• Time Brokers by David Boyle •
Is there a working alternative to the market economy? David Boyle reports on a project which has come up with a substitute for cash
The defining characteristic of Stonehouse in Gloucestershire is that it is flat. Because of this accident of geology, it tends to attract retired people who are reluctant to trawl up the hills and valleys of nearby Stroud. And that made it a particularly appropriate town to launch the first "time money" project in the UK.
Using time as a kind of money to provide non-medical services for older people - anything from dog-walking to shopping - to help them stay independent is now almost mainstream in the US. But this month, the Stonehouse Neighbourhood Project is playing host to Fair Shares, the first "time dollar" scheme in the UK.
It works like volunteering. Someone who needs a service phones the office and is matched with another participant who can help. What makes this different is that people who received the services are encouraged to reciprocate in some way back to the system. After a fortnight, it has 20 people - aged between 14 and 90 - who between them are offering up to 52 different services, ranging from bereavement visiting to driving a van.
It began in Stonehouse after the Neighbourhood Project got a call from an elderly lady who needed someone to walk her dog while she was confined to bed. They helped, and her friends started calling too. "It made us realise how much need there is out there for this kind of support, for which there is no statutory obligation" said project co-ordinator Liz Zorab.
Fair Shares is an idea familiar to anyone involved in Britain's LETS movement - which began in Britain a decade ago, just up the road in Stroud. But it comes instead from a social services tradition. It uses imaginary money to measure people's contribution to their neighbourhood rather than encouraging private exchanges.
"We tend to look at people's needs, rather than their wants." Says Fair Shares co-ordinator Joy Rogers. "There are similarities with LETS, but there are differences too. The main one is that we don't mimic market values. Everyone's time is worth the same."
That means the reciprocation could be making supportive phone calls to a neighbour. This kind of service has no market value at all, but it is invaluable when it comes to building a community. It also means the housebound have something real to contribute - and that makes them feel better too.
Local school sixth-formers are providing some of the services; older people are paying of their time debt by gleaning their memories to help with a school project on local history.
Participants are asked at the beginning what they want to do with their credits - keep them, spend them, or give them to relatives. US experience shows that most credits are never spent, but simply measuring people's efforts is usually satisfying enough to keep them helping.
Giving back really helps, says the very first Fair Shares participant, first aid teacher Annette Founds. "It's very important for Stonehouse because we have very independent-minded people living here - and they like to pay their way."
Stonehouse is the first of a network of nine time money projects planned for Gloucestershire, thanks to Fair Shares and funding from the Barnwood House Trust and the National Lottery.
The idea is modelled on the successful time dollars or service credit idea in the US, developed by the civil rights lawyer Edgar Cahn.
There are now 200 or so schemes in the US, Germany and Japan - starting in hospitals and health centres and now paying credits to volunteers of all ages, including mentors, teenage tutors and jurors, security patrollers and baby-sitters. Research shows this can encourage new people who never do so normally.
Which is why the Government's Social Exclusion Unit has been studying the idea, and why organisations like the King's Fund and the New Economics Foundation are working to start more of them around the UK. Projects in Watford and Newcastle are planned for next year.
In the US, "time dollars" now drive a complicated network of imaginary economies; that, say enthusiasts, keeps people healthier, cuts crime and school drop-out, and builds communities.
You can use your time earnings to buy a range of other things, from refurbished computers and food through to health insurance and mortgages - mortgages because volunteer time can cut the cost of building new houses, health insurance because earning time money means you are cheaper to insure.
It's a whole new kind of economy, and there's barely a detectable market value in it anywhere.
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