Community Work is Key to Bradford District Credit Union’s Success

Thursday 25 January 2024

In the past year, Bradford District Credit Union (BDCU) have made great strides to support its local communities dealing with the economic fallout of Covid-19, through exciting partnerships with like-minded organisations.

Under the slogan of #StillHereToHelp, BDCU has focused on building financial resilience, bringing hope and optimism to members by helping them to navigate the pandemic, start a healthy savings habit and access low-cost loans in addition to educating them on how to manage money – and this message is cutting through, according to CEO of BDCU, Andrew Bowker. This fast response by BDCU was used as a case study for financial ‘First Responders’ due to its infrastructure in place and was featured on BBC Radio 4.

The credit union was also recognised by Bradford Council as a channel to reach struggling families and launched a 0% Covid Loan for those members who were placed on furlough by Government. Following the success of this initiative, BBC News featured a story on national news highlighting the impact this made on communities. “The loan demonstrated the speed of the council, its partners and ourselves to respond and put Bradford on the map with a genuine positive story at a difficult time,” says Andrew Bowker.

Additional support for the community came during the pandemic, as a host of Food Banks sprang up to meet the growing demand for food from people on furlough. However, funding for these was time-limited and was creating a free food dependency. Working with local partners, BDCU launched a new pilot to help people buy low-cost quality food in their community – and save into BDCU at the same time. The pilot became “FoodSavers” which has now been funded by Bradford Council to set up 30 outlets over the next two years starting in November 2021 to get more people saving for a financial cushion whilst accessing low-cost food.

Andrew added: “We thank all our members for your continued support. In these continuing difficult times, we are investing in transforming BDCU, so that we can continue to offer a range of services expected of a modern financial institution. We continue to help those who can’t get access to ordinary bank products, a lifeline in less well-off communities for folks grappling with their finances.”