By Jamie Wright

The size of the issue facing the community in Kilburn becomes apparent as I walk through the high street. The bright, welcoming high street legal loan sharks in the area reflect an inability to access affordable credit at a time when wages are stagnating and prices are rising for ordinary people in communities across the country.

My mission? To see for myself the reality of accessing credit from legal loan sharks. I walk into these high street outlets, ranging from ‘The Money Shop’ to ‘Speedy Cash’ and enquire about borrowing some cash to pay my student rent at the end of the month. The place is busy. The deals sound deceptively attractive. Indeed, their relational, helpful service is so convincing that I’m almost tempted to walk out with £300 in my back pocket…

Yet what wasn’t as clear was details of the repayments that can easily build up. Staff talk of a ‘bonus payment’ if I repay the money on time, putting less emphasis on the large amounts of interest I’d be paying the company if I failed to do that.

In a month that was dubbed ‘black April’, where ordinary people risk loosing their benefits and working tax credits at the same time the government is giving a tax cut to the very richest in society, it’s no April Fools joke when it looks likely families will have to turn to pay day lenders in order to pay the bills and put food on the table.

What’s clear is that this is a familiar story on high streets across Britain. For the mother who needs to buy new school uniform for their children, or the young person who can’t meet their rent payments, there must seem little choice than to use these evermore accessible shops on their high street.

By speaking to people in charity shops and community centres it became clear that these shops would continue to be a necessity for all too many people.

I cannot claim to have experienced what would happen if I’d taken the loan and struggled to make the repayments – yet that is the experience of people across Britain, as has been proved through the grassroots SharkStoppers campaign.

The truth is that my mission came to a halt when I walked out the door. I can only imagine the feeling of powerlessness when people have nowhere else to turn. A sense that there is no alternative but to use these predatory companies and to go into debt.

There’s no chance of creating more resilient communities when these irresponsible companies are the answer to people’s economic woes.

Jamie Wright is communications officer at Goldsmiths Labour Students and an intern with Movement for Change. This piece was first published in Smiths Magazine in May 2013.

By Ewan Moor

It’s been a big few weeks for the Home Sweet Home campaign. And the next few weeks will be just as important.

Our activists have been organising and negotiating to ensure that the campaign to improve service and accountability in the private rental sector makes as much progress as possible.

The team has been busy at work. Fanwell, a Home Sweet Home leader, pictured below, who moved to Cardiff from Zimbabwe, has made huge progress bringing disability and BME groups from the city into the fold to increase the breadth and power of the campaign.

Nisreen, who lives in the city and got in touch with me simply because she wanted to start making things happen in the area, worked with local student representatives to come to an agreement on how Home Sweet Home landlords and agents can be recommended to people who come to them for housing advice.

Photo: Cardiff Before Cardiff

And this week, Nisreen and I were joined by Tara, a lead Home Sweet Home activist whose personal story of landlord neglect has driven ideas for the campaign. The three of us met with Lynda Thorne. Lynda is the Cabinet Member for Housing at Cardiff Council and has been a fantastic ally for the campaign. After hearing testimony from Tara, and the story of the campaign, she agreed to a number of our asks. One of the outcomes was that she agreed to provide a key channel of advice from the Council to tenants, advising them on which landlords have signed up to the Home Sweet Home Charter that was drawn up by 40 leaders from across the Riverside ward in February.

Lynda also agreed to attend our public action that is taking place next Saturday, 18^th May. There, we will publicly recognise the actions that Lynda, the student representatives, letting agents and the campaigners have taken. And, importantly, we will plan what we do next. Just as the Charter was written up by the community, we want the community to guide the campaign into its next phase.

Exciting times lay ahead!

Ewan Moor has been working with Movement for Change and Home Sweet Home since the beginning of the campaign in November 2012.

By Ryan Carter and Cllr Georgie Laming.

