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Paul Anthony Jones spent the first part of his working life as a Catholic Priest where he worked tirelessly with deprived communities starting Youth Clubs and supporting socially and economically disadvantaged people across the areas where he worked.

Upon leaving the ministry he made a career change to focus on social work and especially on financially disadvantaged communities. He became a lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University where his publications and lectures gained him an international reputation particularly in the field of Credit Unions and financial inclusion, which has been his passion for decades. He isn’t only an excellent academic, but he has consistently worked at the grassroots with a number of different Credit Unions, including the one I was instrumental in setting up in Huyton, Merseyside, which he carefully steered into becoming a very successful financial institution for many people excluded from normal financial services.

Paul has a wonderful ability to work alongside people experiencing financial stress and gently support the long and patient process of working together to form a Credit Union that would in time bring innumerable benefits to those volunteering as well as to their wider community. He is also recognised widely among the academic community for his robust analysis and research directed at financial inclusion and how this social blight might be tackled. He speaks from practice – which isn’t always the case in academia.

Paul is someone who has worked ceaselessly for decades committed to alleviating financial hardship for no other reason than a profound commitment to some of the poorest people in our society and knowing he can make a difference with the insights, experience and expertise he brings to the issue.