Timebanking UK
The UK's national timebanking charity, founded in 2002, supporting a network of local time banks where one hour of help always equals one time credit regardless of the service given. Members have exchanged almost 7 million hours across more than 4,400 participating organisations, with partnerships that let credits be spent at heritage sites across Wales and count toward national employment-support requirements.
The largest national timebanking body in the world's most developed timebanking market: debt-free, labor-issued, inflation-immune credits with 23 years of history and ~7M hours exchanged. Weaknesses are the mirror image of its strengths — grant-funded central infrastructure, no technological rule enforcement, and network-bounded reach.
M69 Score
Scored against the Money2069 Manifesto — see methodology. Higher = more aligned.
Detailed Rating Breakdown
Issuance Model3x4.0
Credits are created debt-free by an hour of real service — issuance is directly tied to labor output (IM-02/IM-03 strong) and supply is elastic with activity; capped at 4 because joining runs through local time-bank membership rather than being fully permissionless (IM-01) and contraction relies on members spending down hours (IM-05).
Spending Power Stability2x4.0
The unit is structurally anchored: one hour equals one hour, a labor-based benchmark the framework itself recognizes (SPS-02 band 4), immune to monetary inflation with a 23-year track record; no explicit stability mechanism beyond the definition and reach is network-limited (SPS-06).
Fiat Independence & Interoperability2x4.0
Fully sovereign unit of account with no fiat peg and no reserves at all (FI-01/FI-02); the currency keeps functioning if fiat fails. The supporting charity itself runs on grant funding and there is no open cross-network settlement standard (FI-08), which holds it at 4.
Traction2x4.0
23 years of continuous operation, ~26k members, 4,400+ member organisations, hours natively denominated as the unit of account inside the network (TR-05), DWP and Cadw partnerships, BBC coverage in 2025 and activity through 2026; user scale (TR-03) and flat growth keep it at 4.
Sovereignty3.0
Individual time banks are independent, so no single point can kill the practice, but the national charity, its membership software and hosted member data are conventional central infrastructure with no technological enforcement of the rules (SO-09).
Governance3.0
Registered charity with trustees, public Charity Commission filings and formal processes (GO-01/GO-03), but governance is board-based rather than member-driven and the co-production principles are documented values, not protected rules (GO-07).
Resilience3.0
Survived 23 years including austerity and COVID with an elegantly simple, technology-agnostic model (RE-04/RE-05); funding is grant-dependent (RE-07), the classic failure mode of national timebanking bodies.
Inclusivity5.0
Radically egalitarian by design: anyone can join at zero cost, every person's hour is worth the same (IN-05), wealth concentration is structurally impossible (IN-07), and the model explicitly targets people excluded from the money economy (IN-03).