The document summarizes activities of the Pentecostal Credit Union's Youth Shadow Board. Four young people have joined the board to provide input from younger members. They have received training on credit unions and are working with a Christian rapper to develop a promotional music video. The board will also receive training on finances. There are still openings for up to 12 members total.

1. Four young people have joined our
new Youth Shadow Board – giving
us a way to hear directly from our
younger members.
pcushares
June 2016
Montelle Bartley, Reece Brown, Kamren Richards and
Jacob Connage have now met several times. We’ve given
them training about credit unions and the PCU, and they
are starting to get to know each other.
The group are now working with Tneek – a young Christian
rapper – to develop a rap for a special music video. The
video, which will be ready in the summer, will promote
the PCU to young people.
In future, we’ll be giving the group more training around
spending and saving. We’ll also be finding out from them
what young people want from us.
We still have places
The Youth Shadow Board has places for up to 12 members –
so you can still apply. To find out more, call the office on
020 8673 2542 or email us at info@pcuuk.com
Inside
Get your church on board 2
Proud of our staff 2
Renewal & re-dedication 2
AGM celebrates a successful year 3
10 things you need to know
about Universal Credit 3
Focus on: Education Loan Fund 4
Become a PCU ambassador 4
Refer a friend 4
Patrick and Talia help boost PCU 4
News from the Pentecostal Credit Union
Join the PCU and get £30!
If you’re under 18 and you open a credit union account,
the new Equiano Benevolent Gift Scheme, set up by
Christians, will pay your membership fee and start your
account with a deposit of £30.
Call 07708 311 066 (Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm)
to find out more.
Meet our Youth Shadow Board
Rapper Tneek, is pictured above with Youth Shadow Board
members Montelle, Reece and Jacob.
Members of the Youth Shadow Board have now started to
meet regularly to help us to promote the PCU to young
people and to share their views.

2. It’s bringing six benefits
into one
Universal Credit will eventually replace
Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income
Support, Income-related Employment
and Support Allowance, Working or
Child Tax Credits and Housing Benefit.
It’s being rolled out now
In most areas, single claimants without
children must now apply for Universal
Credit. In some postcodes, this applies
to families too. Existing claimants will
be moved across to Universal Credit
at a later date.
Does your church want to
help people gain skills
around financial matters?
If the answer is yes, why not contact
the PCU, so that your church can
take part in the PCU Roadshow.
From 1 June to 30 October, we will
be visiting church congregations,
and women’s, men’s and youth
groups, to talk about the credit
union and money matters.
Our free workshops will include
information and advice on how to:
• get out of debt
• budget better
• understand the value of
planning and saving, and
• get access to low-cost and
easy-to-pay loans.
We can attend your conference,
convention, ministry breakfast, or
just a normal Sunday service.
For more information, email
info@pcuuk.com. For more details
or to book a date, call Elaine Bowes
on 020 3793 5769.
Proud of our staff
We now hold a bronze award
as Investors in People, after
being reaccredited recently.
To be recognised as Investors in
people, we have to show that we
lead our staff well, offer them the
right support and give them the
chance to improve their skills and
our organisation.
Get your church
on board
AGM celebrates a successful year
Our Annual General Meeting took place on Saturday 19 March, at Tooting
Neighbourhood Centre.
After joining together in worship, we agreed the minutes
of our last AGM and heard about the PCU’s achievements
and performance over the past year.
Key highlights included:
• signing up 12 new members a month
• a new marketing plan, including an emphasis on
social media and our YouTube channel
• launching the new PCU Shares newsletter
• carrying out research to find out what different
groups of members want from the PCU
10 things you need to know about Universal Credit
1 It’s paid monthly in arrears
You may have to wait several weeks
before your first payment – and it
won’t cover the first seven days.
It’s one payment for each
household
It’s all paid direct to you
You will need to pay your rent yourself,
because your housing costs won’t go
direct to your landlord.
It’s all done online
You have to claim, check and update
your claims online. If you don’t have a
computer, you should be able to use
one at the jobcentre, your library or
your children’s centre. There is often
help on offer too.
You can work more hours
The 16-hour rule is abolished. Your
employers’ tax records will be linked in
to the system, so your Universal Credit
can be adjusted each week. You will be
able to keep a small amount of the
extra you earn.
There’s a cap
The Benefit Cap applies to Universal
Credit too, limiting the total amount of
benefit you can claim. From October,
in London, with few exceptions,
maximum claims will fall to:
• £23,000 for families, and
• 15,410 for single claimants.
There are more sanctions
If you break your claimant commitment
– for example, by refusing a job – you
could lose Universal Credit. If you do
this three times in a year, your benefit
could be stopped for up to three years.
Here’s a handy calculator
Check your likely benefit levels online at
http://universal-benefit-calculator.co.uk/
universalcredit – there is also more
information about Universal Credit at
www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk
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Renewal & re-dedication
Official opening of our refurbished offices
Bishop Delroy Powell, from the New Testament Assembly
in Tooting, re-dedicated our newly refurbished offices at a
small opening ceremony on 19 March.
A warm tribute to Rev. Jones
At the opening, we took the
opportunity to pay tribute to
Rev. Carmel Jones, who founded
the PCU in 1980.
Board member, Rev. Verona
Richards presented Rev. Jones with
an honorary award, as we made
him a life-long member.
As the son of one of our founding
members, Bishop Powell spoke of his
strong support for the ethical finance
provided by the PCU.
“I believe that Christ intended for us to
extend his redemptive purpose beyond
personal transformation and to create
fairer and just economies that reflect
faith-based principles – like the PCU,
where neither the lender nor the
borrower gain at the expense of the
other, but both lender and the
borrower, through a fair and just
transaction, come out better off,”
he said.
Councillor Richard Field, the Mayor-
Elect of Wandsworth opened the
offices by unveiling a commemorative
plaque. He went on to commend the
PCU for its many years of service to
the black community.
Bishop Powell is pictured centre left and
Cllr Field is picured below, revealing the
plaque as he officially opened the offices.
• major refurbishment of our offices
• working to set up a a new Youth Shadow Board
• granting loans totalling £1.28m, and
• getting confirmation from our officers and internal
auditors that we met all our legal responsibilities.
We thanked our staff, Board and Audit Committee
members for their hard work over the year.
You can download all our pubic documents, including
the AGM report, 35-year Celebration Brochure and PCU
Share newsletters, from: www.slideshare.net/PCUUK

