Welsh Minister Urges Welsh Employers to Work with Local Credit Unions

Wednesday 24 January 2024

Welsh Social Justice Minister, Jane Hutt is urging employers across Wales to work with its local credit union to improve their employee’s financial resilience.

“The continued development of a strong credit union movement will provide access to fair, responsible and affordable credit across Wales,” says Jane Hutt, Minister for Social Justice.

This follows the announcement from Credit Unions of Wales, in which ten credit unions in Wales have launched the payroll saving scheme ‘Moneyworks’, that has been supported by Welsh Government and TUC Wales.

Businesses, or payroll partners, that sign up for the scheme can offer employees the opportunity to borrow or save money directly from their salary through their workplace payroll system.

Jane Hutt added: “Many of us will need support at some time in our lives and the Moneyworks Wales payroll product will offer employees the help needed to make their money work for them and become more financially resilient, whilst slowly building a savings buffer. I strongly encourage employers to work with their local credit union to better support their staff financially, and beyond.”

Supported by Wales Trade Union Congress (Wales TUC), Shavanah Taj, General Secretary of Wales TUC, said: “Workers across Wales continue to face massive uncertainty as the economy recovers from Covid. So being able to easily put away some money from each pay packet and build some degree of financial security is more important than ever.

“Payroll savings schemes like these have been proven to be an effective and easy way for employers to support their workers and there are great, trade-union supported examples already across Wales. Growing that network further can help give workers a greater sense of control over their finances.”