Open letter on the Cost of Living Crisis in Northern Ireland
Advice NI, NICVA and 100 organisations have asked for the Executive to be urgently re-formed: Cost of Living: Open Letter
Chancellor's Mini Budget [Friday 23 September]:
- Rules around universal credit tightened: Universal Credit Claimants who earn less than the equivalent of 15 hours a week at National Living Wage will be required to meet regularly with their Work Coach and take active steps to increase their earnings or face having their benefits reduced
- Around 120,000 more people on Universal Credit to be asked to take steps to seek more work, or face having their benefits reduced
- Cut in basic rate of income tax to 19% from April 2023
In response, Kevin Higgins, Head of Policy, Advice NI, states: ‘The tragedy is that following the #minibudget2022 the Government is unlikely to have the bandwidth (financially or politically) to (i) provide adequate support for poorer families; (ii) react to adverse circs eg escalation of war in Ukraine. Locked-in to tax cuts for the rich.’