An appraisal of local exchange and trading systems in ...

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An appraisal of local exchange and trading systems in the United Kingdom Colin C. Williams

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Centre for Urban Development and Environmental Management, Leeds Metropolitan University Published online: 08 May 2007.

To cite this article: Colin C. Williams (1996) An appraisal of local exchange and trading systems in the United Kingdom, Local Economy, 11:3, 259-266 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02690949608726337

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Local Exchange and Trading Systems (LETS) are not new initiatives. Such systems have a long history and have appeared in various forms at different points in time. Most of these "local currency systems" have emerged in low-income communities where money is scarce and where there are many unmet needs and wants. This New Initiatives section focuses on the current debate about the role that LETS can play - as a political challenge, as an empowerment strategy, or as a community or economic development initiative. On each of these issues there are wide ranging views about the potential of LETS. The articles in this section engage with these differing views, drawing on both practical experience of operating LETS and on research data. Colin Williams notes that, in the last few years, LETS have been seized on as a new toolfor promoting community development. His paper reports on results of a national survey of the origins, objectives, growth, magnitude, character and impacts of LETS. A number of recommendations are made that would make LETS a more effective vehiclefor community development. The piece by Martin Stott and fosephine Hodges argues that Williams' analysis is an optimistic interpretation of the role of LETS and cautions against unrealistic expectations. The final piece by Pete North, based on research carried out for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, provides a further reflection on the contribution of LETS to urban regeneration. North feels that the debate about LETS has become too polarised and what is needed is a grounded analysis of the circumstances in which LETS might be an appropriate policy response and what LETS can reasonably be expected to achieve. North's paper explores the extent to which LETS is an appropriate tool to combat poverty, disempowerment, and feelings of dependency and alienation in areas of disadvantage and social exclusion.

An appraisal of Local Exchange and Trading Systems in the United Kingdom

such policy initiatives. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to report the results of a national survey of the origins, objectives, growth, magnitude, character and impacts of LETS. Arising out of this, several alterations are recommended in their internal and external operating environments so as to enable LETS to become more effective tools for promoting community development.

Colin C. Williams

Introduction In low-income communities, there are many people with unmet needs and wants, and many others who want to work, but what prevents this demand and supply being matched is a lack of money. The aim of LETS is to overcome this problem by enabling people to exchange goods and services with each other without the need for national currency. To do this, a group of people set up an association and create a local unit of exchange (eg bobbins in Manchester, favours in Calderdale, solents in Southampton). They then offer goods and services to each other priced in these units. Each member makes a list offering various kinds of work, along with a list of requests of what s/he

Outline During the past few years, Local Exchange and Trading Systems (LETS) have emerged through the United Kingdom and are being widely heralded as a new tool for promoting community development. Indeed, 64 per cent of local authorities have expressed an intention to develop a LETS in their area (Gibbs et al, 1995). However, there has been little, if any, appraisal of LETS which can inform Colin C. Williams is in the Centre for Urban Development and Environmental Management, Leeds Metropolitan University.

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• NEW/INITIATIVES wants doing, which are entered into a regularly published directory circulated to all members, similar to "Yellow Pages". Individuals then contact each other to buy or sell their goods and services. The price for any transaction is arrived at through reciprocal agreement between the buyer and seller. Normally, the local unit of exchange is treated as equal in value to the national currency. The association keeps a record of these exchanges by means of a system of cheques written in the local LETS units. Each time work is undertaken, the person who has sold the good and/or service sends the cheque that s/he has received to the treasurer, who acts in a similar manner to a bank sending out regular statements of account to the members. No actual cash is issued in the form of notes and coins. All transactions are by cheque and are written in the local currency. No interest is charged or paid. Within the UK, there has been widespread interest in this new tool for facilitating community development. The problem, however, is that, besides anecdotal newspaper articles (EdwardsJones, 1993; Wylie, 1994) and several investigations of individual LETS (Lee, 1996; Williams, 1995; 1996a; 1996b; 1996c), there has been no structured evaluation which can inform policy. Consequently, in May 1995, a postal questionnaire was sent to all LETS in the UK. Of the 275 schemes listed in the national directory of LETS (LetsLink UK, 1994), 90 responded (a 32.7 per cent response rate). To commence, therefore, this paper examines their origins and objectives, followed by an appraisal of the growth, magnitude, character and impacts of LETS in the UK. Arising out of this, a number of alterations in their internal and external operating environments are identified to make them more effective tools for promoting community development. LETS in the United Kingdom Origins and objectives of LETS

