The subject of responding to the cost of living crisis drew a large crowd of credit unionists and stakeholders to Manchester on 11th November. Participants came from Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales to address this critical and developing issue. Here is a summary of the day. A report on the proceedings of the event and the presentations are available to view and download below.
The conference was opened by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who challenged delegates to seize the moment to support their communities, and offered to do whatever he could to support them to grow and contribute.
Niall Alexander from Fair4All Finance set out the socials and economic dimensions of the crisis and the implications for credit unions. Erik Porter from Cheddr addressed the potential impact on the wellbeing of credit union employees and ways to support them. A panel of Swoboda credit union leaders, Samantha Comer (CFO, Capital CU in Scotland), Tony Denny (chair, Enterprise CU), Kathryn Fogg (CEO, Pennine Community CU) and David McAuley (CEO, Donore CU) then discussed the impact on members and credit unions. This was followed by small group discussion where attendees shared their experience with each other.
In the afternoon, Miranda Flury from Hawkeye Strategies in Canada kept delegates on their toes as she took them through a method for bringing strategic resilience into their thinking and planning.
There was a real buzz to the day and feedback has been really positive. A massive Swoboda thank you to all the day’s presenters, and to attendees for contributing their questions, energy and enthusiasm. Thanks also to our exhibitors, XRS and Quantuma.
Here is the report, plus the materials by session (there were no slides for the panel):
Presentations
-
- Introduction, Dr Paul A. Jones, Swoboda Research Centre and Liverpool John Moores University
- The State We’re In, Niall Alexander, Fair4AllFinance
- Employee Financial Wellbeing, Erik Porter, Cheddr
- Strategic Resilience, Miranda V. Flury, Hawkeye Strategies.