Southampton Sharkstoppers campaign started with a listening action

Our campaign began on the doorstep, hearing stories about the way in in which the current economic climate was affecting people in Southampton.  Many had begun turning to payday lenders in their hours of need. These organisations, which attract people with glossy advertising, had infiltrated our communities, especially Shirley High Street in the west of the city. One pay day lender had even moved into a shop that was previously held by the local credit union!

Southampton Sharkstoppers started off as a small group of local activists who wanted to see some real change in Southampton. We were all sick of the payday lenders that are filling up our high streets, and wanted to campaign for fairer forms of credit to become more available. Now, by working with Movement for Change, the local Labour party, Co-op party and interested community groups, we have achieved two innovative wins that will enable us to take on the short term, high cost lending industry in our city.

We began by becoming experts in the availability of credit in Southampton.  First we conducted online research; what was available and for how much.  We then went out and did mystery shopping of pay day lenders, pawn shops and the mainstream banks on Shirley High Street.

Role playing different scenarios in each store, we built up a first-hand understanding of how easy it is to get credit, and were surprised by our findings.  Preaching responsibility, nice workers in the local pay day lenders told our ‘pensioners in hard times’ team to use the bank and not to use them, and our ‘student’ team were rejected for a pay day loan to cover rent on the basis they only had a zero hours contract.  We also realised the banks are not trying to compete with the pay day lenders, generally offering only much larger loans.  Unsurprisingly however, many of our belongings, jewellery, phones etc, would be taken off our hands for next to nothing by the pawn shops.

We discussed our findings, and began to see that the issue at the heart of our campaign was accessible of fair credit generally, and not just the evil practices of these sharks.  A lack of access since 2008, with the contraction of bank lending, seems to have driven the explosion of pay day lenders in our communities.  We then built a strategy for taking the campaign forward.

We were pragmatic and realised our power was not yet great enough to be recognised by the huge centralised main stream banks.  Without recognition we would not be able to enter into negotiation to make a campaign ask.  Because of this we decided to focus on the local credit union; Solent Credit Union.  How could we get this small institution, which matched our own cooperative principles, to begin providing more credit to those targeted by the pay day lenders and rejected by the mainstream banks?

Before approaching the credit union we needed leverage.  To get this we made an ask of Southampton City Council.  Would they introduce a new system of auto-payroll deductions for credit union contributions?  They agreed, meaning that all staff would easily be able to put money into a credit union of their choice.

Campaigning in Southampton has paid off: negotiations resulted in an innovative deal with the local Credit Union

We then made contact with Solent Credit Union.  With the knowledge of our successful ask of the City Council they agreed to meet for a negotiation about how they lend and who to.  We knew the credit union needed more high value borrowers and savers before they could begin competing against the payday loans, and we knew we had just opened up the potential for new high value savers from the Council.  But we also knew we could not just walk in there and demand that they make more loans available to people on low incomes.

In the negotiation the credit union sat and listened to the story of our campaign, and then we heard about their business plans, lending criteria and membership.  We took five minutes out to caucus, developing a specific ask based on our ability to organise in the future and their self-interest as a business.

In the following negotiation it was agreed that for every two savers recruited through our campaign, they would make available one loan to someone on a low income at risk of going to a pay day lender.  Two for one.  Of course they will not (and should not) jeopardise their safe lending criteria.  Only people who are, based on their assessments, able to pay back the loan will be provided with credit.

This agreement is a huge achievement but it is also a challenge.  It means we can help the local credit union to grow, while at the same time making it more possible for those on the low incomes in this city to borrow money in a safe and responsible way.  But we are also challenging ourselves and the labour movement in Southampton to organise their money, to join the credit union, and to make a difference locally.  It is only by organising our money that we will have the power necessary to take on the pay day lending industry.

Students at Dundee Unviersity are asking: “When will you meet us, Principal Pete Downs?”

Activists at Dundee University stepped up their efforts on 30 May to push Principal Pete Downs to commit to paying the Living Wage for the entire University Staff. At a meeting outside Dundee Student Union, where Principal Downs was invited to but cancelled his attendance, the student activists had students, union members, local Councillor Richard McCready and an MP Jim McGovern engage in games such as “Is Pete’s Price Right?” where action attendees were asked to guess how much people in different professions were paid in salary.

