Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what effect the Credit Union Expansion Project had on access to finance for people who are financially excluded.

The contractor for the Credit Union Expansion Project (CUEP) facilitated access to a standardised banking service. This banking platform allows credit union members to receive a range of banking services and benefit from more affordable credit. The platform is currently used by three credit unions with a total of approximately 16.5k members and allows these members to benefit from 24 hour online access to their accounts, and receive faster payments on a loan on the same day, usually within 4 hours.

CUEP led to a number of credit unions to merge, and others to work together to develop standardised products and deliver local marketing campaigns to increase membership. CUEP also contributed to credit unions on the platform to increase the amount and value of loans made.

CUEP ended on 16 February 2018 and it is too early to say what effect it had on the credit union sector. It should be noted that the credit union sector has grown over the lifetime of CUEP. As of January 2018, credit unions in Great Britain serve over 1.1 million adult members and have total assets of £1.5 billion and £815m in loans.

The project will undertake an evaluation as part of the project closure.