Southwell
& Nottingham’s 100x100 scheme are all designed to raise local awareness of credit
unions.</p><p> </p><p>The other core initiative, the LifeSavers programme, is working
with eight credit unions across the country to set up savings clubs in primary schools,
alongside an integrated programme of financial education. Following a successful pilot,
the programme is being rolled out to 120 church and non-church primary schools over
the next three academic years with financial support from Virgin Money. Additional
funding from Government will help extend the coverage to many more primary schools
through a dedicated LifeSavers website.</p><p> </p>
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