One of the Living Wage campaign leaders, dressed in a Fat Cat outfit but who happened to earn the same wage rate and bore a striking resemblance to Principal Pete Downes, Connor McElwaine said: “Currently there are 152 not paid a Living Wage which means they are living in poverty and we find this unacceptable.”

The rally on campus was attended by about 50 people who heard from speakers including councillors, union activists and students involved in the campaign

“The University could quite easily find the money to commit to a Living Wage. In most cases this would be a small increase in pay and it is a disgrace that a prestigious university like Dundee that had a surplus of over £6 million in last year can’t seem to get this done.”

The University has eventually set up a sub-committee to examine the Living Wage but for every month the sub-committee takes to discuss the Living Wage is another month that 153 families are trapped in pay poverty.

Another activist Amber Plumbly said: “It is really disappointing that our Principal didn’t show up to this meeting we’ve been trying to organise with him since November last year. Our university will play a key role in Dundee potentially being named UK City of Culture- it’s a disgrace that they cannot find the will to lift people out of poverty.”

The campaign has also received the support of Jenny Marra MSP and UK Labour Students. This support has allowed for significant press attention in the local press which has allowed the campaign to gather further legitimacy and supporters.

MP Jim McGovern said: “I fully support the student led campaign- a campaign which is fantastic in that students have united to push for better living standards not for themselves but the people who help them earn their degree. Applying the Living Wage is applying common sense. ”

The action was covered by the Courier and STV

Movement for Change has been working with the campaign in Dundee since last November.

Kate Talbot, Community Organiser with Movement for Change said: “This is a great example of people coming together to take action on an issue that matters greatly to them. It has been such an enjoyable experience working with and developing such a great bunch of activists”.

Dundee Labour Students Living Wage Campaign links to a broader demand for a Living Wage in the UK. Speaking to the Guardian last weekend Ed Miliband said: “The whole living wage idea has come up from the grassroots. It is an example of the kind of politics that I want.”

“If Pete Downs thinks we will walk away from this, he’s got another thing coming”, continued McElwaine.

The action recieved some good coverage. Read the story on the local Courier here. Local STV news were also there to cover the action. You can watch their piece on the rally here until 6pm 1 May, 2013 – the action is covered at 13 minutes.

By Margaret Ranger

Activists in Congleton getting organised to save local Care Home

The SaveMountview Team was established as a result of much local concern regarding the potential closure of Mountview Community Care and Respite Home in Congleton, Cheshire.

News of this reached me when I was at Milton Keynes in March on Movement for Change’s motivating intensive training weekend. It seemed ideal to get involved with this as many people, both patients and carers, were very worried and upset at the thought of this well thought of care home possibly closing.

Issue worth fighting for

Cheshire East Council would save £325,000 if it closed Mountview. This was only one option as they stated they were looking in to what care facilities the local area needed to accommodate people with Dementia, Alzheimer’s and general respite care. One audit report stated that Cheshire East has a higher percentage of elderly people and hence a higher percentage of people suffering from dementia problems which will continue to rise, creating the need for more facilities not less.

Although there had been many letters from concerned residents in local papers, as well as people asking questions at local council meetings, there was no group organisation.

So the first thing I did was to have one-to-ones with people in Congleton CLP who were actively involved. A street stall was arranged for Saturday 16th March in Congleton Town centre to make people aware and to collect names and contact details of interested people. A petition was started and in two hours we got over 200 names.

Getting organised

Concerned people started to contact us. A carer’s daughter told me she was very relieved something was starting to be organised as it was difficult to meet other people who were directly affected as she only saw certain people at the care home at the times her father was there.

We decided to hold a public meeting and invited Cheshire East Officers, and our local MP. Up to this stage various local and Cheshire East Cllrs had been reserved with their opinions regarding the future of Mountview although noises were beginning to be made, especially as a result of our street stall.

