Pennine Community Credit Union to reopen three branches

The credit union will open the doors of its Nelson, Burnley and Colne town centre offices as lockdown restrictions ease

As lockdown restrictions for the Covid-19 pandemic begin to ease, Pennine Community Credit Union (PCCU) is reopening three of its branches, it has been reported.

The credit union, which serves more than 9,000 members with collective savings of over £6.5m, says it will open the town centre branches in Nelson, Burnley and Colne, weekdays only.

As a credit union, it has been classed as an essential service during the lockdown and has been looking after its members through phone and online channels.

CEO Kathryn Fogg told the Burnley Express: “We understood when we closed the branches at the end of March that many people in our community relied on the services that the PCCU provides.

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“We hope we kept our promise to offer as close to a full service as possible via online and telephone channels but now we are ready to reopen.”

PCCU says there will be a range of social distancing measures in place, with only one person allowed at the counter at any one time, signage instructing customers to keep to two metre social distancing, and limited numbers of counter staff.

“We anticipated this may cause some disturbance when visiting a branch but hope account holders understand we are doing this for them, the community and the staff member’s best interest,” said Ms Fogg.