A message from our CEO

I know that this is a particularly difficult period for everyone, far removed from normal times that any of us have ever experienced and I would like to reassure you, our Members, that our staff are doing everything they can to help you during this time.

The information from the government and Public Health Agency is evolving all the time and we are constantly reviewing and assessing advice and guidelines to ensure the service we provide to both our staff and our Members reflects the latest health and safety measures.

We have implemented a number of initiatives to help our staff during this period.

We recognise how difficult this period has been and continues to be for our staff and our Members. Our staff want to do what we can to help you with any financial difficulties you have encountered, as well as ensuring that, when you visit our branches, you are as safe as possible. We hope that the following measures will help with this:

• Social distancing measures introduced with a maximum of two customers permitted in branch at a time
• Extensive and increased cleaning measures introduced
• Consolidated staff resources to ensure more efficient responses to Member queries

In these challenging times we are also operating reduced opening hours and would encourage you to only visit our branches if absolutely necessary. If you would like to speak to a Member of staff, please submit an online form, either via our callback request or contact us page. For further information on updates we are making during the coronavirus outbreak, please visit our dedicated coronavirus update page.

Finally, I want to thank all our staff and Members for all the togetherness, support, hard work, teamwork and resilience in the face of these very difficult circumstances. These attitudes will help us all get through this together.

Darina Armstrong