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

advice@adviceni.net

For non-advice-related queries, email:

comms@adviceni.net

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.