AQW 39094/22-27


Ms Sian Mulholland
Alliance Party
North Antrim


Tabled Date: 26/01/2026
Answered On Date: 03/02/2026
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail (i) any currently live (a) policies; (b) strategies; (c) programmes; or (d) action plans, within her Department that have an explicit objective of tackling poverty; and (ii) the stated aim of each policy or programme.


Answer:
Employment Rights Bill
To improve the quality of employment by strengthening protections for lowpaid and vulnerable workers, helping to address inwork poverty
Good Jobs Charter
Raise job quality by improving pay, job security and progression opportunities, contributing directly to reducing inwork poverty.
Community Wealth Building Pilots (North West & Larne)
To address poverty and improve social outcomes by strengthening local assets, increasing community participation, and retaining economic value within disadvantaged communities.
Real Living Wage NI
To encourage wider employer uptake of the Real Living Wage to support lowpaid workers and ensure fair, povertyreducing wages.
Skills for Life and Work Programme
Supports those furthest from the labour market, including young people at risk of poverty, to gain skills, experience and pathways to sustained employment or further training.
Higher Education Support Funds (Hardship Funds)
To provide financial assistance to students experiencing genuine hardship so they can continue and complete their studies, reducing financial stress and the risk of poverty.
Disabled Students Allowance
To remove financial barriers for disabled students by covering essential studyrelated costs, supporting equal access to higher education and helping reduce longterm poverty associated with educational disadvantage.
Education Maintenance Allowance
To reduce financial barriers for young people from lowincome households so they can remain in education or training, improving longterm employment prospects and helping break cycles of poverty.
Skills Action Plan
Ensures everyone has a pathway to enhance their skills within an inclusive skills ecosystem that supports economic transformation, enabling people—particularly those experiencing disadvantage—to progress into better employment
Careers Action Plan
Strengthens careers provision for those who face barriers to opportunity, including individuals with special educational needs, through targeted actions that support disadvantaged individuals into skills and employment pathways.
Sub-Regional Economic Plan/Local Economic Plan
To deliver regional balance by ensuring people across all communities can access quality employment, directly addressing placebased disadvantage and supporting longterm poverty reduction.
Energy Strategy Path to Net Zero (Action Plan 2025)
Aims to reduce poverty, particularly fuel poverty, by lowering household energy bills through improved efficiency, reducing exposure to volatile fossil fuel prices, ensuring a fair and affordable transition for vulnerable households, tackling fuel poverty through communitybased approaches, and supporting green job creation and economic resilience.