Plans for a community bank which could help some of the worst off people in our region were boosted last night.
Wirral Council’s policy and resources committee supported the authority’s involvement in the project, which saw it pledge £5m to the emerging North West Mutual Community Bank in 2019.
Preston and Liverpool councils are also supporting the bank’s creation.
It is hoped that once set up the mutual will support small businesses who cannot access credit with regular banks, as well as those hit with extra bills for not having a bank account.
It is important to note that the £5m sum is from the council’s capital programme, meaning it is not competing with day-to-day services such as adult social care or leisure services like Europa Pools for funding.
Cllr Janette Williamson, leader of Wirral Council, said a “significant portion” of Wirral’s residents are financially excluded as they cannot open a bank account, or cannot get to a bank even if they have an account.
The so-called ‘poverty premium’ means that people without a bank account get charged over £400 per year more in bills such as utilities.
She thought a community bank would be more accessible to such people.
Cllr Williamson, a Labour member, has been the major driver of the project in Wirral in recent years.
She added that people feel let down by high street banks as they are increasingly moving away from the high street itself, making them more distant from normal people and causing problems such as small businesses struggling to deposit cash.
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Focusing on how the North West Mutual would support small businesses, Cllr Williamson said she worked in the Insolvency Service in 2008, at the time of the financial crash.
While working there she saw that although regular banks were told to lend to small businesses, they did not.
Cllr Williamson believes such businesses will benefit hugely from the community bank.
The Labour leader was also confident that it will be a successful venture and that as well as helping businesses and individuals, the bank was a good investment for the council.
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The bank’s development was welcomed by Cllr Pat Cleary, who leads the Green Party on Wirral Council.
The Birkenhead and Tranmere councillor said community banks were well established in parts of Europe and presented an opportunity to “decentralise” financial power and bring it closer to home.
Got a Wirral story? Email me at george.morgan@reachplc.com