3. Become an
ambassador
for the PCU
We’re still looking for
volunteers to act as a link
between us and their church.
As a PCU Ambassador, we would
ask you to:
• promote the PCU with fellow
churchgoers
• put people in touch with us
• promote our events, and
• pass on details of where church
members can get financial help
and advice.
Your church would have to agree
first and we would then invite you
onto our training course.
Our ambassadors are an important
part of our organisation. You would
also have access to training and
other opportunities with outside
organisations.
To find out more, call Lauren on
020 8673 2542.
Pentecostal Credit Union Limited 15 Oldridge Road, Balham, London SW12 8PL
Phone 020 8673 2542 Email info@pcuuk.com Web www.pcuuk.com /pentecostalcreditunion @PentecostalCU
The Pentecostal Credit Union is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (FRN 213242).
Focus on: Education Loan Fund
Whether you need money for school
uniforms, a computer or books for
your studies, or funding for college
tuition fees, the PCU can help.
The cost of borrowing £3,000, over 18
months, to pay for school uniforms,
would be £192 each month. You can
apply for a loan of this size from day
one of your membership.
Would you like to contribute to or
feature in a future issue of
pcushares? Call the office, we will
be pleased to hear from you!
If you or your children are in school or university, our
Education Loan Fund may be just what you need.
As an existing member in good
standing with the PCU, you can apply
to borrow up to £10,000 over three
years, at a cost of £327 each month.
Your loan would be subject to the
usual credit and affordability checks.
To apply, phone 020 8673 2542 and
opt to speak to Lauren, our Loans
Officer, who will be pleased to assist.
We’re pleased to report that our video of members Patrick and Talia
talking about the PCU (as featured in last issue) has had nearly
5,000 views on Facebook since February.
You can help us promote the PCU by encouraging people to view and share
the videos on our YouTube channel, which capture our events over the last
12 months. Go to YouTube and type in ‘Pentecostal Credit Union’.
Patrick and Talia help boost the PCU
We’re launching a new Member referral programme.
If your family member, friend or colleague practises the Pentecostal Faith,
why not make a referral? For every five new members who join PCU through
your referral, we will credit £50 to your PCU share account.
Refer a friend – and gain a £50 credit