News Articles

Today at the Advice NI annual conference, the impact of welfare reform across NI was discussed.

 The Northern Ireland Audit Office has warned that the full impact of welfare reform has not yet been felt in Northern Ireland. Many claimants will face significant hardships when the current mitigation measures come to an end in March 2020.

Less than one year to cliff edge

Advice NI and NICVA are warning that, with less than a year to go before Welfare Reform Mitigation runs out, thousands of vulnerable people across Northern Ireland may be facing a substantial drop in income and even eviction. 

With the current mitigations package due to end in 2020, our Head of Policy Kevin Higgins looks at how Welfare Reform will impact thousands of the most vulnerable households in Northern Ireland.

On 8th April 2019, Advice NI and NICVA facilitated a media morning to highlight the welfare reform mitigations cliff edge NI faces in one year. You can download the media briefing paper below to find out how the end to the mitigations package will impact thousands of households across NI.

Secretary of State refuses cross party call to act to extend welfare mitigation package.

Minister Hargey MLA expresses commitment to extend mitigations beyond March 2020.

Advice NI highlights importance of advice services as local government is about to undergo significant change. Ahead of changes to local government in Northern Ireland, Advice NI has called upon local Councils to ensure that the work of independent advice services is recognised and protected.

Advice NI leads delivery of independent advice services across the current Castlereagh Borough Council area. The service involves face to face service provision by advisors locally deployed to service the Castlereagh outreach venues. Appeal tribunal representation services and dedicated money advice services are in place, a dedicated Freephone line has been established and an email advice facility is also in place.

In April 2015, as part of the reform of local government in Northern Ireland the number of councils will be reduced from 26 to 11. There will be significant changes with the majority of households in Castlereagh merging with Lisburn City Council with 38% of the population of Castlereagh and 21% of Lisburn moving to the new Belfast City Council. The new Castlereagh and Lisburn Council area will have approximately 137,000 residents and approximately 56,000 households.

Speaking about the service, Bob Stronge Advice NI Chief Executive said:

“Independent advice services are much-needed and highly valued by people across Northern Ireland. Advice NI and member organisations have a proven track record in providing excellent advice services across the community and we acknowledge the support and commitment shown by Councils to advice services. We look forward to working with the new Councils post RPA to similarly ensure that independent advice remains a key community service moving forward.”

Aimed at older peoples’ groups province wide, ‘Managing Your Money Better’ talks are funded by Comic Relief and delivered by Outreach Worker John Bradbury.

The talks are free, last about forty five minutes and cover a range of topics including: budgeting, maximising your income, dealing with debt, saving, borrowing and credit and avoiding scams.

‘I also give people some additional information, benefits information and contact details within Advice NI for further free advice.

‘So far, we have reached over 1,000 people with almost half living in rural isolated areas. The talks are aimed primarily at people over sixty and over 350 people reached are aged over 75.

‘I usually find people are most interested  in benefits uptake and avoiding scams. As an organisation, we are delighted to provide as much help and information as possible,’ added John.

So far, community groups, womens’ groups and churches have been amongst the venues visited.

More talks are planned for late Winter and Spring. If you would like a contact, please contact John.