As Covid19 continues to impact people across Northern Ireland, our advice teams are dealing with increasing demand for support and advice from people worried about their housing situation because of financial pressures or illness.
When Universal Credit was introduced, our advisers worried that well-established principles covering complex areas of housing benefit law would not be ported across to the new regime. One particular area of concern was the provisions which allow a claim for assistance with housing costs to be disallowed where the decision maker suspects that the claim has been contrived in order to take advantage of the benefits system.
In February, Minister for Communities Deirdre Hargey answered various questions relating to the work of her Department, including plans in relation to welfare reform mitigation, temporary accommodation and housing supply. You can find the answers to many of these questions below.
