Public and Commercial Services Union

• Launch
• Latest developments
• History

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Launch - 2nd April 2012

PCS Credit Union is launching on the 2nd April 2012. The launch will be widely publicised with regional events taking place around the country.

The Project Team are currently writing individually to all members who have applied to join the credit union informing them of both the launch date and when their first direct debit will be taken.  We would also invite others to complete an application form now.

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Latest developments

PCS Credit Union’s Board of Directors have now set the loan policy & membership fees in readiness for launch.

Loan policy

After members have saved for a minimum period of 3 months, they will become eligible to apply for a loan if they so wish. They will be able to borrow up to 3 times the amount they have saved, however initially a £750 cap has been imposed. This will be reviewed regularly but is in place to allow the credit union to build up its reserves.

An interest rate of 1.5% per month (APR 19.56%) has been set which is chargeable on the reducing balance of the loan. No arrangement fees are charged on loans and there are no penalties for repaying a loan early.

Amounts of up to £300 will be repayable over a term of 1 year whilst amounts of £301 - £750 will be repayable over a maximum term of 2 years.

Further information on loans and loan application forms will become available post launch.

Membership fees

The Board has taken the decision to charge membership fees in order to assist with administrative costs. This will maximise the amount of money available for member services.

Each member will be charged an initial joining fee of £5 which will be deducted from their first savings deposit. In subsequent years an annual membership fee of £1 will be charged to members to assist with administration costs.

Junior members (members under 18 years of age) will be charged a reduced membership joining fee of £2.50 as they are not eligible to apply for loans. Junior savers (members under 16 years of age) will not be charged a membership joining fee.

These fees will be reviewed by the Board of Directors on an annual basis.

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History

In 2002, Annual Delegate Conference passed a motion calling for a study to be undertaken into the feasibility of establishing a Credit Union.  Development work began in earnest in 2006 when a team of PCS staff put in place the foundations for the creation of PCS Credit Union, working on this in addition to their substantive roles.

All Credit Unions are both authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).  As a financial institution there are strict rules of compliance which have to be adhered to both pre and post launch.  You may be aware that most credit unions are either locality or employer based, which does limit the pool of potential members.  PCS Credit Union, being nationwide and multi-employer based, has therefore had to develop new systems to some extent to deal with some of the challenges the large spread and potential size of membership poses.  It was therefore decided to employ a specific project team, to complete the development work.  The current project team consists of Annette Griffiths who commenced as Project Manager in October 2009 and who was then joined by a full time Office Manager, Alaine Perrott, in February 2010. The Project Team has now been joined by Nick Ryan on a temporary part time basis to provide assistance during what is an extremely busy period.

PCS Credit Union’s full application for authorisation was completed and submitted to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in October 2010.  The documentation comprising the FSA application was prepared by the project team based on advice from the FSA, credit union advisers and other specialist sources over a period of several months to ensure it was both comprehensive and of a professional standard.  It was then agreed with the Senior Officers of the credit union, as well as the NEC’s Steering Group before being formally signed (pictured) and submitted to the FSA. 

As PCS Credit Union will be larger and a more complex organisation than a lot of local or single-employer based credit unions at launch, the FSA took particular care that a robust foundation had been laid and appropriate systems were in place to ensure the safety and security of members’ money.  After ongoing consultation and a thorough review of our business plan, policies, procedures and systems, PCS Credit Union received authorisation from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in October 2011. 

The final phase of development of the credit union, which was reliant upon authorisation, was then able to commence. This included such items as setting a launch date, individual notification to members, setting up member direct debits and finalisation of launch preparations.  In addition the authorisation also enabled us to perform live testing of key systems prior to launch to ensure the efficient and effective running of the credit union from day one.

In September/October 2009 applications were sought from volunteers to form the initial study group who will go on to become the senior officers of the credit union (i.e. board of directors and supervisory committee members). The board of directors is the body that will make key decisions for the credit union such as loan amounts, loan interest rates etc, while the supervisory committee performs the internal audit function of the credit union.  Following an initial training process, reference checking and branch endorsement, this study group was formally endorsed by the NEC, as well as approved by the FSA (as part of PCS Credit Union’s submission) to become authorised persons.
 
There is also a network of local co-ordinators in place across the country who are involved in promoting the credit union at local events such as Learning at Work days and branch AGM’s. If you have an event that you would like the credit union to be represented at please go to the promotional events section for further details and the online request form.