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If your credit union is considering allowing your members to have their benefits paid into the credit union then you need to read the DWP Information Pack which is available in the Documents Section of this website.

There are a lot of considerations that need to be made by your credit union before you start to receive benefit payments for your members. You need to have enough resources (volunteers/ staff time / opening times) to manage the extra workload as the majority of members receiving benefits will need or want access to it immediately to cover their day to day living expenses.

You need to consider the cash flow arrangements as transactions will need to be either in cash or by cashable cheque. You need to set up and run robust systems so as to keep members accounts up to date and so that if any problems arise they can be identified easily. The DWP can recall any payment it has made in error and you as a credit union must be able to deal with it immediately.
You need to set up a structure that makes receiving benefits easy to manage - DWP benefits use the persons National Insurance number as the reference but Child Benefit payments do not - but they still have a unique reference number alongside the letters CHB.

Once you receive the benefit, it is good practice to keep it in a holding account until the member tells you how they want it distributing. You need to have a clear Policy and Prcedure in place that shows how benefits payments are to be administered and how any problems will addressed.

If you are interested in taking in Benefit payments and would like more information please contact us at the office.