In 1986, at the instigation of the Leader of the Council, George Mudie, now MP for Leeds East, and Councillor Paul Truswell, now MP for Pudsey, a feasibility study was undertaken on the establishment of a Credit Union for employees of Leeds City Council. With the assistance of a grant towards start up and staff costs from Leeds City Council the new Leeds City Council Employees’ Credit Union was registered in August 1987 and served a common bond of permanent employees of Leeds City Council and retired employees.
A Board of Directors was elected in Annual General Meeting to manage the Credit Union on behalf of the members. All these Directors were, and still are, unpaid volunteers. In the first few years membership growth was slow but steady as the volunteer Board of Directors learned how to run a savings co-operative.
With the changes to Leeds City Council reflecting Compulsory Competitive Tendering and the removal of Further Education Colleges from the Council’s control, changes had to made to the Common Bond of L.C.C.E.C.U. To reflect these changes in October 1996 a new Common Bond was registered covering a number of city employers. In line with this change in the field of membership Leeds City Council Employees Credit Union Ltd changed its name to LEEDS CITY CREDIT UNION LTD.
Also in October 1996 membership was opened up to Families of existing members and a Young Savers (under 16) section was established. In 1998 it achieved a Certificate under Section 11C of the Deregulation Order 1996 granting it extended powers.
In a first for British credit unions, on 6 March 2001 Leeds City Credit Union’s common bond was expanded to include everyone who lives or works in the Leeds Metropolitan District, a field of membership of 800,000, the largest ever approved by the Financial Services Authority. | 
03 September 2010
