'People want to save money but don't know how to'

Ian Brewer said any investment in frontline services was to be welcomed

The Bradford District Credit Union has welcomed measures in the Budget which would give more funding to the services it offers.

Ian Brewer is community development officer for the union, which was set up 30 years ago and now has 10,500 members.

He was talking ahead of the union's annual Talk Money Week which starts today and runs until Friday 8 November.

Some of Bradford's major institutions are taking part to promote responsible saving and money management, including the University of Bradford, Bradford Teaching Hospitals and the BD25 City of Culture team.

The credit union's office is based on the ground floor near the reception of Bradford City Hall

Mr Brewer said: "From our perspective anything that resources people on the frontline to be able to provide better access to health, wellbeing, benefits and finances is always going to be welcome."

The credit union was set up Bradford Council in 1993 for people to borrow and save money in a secure manner at a time when bank loans were difficult to obtain and interest rates were 15%.

Members pay into the fund every month as a way of saving but some of that reserve, which currently stands at £6.5m, is also used to provide loans.

There are now 10,500 members of the credit union

Mr Brewer said it was the sixth year that the union has held its Talk Money Week.

"Each year we look to work with partners to be able to bring money to the centre of the conversation," he said.

"It's about people being able to understand money through the financial education that we do."

He added that people often wanted to save money but did not necessarily know how to go about doing it.

Mr Brewer said: "Projects like Food Savers and Uniform Savers are things that we do that use innovation in community development to help people get into a savings habit and get an incentive for doing so."

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