The meeting held on April 2^nd was attended by more than 90 people, including organisers, as well as local Town Councillors, 5 Cheshire East Cllrs but no CE Officers. There was no shortage of questions and notes were taken of the many issues raised. These were passed on to the officers at CE, as well as to some CE Cllrs and to our local MP, who is very supportive of the local residents in keeping Mountview open.

During this time the team continued to collect names for the petition which we handed in to the portfolio holder of Health and Adult Social Care at CE Council on Monday, 22nd April with a total of 1730 signatures.

What next?

The consultation period ends today, 25th April. We are now eagerly awaiting the decision and hoping our organising has made a difference. By June, we should have an answer and from there the Team can start planning our next steps.

Kezia Dudgdale MSP with Cllr Maggie Chapman, Chair of the Petitions Committee, with a petition for a Payday Loan Taskforce in April 2013

The National Award for Best Practice was presented to the Debtbusters Campaign by Anas Sarwar MP, Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, in recognition of the innovation and effectiveness of their organising work on that campaign in Scotland.

One of the key leaders of the group is Kirsty Smith, who has been working with Movement for Change, including attending our residential training weekend last November, and has since worked to build and develop community actions alongside Kezia Dudgdale MSP, a Member of Movement for Change National Committee.

“When we started the Deptbusters campaign it was really Parliament focused but then, I went on to [the Movement for Change] residential training and learned how to make it more community focused” said Kirsty at the Scottish Labour Party Conference last weekend.

“The award is a recognition to what community organising can bring to Scottish labour party politics. There’s a real energy for community organising in Scotland.”

Hear Gareth and Stuart, who also work with the campaign, talk about developing leaders and inspiring people to take part in politics through community organising.

Deptbusters Campaign

Debtbusters is a grassroots, community-led campaign launched by Kezia Dugdale MSP in 2012 to tackle the growing problem of debt caused by Payday Loans. The campaign is driven by the desire to stop Payday Loan companies exploiting the vulnerable and making millions from those who are struggling to get by.

Debtbusters has three clear aims: to crack down on Payday Loan lenders street by street, to promote Credit Unions as a viable alternative and to change the law around the issue of debt

The campaign has already made a real impact. So far, the campaign has pushed the Scottish Government into agreeing that payday lenders will have to display ‘wealth warnings’ when advertising their loans. The activists have also handed in a petition of over one thousand signatures to Edinburgh City Council calling for a Payday Loan Task Force to crack down on payday loan companies and help educate and ameliorate their effects. The campaign has also been working with Mike Dailly from the Govan Law Centre to produce a proposal for interest to be frozen when people apply for a Debt Arrangement Scheme, coming into force on July 1st this year.

Students at Dundee University are pushing their Principal to commit to paying the Living Wage

The Living Wage campaign at Dundee University has been running since the start of the year and has gone from strength to strength. Dundee Labour Students are finding it outrageous that 153 members of the University staff not paid a Living Wage with 113 of them being women. Movement for Change has been working with Dundee Labour Students all through the school year to help them get organised around this pressing issue.

The Campaign has received a lot of media attention and support from the public

From the beginning of the campaign, the students have been collecting signatures on a petition which now stands at 500 signatures. The campaigners have also been leafleting and petitioning public lectures, pushed for online publicity and sent multiple letters to the principal.

The campaign has also received the support of Jenny Marra MSP, Jim McGovern MP and Cllr Richard McCready. This support has allowed for significant press attention in the local press which has allowed the campaign to gather further legitimacy and supporters.

Even after all this support and publicity, Principal Pete Downs hasn’t agreed to pay the Living Wage to the entire University staff.

With momentum building behind the campaign, our Dundee activists are heading into next week with a meeting on the 30^th of April in the student union with Principal Downs from which the students will seek a pledge of implementation.

Hear Connor McElwaine, one of the leaders of the Living Wage campaign and our residential training attendee from last November, talk about the campaign and how Movemvent for Change has helped give it focus.

Find out more about the campaign on the Dundee Labour Students’ website and stay tuned for updates!

