Palliative Care Week
As part of Palliative Care Week, which ran from the 10th to the 16th of September, Advice NI was invited to speak at the Marie Curie ‘Dying on a Budget ‘ Event.
The event was held in the Long Gallery on the 11th of September. It highlighted recent research published by Marie Curie, which raises awareness of the prevalence and impact of poverty on people affected by terminal illness and sets out key Government-led change required to address this problem.
The report showed that In 2019, one in seven people were living below the poverty line before they died, and 2033 people died while in poverty. It is estimated that working-age people are twice as likely to die in poverty compared to those of pensionable age. There are also differences depending on where people live and whether they are a parent of dependent children.
Kevin Higgins, Head of Policy at Advice NI, presented at the event, highlighting the important & vital work of the independent advice network whilst speaking about the poorest hit in our society by the cost of living crisis and calling for an adequate Northern Budget settlement, the need for Westminster to do more to help people in NI, particularly by uprating benefits inline with inflation, and of course the need to have a fully working assembly in NI.
Speaking at the event, Kevin Higgins said:
We've endured a decade of austerity; now it feels like an inadequate Budget is forcing us to inflict self-harm on ourselves.'