Local currency systems have materialised in different guises at various points in time. During the 1930s, for example, "scrip" money was introduced in the United States as an "alternative" currency to help the unemployed palliate their circumstances

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in a situation where state assistance for the unemployed was lacking. Over 75,000 people in 400 groups traded in scrip before state assistance for the unemployed was introduced. In recession-torn Europe during the same decade, the Worgl local currency experiment in Austria captured the interest of many other towns and cities before the Austrian state bank intervened via the government to halt the printing of alternative currencies (Offe and Heinze, 1992; Weston, 1991). The local currencies which have emerged in the past decade or so, although again a response to poverty and unemployment, are no longer seen as "alternative" currencies. Neither are any notes or coins printed. Instead, they are promoted as "complementary" currencies working parallel to the formal economy (Dauncey, 1988; Jackson, 1994; Seyfang, 1994). The local units of exchange, meanwhile, are seen as a "scoring" system, much like matchsticks in "baby-sitting circles", to keep count of favours which people owe to, or are owed by, the local association. LETS are by far the most popular form of local currency system currently operating in the advanced nations (Brandt, 1995; Dobson, 1993; Greco, 1994). The LETS concept was first introduced into the UK in 1984 at The Other Economic Summit, a forum for "new economics" thinkers which runs alongside the G7 Economics Summit. (The new economics is defined by Ekins (1986, xv) as being "based on personal development and social justice, the satisfaction of the whole range of human needs, sustainable use of resources and conservation of the environment"). Michael Linton, who had successfully set up a LETS in the Comox Valley, Canada, in 1983, presented the idea in a workshop (Linton, 1986). From that point onwards, it has been advocated and developed in this country and elsewhere mostly by those involved in the new economics (Brandt, 1995; Dauncey, 1988; Dobson, 1993; Greco, 1994; Lang, 1994). Most LETS set up by groups, for example, have arisen out of either environmental groups or "alternative" organisations such as Steiner schools. According to the existing literature, LETS are founded for three principal reasons (Dobson, 1993; Lang, 1994; Lee, 1996; Seyfang, 1994, Williams, 1996a):

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NEWINITIATIVES 1. To reconstruct "localised" economies which are more inter-linked and less reliant on external goods and services (an economic objective). 2. To help those excluded from employment to participate in productive activity, use or extend their existing skills and improve their selfesteem and quality of life, whilst obtaining something useful in return (a social equity objective). 3- To encourage community exchange as a means of resurrecting and improving social networks within localities (a community-building objective). Examining the importance attached to these objectives in the UK, the survey results display that 63.0 per cent of LETS cite economic motivations in their rationale for setting up, 59.3 per cent give community-building objectives and 30.8 per cent social equity reasons. Most UK LETS, therefore, seek to rebuild social networks through the medium of localised exchange.

quickly spread to towns and villages and only then, to cities. Consequently, LETS do not conform to the popular prejudice which often assigns cities with a hegemonic status as the birth-place for innovations.

Table 1. Year LETS Established: By Geographical Area Covered Number of LETS

Whole Whole Neighbour- Village Rural Town hood Area City

1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 pre-1991

_ 2 4 3 -

% of LETS 11.1 % of all members 22.6

2 9 9 2 2 -

1 4 3 2 1 -

_ 2 2 1 -

4 12 11 1 2 2

29.6

13.6

6.2

39.5

25.8

11.7

7.1

32.8

Source: Author's survey. Growth of LETS

The first LETS in the UK was launched in 1985 in Norfolk (Lee, 1996). It was not until the 1990s, however, that the LETS idea really began to take off. In early 1992, there were just five LETS in operation in the UK. By December 1992, this had grown to more than 40 and another 60 were in the development stage. However, by 1994, according to Lang (1994), this had expanded to more than 200 LETS in operation with over 20,000 members and, in late 1994, 275 LETS were functioning (LetsLink UK, 1994). Early indications for 1995, furthermore, suggest that this expansion is continuing in that there were by then around 350 LETS (LetsLink UK, 1995). Most LETS, therefore, remain in their infancy in formal business terms: 88 per cent are less than two years old. The vast majority of LETS, wherever they are located, tend to cover a radius of at least 10 miles or more. Indeed, Table 1 displays that many encompass a whole city, a town or a broad rural area. Those few which cover a neighbourhood of an urban area, moreover, are mostly in major conurbations such as London or Birmingham. Examining their geographical diffusion, the finding is that they commenced in rural areas and then

