Time banks don't use real pounds and pence: instead, they encourage people to make deposits and withdrawals of their time.

In a time bank, participants earn credits for helping each other - one hour of your time entitles you to an hour of someone else's time.

Credits are deposited centrally in a time bank and withdrawn when you need help yourself. Unlike a real bank, there are no penalties for being in debit; all that is asked is that when your skills are called upon, you give back by providing a service for another member of the time bank.

Help is exchanged through a broker who links people up and keeps a record of transactions through the Timekeeper software.

Unlike real money, anyone and everyone can earn time credits - no-one is excluded. Almost everybody - young or old - has something to offer, from making supportive phone calls to neighbours to running small errands. Most importantly, everyone's time is worth the same.

Government ministers have ruled that time credits are not taxable and should be disregarded by the Benefits Agency

Top Tips for Making It Happen

• Involve participants in creating the vision and setting the goals.
• Make the evaluation an ongoing process. Have a space for people to write up their feedback and suggestions.
• Integrate the evaluation into regular group activities so that participants can feed into the evaluation process.
• Use your experiences to inspire other time bankers by sharing what you have learnt through the Time Banks UK Network.