Policy
The Advice NI policy team identify trends in social issues that we and our members raise, mostly related to Social Security benefits.
Freephone advice helpline
0800 915 4604
Email us for advice
[email protected]
Face to face advice
Please contact an Advice NI member.
For non-advice-related queries, email:
[email protected]
We achieve this through a variety of methods, including responding to consultations, writing policy briefs and reports, and outlining specific concerns with government officials.
As Head of Policy, Kevin Higgins was part of the NI Welfare Reform Mitigations Group, which secured £500 million of support for claimants in Northern Ireland who are impacted by the effects of Welfare Reform.
Watch - Kevin Higgins briefs Communities Committee
Our Head of Policy, Kevin Higgins, recently briefed the Northern Ireland Assembly's Committee for Communities, covering a range of social policy issues including:
- The role of the Independent Advice Network
- Benefit cap mitigations and Les Allamby mitigations review
- Migration to Universal Credit
- Grainne McKeever review of the Discretionary Support (DS) scheme
Recent publications
Browse a list of our recent publications including Social Policy Briefing Papers, Annual Reports, Information Briefing Papers, and Consultation Responses.
Consultation responses
We regularly respond to government and statutory bodies on a wide range of different policy issues.
Social policy briefing papers
Addressing all aspects of independent advice, our briefings combine the latest information with keen social policy insight and recommendations.
Social policy reports
Based on in-depth research, our policy reports aim to get to the root causes of major social issues and make recommendations about how we can act to address them.
Past editions of “Think”
THINK is our monthly policy newsletter that provides the latest updates from the Policy & Information Team.
Annual reports
Highlighting the previous year’s work at Advice NI and across the independent advice network.
Information Briefing Papers
Up-to-the-minute summaries, providing front-line advisers with accurate, NI-relevant information and resources to help them support their clients.