AQW 10723/22-27

Mr Mark Durkan
Social Democratic and Labour Party
Foyle

Tabled Date: 23/04/2024
Answered On Date: 01/05/2024
Priority Written: Yes

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities to provide clarity on the IT infrastructure which would be required to remove the Two Child Limit.

Answer:

The Universal Credit IT system is owned and developed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for the delivery of Universal Credit on a UK wide basis.

DWP would therefore have to deploy developers to complete a comprehensive assessment of the scope and functionality required to support the removal of the Two Child Limit for Northern Ireland only.

As there are both legislative and technical barriers to making this change, it would take considerable time and cost to resolve and could not be scoped further without agreed funding.