Mitigations report featured in CPAG Poverty 162

Subscribers to the Child Poverty Action Group's Poverty journal will have seen a summary of the recent joint report from Housing Rights, the Law Centre and Advice NI on welfare reform mitigations in Northern Ireland and the looming crisis when these mitigations end in March 2020. 

Concerns and recommendations

Poverty 162 contains a very helpful summary of the main concerns our organisations have about the devastating  impact on households in Northern Ireland if additional measures to mitigate welfare reform are not researched and implemented as a priority. Discontinuing the current package will give rise to considerable financial hardship and will result in significant financial loss for many claimants, resulting in increased poverty for adults and children in Northern Ireland. 

The report contains recommendations to mitigate against further hardship, including

• supplementary payments to offset financial burdens caused by delays associated with claiming or migrating to Universal Credit
• researching the specific needs of low-income tenants affected by welfare reforms with funding to implement practical support for such tenants
• additional safeguards for families with children who are impacted by welfare reforms, including protection from additional work-related conditionality and sanctions. 

Our concerns and recommendations are explored in fuller detail in the Welfare Reform: Mitigations on a Cliff Edge report.