Stormont House agreement implementation plan

The Northern Ireland Executive has agreed to allocate a total of £585million from Executive funds over four years to mitigate the impacts of welfare reform.  Eileen Evason, Emeritus Professor in social administration at the University of Ulster, will chair a working group which will develop proposals on how best to use these additional resources. 

Bedroom tax

Some of the £585 million will be used to ensure that the bedroom tax will not apply in Northern Ireland.  A sum of £345 million has been set aside to deal with this issue.  £240 million has been allocated to assist those families who will be affected by the changes to tax credits. 

Additional funding for advice services

The implementation plan states that the Executive will provide additional funding for independent advice services in the budget for 2016/17 in recognition of the increased demand which these services will experience as a result of welfare changes.