Magnitude of LETS

According to the survey responses, LETS have an average of 85.6 members and a mean annual turnover equivalent to £6,006 (see Table 2). Assuming that this is a representative sample, then there are approximately 30,000 people trading the equivalent of £2.1 million in the 350 LETS in the UK. Nevertheless, there are wide variations in their size, ranging from 550 members in Manchester LETS to just a handful in other schemes. Indeed, and as Table 2 indicates, older LETS have larger memberships and higher trading levels than younger LETS. This is a direct result of the time which they have had to establish themselves. If the average turnover of LETS formed in 1991 and earlier is taken as the mean size of existing LETS as they mature, then it might be very tentatively forecast that the 350 LETS currently operating will by 1999 have a total turnover equivalent to £5.8 million and 64,000 members. Of course, this forecast is but a "guesstimate" based on a longitudinal extrapolation from existing trends. As such, it should be treated with the utmost caution. Nevertheless, and in the absence of any other estimate, it

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NEWINITIATIVES Table 2. Membership and Turnover of LETS: By Year Established %of Average Average Average LETS Number of Turnover Turnover per Member Members (£) (£)

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1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 and earlier TOTAL

8.6 31.0 35.8 56.9 35.8 71.3 9.9 162.5

252.0 8.13 2,690.5 47.28 3,223.4 45.21 17,085.0 105.14

9.9 183.5 100.0

85.6

16,500.0

89.92

6,006

70.16

Source: Author's survey.

is an indication of the magnitude LETS might achieve during the next four years. This assumption of continued expansion, moreover, is reinforced by the survey: 86.3 per cent of LETS responding are growing, with only 3-7 per cent contracting. Those few which are struggling to expand are the mid-age LETS with a membership below 50 and a turnover of less than £1,000. Consequently, if LETS survive their first few years and reach a "critical mass" of 50 (or preferably 100) members and a turnover equivalent to £1,000, they will tend to continue to function and expand. There is a strong correlation, therefore, between the number of members and the capacity of a LETS to facilitate exchange (see Table 3). This is because, as membership size rises, the range and spatial density of the goods and services available Table 3. Level of Trading on LETS: By Membership Size Membership

%of LETS

Mean Turnover (£)

Mean Turnover per Member

ffi) Under 50 50-99 100-199 Over 200

43.2 34.6 11.1 11.1

741.37 2,678.33 10,500.00 28,166.67

Source: Author's survey.

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14.66 24.98 55.60 74.88

on the LETS broadens and deepens, enabling the easier matching of offers and requests. LETS with fewer members, meanwhile, have difficulties matching the supply and demand for goods and services. Indeed, the spatial density of the membership, and thus whether goods and services are available in close proximity to members' households, appears to be an important determinant of the volume of trading on a LETS. As Table 4 displays, LETS based on a small area, such as a village, or LETS in urban areas with larger memberships, have higher average trading levels per member than LETS with more geographically diffused membership. This is because much of the trade on LETS is in consumer services (eg hairdressing, grocery buying, baby-sitting) which are usually purchased near to the home. The problem for those LETS with relatively few members covering a broad geographical area is that the good and/ or service may not be available within close proximity to the buyer's household so the purchaser will forego the opportunity to buy the service or good on the LETS. In LETS with a more spatially compact membership, meanwhile, this problem is much less likely to occur. Table 4. Trading on LETS: By Geographical Area Average Average Average Turnover Number of Trade per (£) Members Member (£) Whole city 21,410 Whole town 4,060 Neighbourhood 2,807 Village 7,020 Rural area 4,285

156.7 134.3 66.5 88.0 73.0

136.6 30.2 42.2 79.8 58.7

Source: Author's survey.

This overview thus suggests that the overall economic impact of UK LETS are fairly small compared with the volume of trade taking place in the mainstream economy. Nevertheless, it must be remembered not only that most LETS are in their infancy but also that "to examine purely the quantitative economic impacts is to do an injustice to their more qualitative social and community-building effects" (Williams, 1995,214). Recent investiga-

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tions of Calderdale, Manchester and Totnes LETS, for example, reveal that the impacts of these LETS on their members' quality of life can be very significant (Williams, 1995; 1996a; 1996b; 1996c). Consequently, it is perhaps more useful to consider LETS in terms of their use value to the individual members rather than purely in terms of the overall exchange value generated by such systems. Who, therefore, participates in LETS?

