The Cost-of-living Crisis

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:34 pm on 10 January 2023.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:34, 10 January 2023

I thank Vikki Howells for that, Llywydd. It was very good last week to have an opportunity there, with three other ministerial colleagues, to highlight the work of the Cardiff and Vale credit union. There were other colleagues, I know, out on the same day drawing attention to the services that credit unions are now able to provide, and we know that, whenever credit unions find themselves in the news, or with additional publicity, then more members come forward to join. The Welsh Government provided support to the sector in the run-up to Christmas to make sure that its services were as well advertised as possible. And early results from that campaign suggest that 7,000 additional members were made for the credit union movement in the run-up to Christmas. So, looking around, Llywydd, I see three other Members who were members of the first-ever employer credit union in Wales, when South Glamorgan County Council established a credit union that worked through payroll deduction. And that's exactly the system that Vikki Howells is pointing to—the Moneyworks Wales campaign is a campaign to encourage employers across Wales to offer payroll deduction facilities to their employees, so that they can join credit unions in that way. I'm pleased to say that, as one of 13 different credit union projects, the Welsh Government will fund Moneyworks from April of this year so that they can go on encouraging as many employers as possible, in as many communities as possible, to make that way of becoming a member of a credit union available to people who work for them.