Justin Welby has clearly applied a great deal of energy to the role of Archbishop of Canterbury, his ability to speak the language of banking is very welcome in the context of a national debate which tends to either relentlessly ridicule all bankers or gently scold them in public and then appear very supportive in private if the Government gets its way. This morning’s headline that the Archbishop is to take on Wonga is fantastic news on one level. That Wonga and other payday loan companies such as QuickQuid have been able to gain such a foothold in our society is a terrible reflection of the social and structural breakdown since 2008, with many communities feeling ignored by both Governments. This has worsened significantly since the austerity measures and welfare reforms have begun to impact on the poorest in our society. I have previously written about these payday lenders here. The need for many people in this country to seek their help arises in part because the banking sector has closed for traditional business as far as most residents and small businesses are concerned. It is this which must in part be challenged if the likes of Wonga are to be dealt with effectively. However high street banks even when operating in a manner that is suited to residents and small businesses will not be sufficient to meet all needs and helping to strengthen the work of credit unions is vital. What is disappointing is to proclaim the intention of opening every parish church building up to local credit unions as Justin Welby appears to have done, without extensive groundwork being carried out.

My discomfort is a matter of scale and consistency in terms of local delivery. The Church of England is the largest Church network in the UK and every town and village has at least one Church of England building, in which people worship on a regular basis. However there are a great many other churches that are not linked into this network across the nation and most people who do not attend a local church, may not know which Church building is which. As part of my work for Churches Together in Sussex I have had plenty of experience of asking passers-by where a given Church building is, and the levels of uncertainty in many parts of Sussex is significant. The same would be true in other areas. This means that any proposal for better links between credit union and churches needs to consider how these other church networks could help, and how they will respond to people in need who expect their building to be host to such an organisation. As an example I have been working with Job Centre Plus to help establish a suitable venue for meeting people in the Sussex town of Heathfield. In this case neither of the two most accessible buildings are part of the Church of England. Even within the Church of England, a national roll out of activity is not easy to achieve. There are 43 Dioceses or regional networks which together constitute the national network. Each of these responds to need and opportunity in a way that their neighbouring network might not recognise. Churches do not operate in a manner that comes close to a command and control model and the Archbishop is in no position to set up this sort of operation in anything other than a speculative and exploratory way.

In practice many credit unions already have networks of local offices and the idea that the Church will be the right place for people to go to meet with them might simply confuse the very people who Justin Welby and these Credit Unions all want to help. There will inevitably be some people who will find entering a church building in order to meet with their local credit union a distraction or indeed that might be put off the idea altogether. Equally expecting a credit union to find the resources to put volunteers and information into parish church buildings where the demand is low will over stretch them, and some of the churches that are most welcoming to the credit unions may be in the wrong area. A credit union does not operate in the same way as a payday lender and so this rather strange head to head meeting between Welby and the head of Wonga really is a matter of two very different cultures attempting to speak using different vocabularies. Ultimately putting Wonga and QuickQuid etc. out of business, will depend on a change in the way in which British citizens think about and handle money. There is a real opportunity here and the church can play a vital role. However there are also many other organisations that will need to be part of this process and it is vital that this noble idea is not lost in the challenge to implement it. It is also unfortunate that the Church has announced its intention to create a new credit union for employees and Priests, surely a much more effective approach would be to encourage all of these people to find out about their existing local credit union and to strengthen the work of these existing organisations.