 |
answer text |
<p>Government is committed to facilitating sustainable financial services that give
consumers greater choice in accessing credit. Credit union membership in Great Britain
has increased year-on-year since 2014, rising to around 1.32 million members in 2017;
this was an increase of over 150,000 individuals over the 3 year period. It is even
more encouraging that credit unions are becoming more popular with junior members;
in 2017 there were over 139,000 junior members of credit unions in Great Britain compared
to around 128,000 in 2014.</p><p> </p><p>The Credit Union Expansion Project (CUEP)
aims were for participating credit unions to modernise and grow in a financially sustainable
way, over time. The contractor aimed to deliver that by enabling credit unions to
access a standardised banking service.</p><p>CUEP has delivered an Automated Loans
and Decision tool (ALD) used by over 70 credit unions, centralised services such as
a standardised front facing website, and that the ALD has allowed credit unions to
achieve up to 40% administrative savings on delivering loans and reduce provision
for unpaid debt by over £1 million. CUEP also led to a number of credit unions to
merge, and others to work together to develop standardised products and deliver local
marketing campaigns to increase membership. CUEP contributed to credit unions on the
platform to increase the value of loans made.</p><p>Due to the Contractors failure
to meet contractual milestones, DWP terminated the CUEP contract on 16<sup>th</sup>
February 2018. Whilst the contractor has not met their contractual agreement, they
have delivered a banking platform that allows credit union members to receive a range
of banking services and benefit from more affordable credit. At the point the contract
was terminated the platform was being used by three credit unions with a total of
approximately 16.5k members allowing members to benefit from 24 hour online access
to their accounts, and receive faster payments on a loan on the same day, usually
within 4 hours.</p>
|
|