Movement for Change activists getting organised in Southampton

Among other places, Movement for Change has recently been doing some organising work in Southampton. We have met with a number of activists who are keen to build two campaigns: one focusing on the provision of elderly care in the community and the other high rates of college drop-out in the city.  A host of one-to-one meetings culminated in a planning meeting last Friday in which the activists from both campaigns built a joint strategy for the next eight weeks.

Movement for Change will continue helping the group by shadowing a number of the activists as they got out into the community for some one-to-one meetings, and by holding a Movement for Change training session in May so that they are ready with some of the practical organising tools.

We are excited to be working with this energetic group in Southampton, some of whom are coming into Labour politics for the first time, and some who have lots of experience and want to try out some new organising techniques.

Would you like to start getting organised in your community? Get in touch with Movement for Change and attend one of our training sessions!

Community leaders in Kilburn are fighting for better access to fair credit. With the help of Movement for Change, community leaders in Kilburn attended a hearing chaired by Lord Parry Mitchell to give testimony on problems local people are facing due to lack of access to fair credit in Kilburn in April, 2013.

Watch our video of the campaign and the hearing with Lord Mitchell:

The hearing with Lord Mitchell was a great opportunity for the local community to have a real say on not just the future of their High Street but influence policy from a grassroots level.

Parry Mitchell on tackling the scourge of payday lenders on our high streets.

Last week, I was given a tour of Kilburn High Road by the Kilburn Campaign for Fair Credit and Movement for Change. Afterwards, local councillors and I listened to testimony from local residents about the effect that the 13 – yes, 13 – payday lending shops on this one road are having on the local community. It was a timely reminder about the scale of the problem at a time when the government appears to be watering down its own commitment to cap the total cost of payday loans.

I heard about how these loans spiral out of control, with those taking them out swiftly finding they owe many times more than they originally borrowed. I also heard about how they are being targeted at members of the community that have recently arrived in the country, and therefore may be less likely to understand the terms they’re being offered. A Somali women with two disabled children ended up with debts totally £3,000 pounds.

Several pieces of testimony were particularly interesting. One member of staff at a high street bank told us how the very act of taking out a payday loan affects people’s credit rating and makes it less likely they will be able to take out a conventional loan in future; one of many sad Catch 22s in the payday loan business.

Another concerned a different example of consumer credit terms being abused. A man with learning difficulties found he owed £2,000 to a phone company after being mis-sold a contract. They didn’t provide policy statements and essential information, and instead sold on his debt, so he found himself being harassed by debt collectors. In my own speech to the House of Lords last year I cited another worrying case of a family friend whose son had learning difficulties, and, having taken out a payday loan, saw it quickly get out of hand.

The extent to which the problem has proliferated in the past few years was clear, and I dread to think of how these predatory companies must be looking forward to the extensive cuts in benefit which began to really take effect this very month.

There were also some very encouraging developments. The Kilburn Campaign for Fair Credit are pressing council members, including those in attendance, to be able to have financial health advice right alongside the NHS health advice on Kilburn High Road. There was also the inspiring story of the man who set up a credit union on arriving in Kilburn as a teenager, just as his father had in Dublin.

Ultimately fighting the epidemic of payday loan companies will have to take different forms. It will require local initiatives such as these, which aim to educate and provide people with advice on credit. Changes to planning laws to make it harder for these shops to engulf an area are also important. I saw last year with Ed Miliband and Stella Creasy how this was happening in Walthamstow.

It was fantastic to see Ed say recently that the planning regulations now decimating our high streets need to change. Kilburn High Road has some fantastic small businesses, and more should be given the space to grow. They put money into the community; payday loan shops take it out.

Finally, we need to ensure the enabling act that I was proud to introduce last year is used. The newly formed Financial Conduct Authority now has the power to cap total costs of these loans, and no amount of prevaricating and backtracking from the government can change that.

Lord Parry Mitchell is a member of Labour’s Shadow Business team in the House of Lords

Published 15th April 2013 on Labour Lords