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Characteristics of members

To understand who joins LETS, it is first necessary to explore how LETS recruit members. This is because, although the vast majority of LETS (92.6 per cent) do not explicitly target specific social groups to become members, there is much evidence of unintentional targeting. Many associations seek the "line of least resistance" in their membership drives and aim their publicity in the first instance at organisations likely to be interested, such as members of environmental groups, after which they rely on "word of mouth" to publicise the association. The outcome, as Lee (1996) discovers in South East England, is that certain groups, especially many sections of the unemployed, feel "excluded", perceiving LETS as something for people other than themselves. LETS do not keep records of the members' characteristics other than their name, address and trading levels. As such, constructing a profile of the membership is problematic. Nevertheless, since LETS participants have relatively good knowledge of each other's circumstances, this survey requested LETS co-ordinators to estimate personally the characteristics of their members. Although the validity of such data is open to question, it is the only information currently available. As Table 5 shows, LETS co-ordinators perceive their memberships to be over-represented by greens, women and those in employment. Given the advertising strategy noted above, this is perhaps unsurprising. However, an evolution in the composition of LETS does appear to be gradually taking place. The more recently created LETS are less dominated by greens, people in jobs and men than older LETS. As one LETS co-ordinator whose system had commenced trading in 1994 put it, "I think that we have a smaller emphasis on the green and middle class than many LETsystems as we have deliber-

ately set out to open the concept up to all . . . However, we do still lean in that direction a little". It is salient, therefore, that all of the LETS coordinators describing their membership profile as "very varied" have been formed since 1994, whilst those characterising their membership as "green/ alternative" were mostly formed earlier. There is evidence, moreover, that this evolution in membership across LETS is also occurring within LETS. As the co-ordinator of one exchange put it, "After the initial recruitment of 'alternatives', membership is becoming more a cross-section of our wider community". This sentiment was repeated on many other LETS. Table 5. Membership Profile: By Year LETS Was Established Year Number Established of LETS

% of members who are: Women

Not in Greens Employment

1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 pre-1991

7 29 29 8 6 2

62.6 59.6 59.5 58.1 54.6 53.0

32.7 30.5 27.5 27.5 24.7 22.0

51.0 67.5 70.3 74.8 73.7 95.0

All LETS

81

59.2

29.4

70.4

Source: Author's survey.

To understand the changing nature of LETS members, however, there is a need to move beyond an analysis simply of individual members' characteristics. Although the vast majority of members are individuals (95.6 per cent), during the past few years a concerted effort has been made to enlist formal sector businesses. The aim, in so doing, is to widen the range of goods and services available so as to make them more attractive to potential individual members. This survey reveals a mean of 3.75 businesses on each LETS. However, there are wide variations (see Table 6). LETS with larger memberships have more businesses. This is doubtless an iterative process with one type of membership feeding off the other. The vast majority of these businesses are consumer services, typically consisting of second-hand shops, healing

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Table 6.

Business Membership of LETS

Number of Businesses

Number ofLETS

% of all LETS

Mean Number of Individual Members

0 1 2 3 4 5-9 Over 9

28 18 9 9 4 7 6

34.6 22.2 11.1 11.1 4.9 8.6 7.4

54.6 85.2 68.4 55.7 79.3 134.7 234.3

Source: Author's survey.

clinics, museums, wholefood co-operatives, green-grocers, and cafes and restaurants. To a lesser extent, a range or producer services or mixed producer/consumer services belong to LETS, including accountants, solicitors, advertising agencies and printers. Perceived impacts ofLETS

To what extent do co-ordinators believe that LETS are achieving the community-building, economic and social equity objectives which they set themselves? Although 73-4 per cent judge that they are successful at rebuilding social networks (their community-building objective) and 70.9 per cent at encouraging local trade (their economic objective), only 54.4 per cent believe that they are achieving the social equity objective of helping the poor to get by. To some extent, this reflects the fact that UK LETS have been founded with economic and community-building objectives rather than with social equity motivations in mind. Moreover, and as one would expect, those running smaller systems perceive themselves as less effective in achieving these objectives than those administering larger LETS, especially those with under 50 members and a turnover less than £1,000 per annum. Policy implications

