Decision details

– report by Mr K Lynes, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Claudette Forbes, Interim Director of Economic Development)  (Mr John Simmonds together with Caroline Hooper and Emily Haswell were present for this item)

(Mr Graham Gibbens declared an interest in this matter on the basis that his wife is a founder Member and Loans Officer for the District of Canterbury Credit Union. He therefore took no part in the discussion on this item)

(1)       This report sought agreement to the interim governance structure for the proposed Kent Credit Union.

(2)       Mr Lynes said that the County Council had already committed a one off spend of £250k to assist in the establishment of a Credit Union.  The proposal had also been considered in some detail by an Informal Member Group (IMG) chaired by Mr John Simmonds, and the Business Plan had been robustly challenged at all stages of its development.  Mr Lynes said the principles of the Credit Union were very much in line with the Council’s “Backing Kent People” campaign and he commended the report and its recommendations to Cabinet.  Mr Lynes said that the establishment of a Credit Union would help vulnerable people living in challenging circumstances and he believed it would make a real difference to people’s lives.

(3)       Mr Simmonds said that the Credit Union would be a key part of the Council’s social care and Supporting Independence Strategy and would help people who were disadvantaged and unable to get access to credit at reasonable rates.  He said for the proposal to be successful it was essential that other partners became involved such as district councils, the business community, housing associations, the Citizens Advice Bureau and representatives from existing Credit Unions.  In concluding his comments Mr Simmonds said it was essential to have in place robust governance arrangements and three years funding had to be secured prior to an application being made to the FSA.  Mr Simmonds said that he firmly believed establishing a Credit Union would make a significant difference and he commended these proposals to Cabinet.

(4)       Caroline Hooper said that the establishment of a Kent Credit Union had been discussed with the FSA and the Business Plan was now out for consultation.  The Shadow Board had already held one meeting and work was in progress to develop a Memorandum of Understanding with two of the existing three Credit Unions within Kent with work progressing on developing a third with the other Credit Union.  In addition a number of Housing Associations had promised to make a financial contribution and approaches were also being made to district councils as well as the PCTs.  Work was continuing to meet the requirements of the FSA to have in place three years of funding prior to an application being made and on that basis it was hoped that the application would be submitted in May of this year.  There would be a report back to Cabinet before a final decision was taken to implement the scheme.  Mr Gilroy said he supported the establishment of a Kent Credit Union and spoke about the work which Kent Police, together with Kent Trading Standards, was undertaking in order to target rogue moneylenders. 

(5)       Following further discussion Cabinet agreed:-

(a)       to the establishment of a Board of Directors to oversee the operations of the Kent Credit Union and agreed that Mr John Simmonds be appointed to act as KCC’s representative on this Board.

(b)       to the establishment of a supervisory sub-committee with senior representatives from Kent Trading Standards and the Finance Directorate.