Cost of living crisis ‘puts our most vulnerable people at risk’

As of next week, the £20 uplift put in place for Universal Credit claimants during the pandemic will disappear. It affected 118,000 local households, 42% of which are families with children and 40% of which have severely ill or disabled family members.

Mr Higgins spoke out after Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill criticised the DUP for “blocking” the Executive from discussing welfare mitigation.

The mitigations, which have already been drawn up and costed, include action on the bedroom tax, the benefit cap and financial support for carers.

Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey has been trying to get the topic of mitigations on the Executive’s agenda for months.

The subject is understood to have made it onto next week’s items for discussion after pressure from several parties.

Ministers put the measures in place in 2015, later extending them to March last year.

Mr Higgins said that, since then, the arrangements have been in “zombie mode”, with no certainty over their future.

“For example, the bedroom tax and benefit cap mitigations are still being paid, but they’re not being paid under the mitigation legislation as they have a sunset clause which fell in March 2020,” he added.

“Even though they’re still being paid, that creates a huge uncertainty. At a time of a cost of living crisis and cuts for the poorest households, now is the time for the Executive to act. It would beggar belief if it didn’t.

“We are in the worst of times at the minute, with many still shielding, furlough ending and a decade of social security cuts and austerity. It’s a perfect storm.”

Current welfare loopholes include bedroom tax claimants losing mitigation payments when they move to a similarly sized home. There are also issues around a rule that limits benefit cap top-ups to those who were claimants in 2016.

Ulster Unionist communities spokesperson Andy Allen has been campaigning for action on welfare mitigation and these loopholes.

“The silence from the First and Deputy First Ministers as to the reason why legislation that was raised with the Executive in March has not been introduced is unacceptable,” he said.

“The Communities Minister called on other Executive ministers to support her in bypassing the blockage at Tuesday’s Executive meeting.

“Therefore, I would ask the Communities Minister why the legislation was not approved.

“The people of Northern Ireland, and importantly those who daily face the profound impact, deserve an explanation.”

It is not just Stormont and the advice sector that is calling for action. Belfast councillor Brian Heading is to table a motion at the October meeting of the council, calling on all representatives to oppose the reduction in Universal Credit.

“The removal of this money will leave families with awful decisions to make around how to put food on the table and heat their homes,” he said.

“In the run-up to Christmas, families will be pushed into the arms of money lenders to put presents under the tree.

“The Government has already signalled its intention to proceed with this heartless cut.

“We need to take matters into our own hands.

“I’m calling on all councillors to use their voice to stand up for Universal Credit claimants and support our motion and campaign against this cut. Some £55m is a small amount of money for our Executive, but the £20 a week could be the difference for some families between keeping the lights on without being forced to rely on food banks.”

To make matters worse, the Bank of England recently warned that it expected a 4% rise in inflation by Christmas.

Mr Higgins said: “We’re taking misery, we’re talking destitution, we’re talking about the stress that all of this is going to put on people that are already vulnerable.

“I hate to think about the potentially devastating impact this will have on so many people. Worse-case scenario, are people’s lives going to be at risk? Yes, I have no doubt about that.”

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