Speaking about Advice NI’s response to Government's new employment strategy for disabled people, Chief Executive Bob Stronge said:
It has been estimated that approximately 200,000 local workers in NI are on the Government's job retention (furlough) scheme, which covers 80% of wages up to £2,500 a month.
Advice NI welcome the growing calls for Government to act to extend the suspension of the 'Minimum Income Floor' for self employed Universal Credit claimants.
Despite the Government announcement on Friday about a different Job Support Scheme to follow the current furlough scheme, we in Advice NI remain concerned that thousands of employees across Northern Ireland could see their jobs under threat and so face the daunting prospect of claiming UC.
Over ½ million issues dealt with in last year by the Independent Advice Network. Social Security issues continue to dominate workload as a spike in employment and redundancy related enquiries set to grow Advice NI produces new guidance paper on redundancy.
An adviser contacted Specialist Support for Employment (SSE) with a query regarding a client who was made redundant while pregnant.