The legal practitioner and social innovator Edgar Cahn proposed that the currency of our ‘core economy’ was, quite simply, time – the precious, finite resource that we invest into our families, friends and communities – a concept which he dubbed the ‘Time Dollar’. He set up the Time Dollar Institute in the 1980s, which pioneered the use of time dollars in the areas of youth justice and legal aid, wherein recipients of legal advice paid in time dollars, accumulated by spending time on projects that were of benefit to the neighbourhoods surrounding the law school. Thus, relationships which had been considered purely economic now involved the currency of social ethics, and importantly, were complementary with the conventional economy.
This resonates with what we all know – in all forms of volunteering and community activism, one of the most valuable assets is time. However, it is persistently under-valued, and often only valued at all in pounds and pence. But attitudes are changing, and time-banking schemes such as the one being established in Ward End and Pelham indicate that community networks are tapping into a fairer, and arguably more efficient way of releasing their potential.
Volunteers in Ward End & Pelham, running a pool tournament
In practical terms, time is deposited into the bank by giving practical help and support to others; and can be withdrawn when they need that help and assistance for an initiative of their own. The help and skills that people can offer will vary, but everyone’s time is valued equally, i.e:
one hour = one ‘time credit’
Timebanking UK explains that there are three basic models, but that these can be used interchangeably if needs be.
Firstly, the Person-to-Person model, involving a ‘broker’, who facilitates and records exchanges between individuals, and generally expands the membership of the Timebank. Person-to Person timebanks can be set up in a number of ways, notes Timebanking UK, but include:
- an independent, stand-alone local organisation run as a self help group, co-operative, not-for-profit organisation or charity;
- a two-way service run by statutory agencies utilising existing staff time and resources in collaboration with local residents in a defined community;
- a two-way service run by a third sector organisation or social enterprise as one of many services they provide for the local community;
- a service commissioned by local statutory and voluntary agencies in response to identified needs – communities of interest;
- small local neighbourhood time banks run and shaped by neighbours.
The other model is Person-to-Agency, wherein an organisation enlists people to help to achieve its goals, and rewards them in time credits, which can also be traded between individuals. This can engender a positive change within the agency, with paid staff facilitating co-produced services. The third, more nascent model is Agency-to-Agency, wherein organisations use time credits so as to exchange skills and resources with one another.
Case study: The Corner House
The Corner House, a mental health resource centre located in West Sussex, provides vocational programmes, recreational activities, outings and support for individuals with long term and enduring mental health problems. Prior to time-banking, The Corner House had struggled to match its funding and resources to service user needs.
But in adapting to an independent budget system (which replaced one where care professionals made all the support and provider decisions), they introduced a time-banking element in order to give users a more flexible control over the services they need. “It is often a fine line between ‘need’ and ‘want’ and local authority money as a Direct Payment, is only designed to cover the basic need. In most cases people have more than one option as to how they meet their needs and by combining Direct Payments with Time Banking they can explore more than one option and potentially double the benefit,” said The Corner House, speaking in a recent report.
The use of Time Credits proved to be a success, and demonstrated the potential for involving users in their own recovery, and further, complementing existing budgets. “In particular we showed how time banking could be part of a holistic network at the Corner House,” said Fran Creffield, who initiated the scheme and acts as its ‘broker’. “It encouraged users to be active, rather than passive, participants in their own programmes. They could identify the help they needed, or the interests they wanted to pursue, and see how earning time credits was a way of achieving something for themselves. It also dovetailed comfortably with our recovery programmes.”
As time broker, Fran is responsible for coordinating member sign up, inputting their details and the services offered, making the necessary matches and allocating credits and debits.
Fran and the time-banking system has really made a difference. One patient, Ali, had not had a paid job for nine years, but with time banking is doing some ironing for another member. “Time banking is great,” she told the centre. “I had forgotten that wonderful feeling of doing a job and wondering what to spend my earnings on. I know it’s not money but I am deciding whether to use my time credits for a massage or a manicure and I love it.”
