ABCUL welcomes latest credit union discussion with Scottish government

A cross-party group of MSPs looked at plans to work with the sector to address funeral poverty

Scotland’s Cross Party Group on Credit Unions has met to discuss how the government can work with the sector to raise awareness.

This follows the commitment by the Scottish government to fund promotion of the sector, announced in this year’s Programme for Government.

The group, convened by Ruth Maguire MSP, invited MSPs, credit unions and stakeholders to the session, where Kenny Pentland of the Scottish government joined a discussion which gave several credit unions the opportunity to express their view.

The meeting also heard from the Scottish government on its plans to address funeral poverty, and their ambition to pilot a new funeral bond with credit unions.

After the meeting, Ms Maguire said: “The discussion was engaging and insightful, and I look forward to seeing both the campaign and the funeral bond take shape over the coming months and years. I would like to thank everyone who came along for contributing to such a successful evening.”

Karen Hurst, Scottish policy officer at the Association of British Credit Unions (ABCUL), which provides the secretariat to the cross-party group, said “It’s great to see credit unions in Scotland working together to influence the government in this way. We really look forward to continuing this conversation and ensuring that the campaign has as much impact as possible.”