As the above analysis displays, the growth of LETS in the UK has been rapid, with the vast majority only being formed since 1993- Consequently, there has been little opportunity to reflect on the main problems confronting these associations and to

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analyse the alterations required in their internal and external operating environments if they are to improve their capacity to promote community development. So far as their internal operations are concerned, it appears that there are two main problems which need to be overcome for LETS to improve their ability to achieve their objectives. First, the range and density of the goods and services currently on offer are insufficient to enable the demands of members to be easily fulfilled. This is not only because membership of many LETS is fairly small at present but also because LETS cover relatively large geographical areas in which members are widely dispersed. Until the number of LETS expands to cover smaller geographical areas, therefore, and until the membership size grows, they will remain limited in their capacity to meet a significant proportion of people's needs and wants. There is some evidence, however, both that LETS are emerging which cover smaller areas (eg Coventry now has two LETS covering differing parts of the city) and that membership size is continuing to rise as LETS start to mature. Second, there is a need to change the way in which LETS publicise themselves. At present, and as highlighted above, many LETS adopt the line of least resistance, targeting groups such as environmental organisations for new members and, following this, pursue a strategy of "word of mouth" for recruitment. The outcome is that many social groups, especially those who could most benefit from LETS, are unintentionally excluded. If, for instance, more unemployed are to be encouraged to join, a more systematic and targeted marketing effort aimed at such groups will thus be required. At present, LETS look to "outsiders" too much like an exclusive club. This problem is compounded, moreover, by the fact that far too many LETS coordinators are content to allow their LETS to remain just such an exclusive club for "greens" and "alternatives" and there appears to be a distinct lack of desire to promote them to a wider range of potential beneficiaries. Indeed, there seems to be a strong division in the LETS movement between those who wish to see the LETS idea opened up to a wider audience and integrated into formal institutions (eg by local government taking a more active role in their creation and

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day-to-day operations) and those who are vehemently opposed to such a process. Nevertheless, even if the size of the geographical area covered by LETS diminishes and the membership level broadens and reaches the "critical mass" to enable an easier matching of offers and wants, changes are also required in the external operating environment of LETS if they are to be more successful in achieving their objectives. At present in the UK, and as discussed elsewhere (Lang, 1994; Williams, 1995; 1996a; 1996b; 1996c), the employed can take part in LETS without too much fear of recourse when the activity is not part of their main occupation, but the unemployed are often deterred from participating due to social security regulations. Present government regulations, therefore, are not only reinforcing existing social inequalities but also preventing the unemployed from regaining self-esteem and mitigating their deprivation by engaging in productive activity. To overcome this situation, it is here proposed that UK government policy towards LETS is altered to mirror the approach already adopted by the Australian government. In Australia, the employed are taxed on their LETS earnings if the work undertaken is part of their main formal occupation, but the unemployed's local currency earnings are disregarded in the income test for social security. Indeed, when claimants sign on, they are now given details of their local LETS and how to join it. This is a product of the "Deahm Amendment" to the Social Security Act, passed in the Australian Federal Parliament on 1st March 1995, which removes the provision requiring LETS work to be counted in the income test for social security. Nevertheless, three restrictions remain: claimants must still be seeking employment; any Australian dollar earnings on LETS (where a job is completed for a mixture of LETS units and national currency) must still be declared and is counted as income for social security purposes; and the LETS must be run as a not-for-profit community enterprise. If this policy stance were to be employed in the UK, the affluent would be at a relative disadvantage in LETS, having to charge higher "prices" for much of their work than poorer and unemployed groups, who would not have to add the tax rate to their price. The outcome might be to encourage

consumers to use the unemployed and poor to get the work done on LETS, thus providing them with a competitive advantage in this alternative labour market. In sum, given the shortage of money in many low-income communities which prevents the supply of, and demand for, goods and services being matched, LETS represent a means by which people can exchange goods and services without the need for national currency. This study finds that the institutional infrastructure to facilitate this process is rapidly being assembled in the UK. For further progress to be made, however, two changes are required. First, the LETS movement in the UK needs to show a greater willingness to open up LETS to a wider range of participants and second, the facilitative milieu needs to be created to enable this to happen. As such, not only does central government need to relax the social security rules but those local authorities which view themselves as "enablers" need to fund more actively this potentially powerful new weapon for empowering people to help themselves. • References BRANDT, B. 1995: Whole life economics: revaluing daily life, Philadelphia: New Society Publishers. DAUNCEY, G. 1988: After the crash: the emergence of the rainbow economy, London: Green Print. DOBSON, R. V. G. 1993: Bringing the economy home from the market, London: Black Rose Books. EDWARDS-JONES, I. 1993: Trugs? what a sterling idea, The Independent, 17th March, 23. EKINS, P. 1986: Preface, in Ekins, P. (ed) The living economy: a new economics in the making, London: Routledge. GIBBS, D., LONGHURST, J. and BRAITWWAITE, C. 1995:

