News Articles

In light of public health concerns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, Northern Ireland’s president of Tribunals and The Appeals Service (TAS) have suspended all in-person oral tribunal hearings until further notice.

It has been estimated that approximately 200,000 local workers in NI are on the Government's job retention (furlough) scheme, which covers 80% of wages up to £2,500 a month. 

Almost 100,000 people with underlying diseases or health conditions received a ‘shielding’ letter advising that the safest course of action was to stay at home and avoid all face-to-face contact for at least twelve weeks.

Despite the Government announcement on Friday about a different Job Support Scheme to follow the current furlough scheme, we in Advice NI remain concerned that thousands of employees across Northern Ireland could see their jobs under threat and so face the daunting prospect of claiming UC.

Over ½ million issues dealt with in last year by the Independent Advice Network. Social Security issues continue to dominate workload as a spike in employment and redundancy related enquiries set to grow Advice NI produces new guidance paper on redundancy.

Advice NI Urges Businesses and Individuals to Seek Free Debt Advice

Advice NI urges everyone to respond to DfC consultation on proposed £1.5m reduction in funding to the independent advice sector, which will mean 45 job losses and reduced access to advice services for the most vulnerable.

Advice NI the leading advice charity are celebrating their 25th year operating with a difference this year.  They are delighted to announce they have launched their first mobile advice van to offer face to face advice to the public.

Advice NI, the independent advice charity, has identified serious systemic failures affecting Universal Credit claimants, in particular Employment & Support Allowance (ESA) claimants moving from ESA to Universal Credit (UC). 

Since it began in April, Debt Action, has helped 3,200 people deal with more than £32 million in debt.

Sands Northern Ireland Network (SandsNI) is the regional branch of SandsUK. Sands was founded in 1978 by a small group of bereaved parents devastated by the death of their babies and in particular what they felt was a complete lack of knowledge and understanding of the significance and impact of their loss. Sands has around 100 support groups across the UK with 10 of these in Northern Ireland. All the support groups are run by trained Sands Befrienders who are bereaved parents themselves and have been supported through their grief by Sands and are now giving that support back to other parents.

Steven Guy, SandsNI Network Co-ordinator says

SandsNI provides support to bereaved parents through our monthly support evenings where parents can chat informally over a cup of tea or coffee about how they are coping with their loss. We also provide every maternity & neonatal unit in Northern Ireland with Sands leaflet packs and Memory Boxes. The Memory Boxes include a hand-knit blanket, 2(Identical) teddy bears, one for baby, one for the parents and an inkless hand & footprint kit. The boxes encourage parents to create as many memories of their baby as possible in the short time they have with them. Training, accredited by the Royal College of Midwives, is also provided to health professionals and is delivered by the SandsUK team of facilitators. We also support research into the causes of baby deaths and in 2014 £50,000 was donated by SandsNI to fund several SandsUK projects. We have a NI Helpline 07740993450 which is available during office hours for parents to speak to someone about their loss. We have a dedicated Baby Garden in Portadown where parents can lay a simple stone with their baby’s name hand-painted on it among the flowers and plants in the garden and next to the other babies stones. We also have 2 Christmas carol services, Portadown and Derry, where parents are invited to buy a toy or gift for the age their child would be each Christmas. These toys & gifts are donated to the St Vincent De Paul/ Salvation Army toy appeal. Everything we do is funded by the fundraising efforts of the parents we support and we are extremely grateful to everyone who fundraises for us because without their efforts we could not continue to support the parents who are bereaved every year in Northern Ireland.