The Association of British Credit Unions (Abcul) has taken over the running of the Prize Saver scheme, launched by the UK government in 2019 to encourage credit union savers.
There are now 14 credit unions across Britain taking part in the scheme, which awards £5,000 awarded to a winning saver each month. Twenty smaller prizes of £20 will also be awarded.
It has already seen £120,000 distributed to winners among the 14 credit unions. Currently, there are 14,153 Prize Saver accounts with over £1m saved across the 14 credit unions.
The pilot phase of the scheme was run by the Treasury department; it was administered by Fintech company incuto, which will continue to provide its platform to run the monthly draws.
In addition to taking over the project from the Treasury, Abcul is now the owner of the Intellectual Property rights for Prizesaver on behalf of the 14 participating credit unions.
“It gives account holders the chance to win prizes every month in order to incentivise them getting into a savings habit,” said Abcul CEO Robert Kelly.
Incuto CEO Andrew Rabbitt said: “I am delighted to continue this important initiative and partner with Abcul to provide this opportunity to credit unions and their members.
“Following the success of the initial pilot, commissioned by HM Treasury, which saw positive engagement, a boost in awareness of credit unions and over £120,000 of prizes paid out, we see this as a key product in our aim to deliver additional channels for credit unions to grow membership and reach a wider audience.”
Robert Kelly added: “Credit unions have a proven track record of helping people to save and to improve their financial resilience. Our sector has helped members to build up savings of over £1.7bn and encouraging saving is central to what we are all about. That’s why this saving scheme fits so neatly into the credit union mission.”
The 14 credit unions participating in the scheme are:
- 1st Alliance (Ayrshire) Credit Union
- Central Liverpool Credit Union
- Clockwise Credit Union
- Commsave Credit Union
- East Sussex Credit Union
- Lewisham Plus Credit Union
- London Capital Credit Union
- Merthyr Tydfil Borough Credit Union
- Notts & Lincs Credit Union
- Riverside Credit Union
- South Manchester Credit Union
- Westcountry Savings and Loans
- Plane Saver Credit Union
- Serve and Protect CU
The Prize Saver Credit Union project will run until September 2021, with a view to continue the scheme thereafter.