Towards sustainable development: integrating local economic development and the environment, paper presented to European Regional Studies Association Conference, Gothenburg, May. GRECO, T. H. 1994: New money for healthy communities, Tucson: Thomas H. Greco. JACKSON, M. 1994: LETS in New Zealand: directions for an analysis of women's involvement, paper presented to Geography and Gender Study Group, Institute of Australian Geographers, February. LANG, P. 1994: Lets Work: rebuilding the local economy, Bristol: Graver Books.

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LEE, R. 1996: Moral money? Making local economic geographies: LETS in Kent, South East England, Environment and Planning A, Vol 28, No 7, 1377-94.

WILLIAMS, C. C. 1995: Trading favours in Calderdale, Town and Country Planning, Vol 64, No 8, 21415.

LETSLINK UK 1994: Directory of LETS in the United Kingdom, Warminster: LetsLink UK. LETSLINK UK 1995: LETS soar to 350 and more!, LetsLink!, No 2, 8. LINTON, M. 1986: Local currency, in Ekins, P. (ed) The living economy: a new economics in the making, London: Routledge.

WILLIAMS, C. C. 1996a: The new barter economy: a appraisal of Local Exchange and Trading Systems (LETS), Journal of Public Policy, Vol 16, No 1, 55-71.

OFFE, C. and HEINZE, R. 1992: Beyond employment: time,

WILLIAMS, C. C. 1996C: Local Exchange and Trading

work and the informal economy, Cambridge: Polity. SEYFANG, G. 1994: The Local Exchange Trading System: political economy and social audit, MSc thesis, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia. WESTON, D. 1991: The rules of lucre, Geographical Magazine, April, 38-40.

Systems (LETS): a new form or work and credit for the poor and unemployed?, Environment and Planning A, Vol 28, No 8, 1395-415.

Local Exchange and Trading Schemes

active members we are in a privileged position, having access to newsletters, membership lists and transaction records, which as part of the process of ensuring the "transparency" of a LETS scheme are available to scheme members. Our comments are drawn from these sources and interviews with other members. Williams identifies three objectives as the rationale for establishing LETS schemes which are summarised from the literature thus:

Never knowingly undersold?

Martin Stott and Josephine Hodges The New Initiatives article by Williams in this issue is an important contribution to the debate on the role of Local Exchange and Trading Schemes (LETS) in local economies, not least because of its comprehensive nature. However, our experience of activists in two very different but successful LETS schemes suggests that his analysis is an optimistic interpretation of the role of LETS, and consequently comes^to conclusions which give LETS a much greater significance than they really deserve. Our experiences are in the North East Dartmoor LETS (founded 1994, current membership 88) and the Oxford LETS (founded 1994, current membership 306). The experience is limited but direct. As

Martin Stott is Economic Policy Advisor, Oxfordshire County Council and Josephine Hodges is Co-ordinator NE Dartmoor LETS.

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WILLIAMS, C. C. 1996b: Informal sector solutions to unemployment: a preliminary evaluation of Local Exchange and Trading Systems (LETS), Work, Employment and Society, Vol 10, No 2, 341-59.

WYLIE, I. 1994: Lets with the hindrance, The Guardian, 17th September, 8.

"to reconstruct localised economies which are more interlinked and less reliant on external goods and services" (an economic objective); "to help those excluded from employment to participate in productive activity, use or extend their existing skills and improve their self-esteem and quality of life whilst obtaining something useful in return" (a social equity objective); and "to encourage community exchange as a means of resurrecting and improving social networks within localities" (a community building objective). We have a number of observations based on our experiences. First, LETS membership is not a good guide to the "health" of a LETS scheme. In both groups only 20 per cent of the membership could be described as active — our definition is undertaking 10 or more trades a year, ie 17 people in NE