AQW 5655/16-21

Mr Eamonn McCann
People Before Profit Alliance
Foyle

Tabled Date: 19/10/2016
Answered On Date: 08/11/2016
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities to outline the steps his Department is taking to support people affected by the bedroom tax when the mitigation fund is exhausted in 2020.

Answer:

The Northern Ireland Executive confirmed in, “A Fresh Start: the Stormont Agreement and Implementation Plan” that the Social Sector Size Criteria would not apply in Northern Ireland. In accordance with recommendations from the Welfare Reform Mitigations Working Group the Executive agreed a four year fund to “top-up” UK welfare arrangements in Northern Ireland to March 2020.

The Department’s priority has been implementation of the mitigation schemes to ensure people get the support they need. The Executive committed as part of the Fresh Start Agreement to a review of all the mitigation arrangements in 2018/19. This will provide the Executive with the opportunity to decide if it wishes to extend the mitigation scheme beyond the current planned end date of March 2020.

Department for Communities officials have developed a composite Welfare Reform evaluation strategy. This strategy has been designed to specifically evaluate each of the key reforms as well as the associated mitigations. It will be central in assessing and monitoring the impacts of Welfare Reform in Northern Ireland and will help to inform future decisions on Social Sector Size Criteria.