Northern Ireland’s poorest families fall behind rest of UK

New research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has found that Northern Ireland families have suffered a dramatic drop in their income following the economic downturn.  Overall, almost 400,000 people live in poverty in Northern Ireland.

Household incomes, poverty rates and the labour market have all worsened in Northern Ireland in the last five years - in each case, this deterioration has been greater than in Great Britain (GB).

The report also looked at the possible impact of welfare reform measures locally, stating that:

• The under-occupation penalty – the so-called ‘bedroom tax’ – will have a much greater impact in NI than GB, affecting 53 per cent of claimants compared with 23 per cent in the rest of GB.
• The move from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to the Personal Independence Payment will also have particular significance for NI, with almost twice the proportion claiming DLA compared with the rest of GB.

Tom MacInnes, Research Director at New Policy Institute and co-author of the report, said:
“With welfare reform on the horizon, already diminished incomes may decline even further. Reforms that cut the incomes of those supported by benefits or that require more people to actively seek work – without improvements in the quality of jobs on offer – are likely to exacerbate problems further.”

Read the full summary of the research