News Articles

Advice NI Calls for urgent action to combat digital exclusion and protect vulnerable communities.

Advice NI has said Northern Ireland must follow new Debt Relief Orders (DROs) rules applied this week in England and Wales – transformative measures for those facing the burden of debt. In his spring budget, the Chancellor announced the removal of the £90 administration fee associated with Debt Relief Orders (DROs) and increased the maximum debt threshold from £30,000 to £50,000 – whilst also increasing the allowable value of retained motor vehicles from £2,000 to £4,000 - across England and Wales.

Advice NI is seeking to recruit volunteers from rural communities to deliver on a LINK funded project. As part of LINK's access to cash activities, LINK wishes to support and encourage digital inclusion in the UK, including through initiatives with selected groups and individuals.

Advice NI have partnered with SENAC to deliver a tailored Digital Skills programme for parents of children with additional needs.

Northern Ireland has the highest rate of non-internet users on these islands at 14.7% (Office of National Statistics, 2021. Digital 2021: Ireland).

Advice NI, in partnership with the Special Educational Needs Advice Centre (SENAC), plan to support carers of children with learning difficulties to become more digitally included enabling them to engage with policy and decision makers and to access their rights and entitlements. Funded by the Department of Health, this project will support carers to learn the digital skills to go online safely and to access their rights and entitlements. We will be sharing more updates on this project in our next edition of Advice Matters.

Do you want to make a difference in the lives of older people? Are you confident using technology? Can you spare 90 minutes per week for 10 weeks to improve the digital skills of a small group of participants.

If this sounds like you then we need your help. 

Advice NI, in partnership with our members, are delighted to announce that we are developing a sector wide Volunteering Strategy that will create a new function within Advice NI’s current services to oversee the development, growth and sustainability of volunteering across the network. 

Our vision is a just and equal society of confident, informed, active citizens who can assess their rights and entitlements. Help us achieve our vision.

To mark the achievements of our Theory of Change project that was funded by the Department for Communities we held an event at the Skainos Centre in Belfast on July 3rd 2019.

Do you want to help make a difference to people's lives by volunteering?