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MPs call for Northern Ireland welfare mitigation payments extension
UK government ministers should pass legislation extending welfare mitigation payments in Northern Ireland to avoid claimants falling off a “cliff-edge”, a cross-party group of MPs has said.
In a joint report published on Monday, the Work and Pensions and Northern Ireland Affairs select committees called for Westminster to intervene to protect the region from the effects of benefit cuts from March 2020 for another four years.
Northern Ireland’s last government introduced welfare mitigation payments to insulate tenants from the benefit cap and the removal of the spare room subsidy – commonly called the bedroom tax – as one of its last acts before collapsing in January 2017.
The measure was a recognition that less than a fifth of social housing in the region has only one bedroom while nearly half of the people who need social housing are single tenants.
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Tens of thousands of social tenants face being hit with cuts to their income when the mitigation payments end in March 2020, with no ministers in place at Stormont to resolve the issue amid an ongoing political deadlock.
Nigel Mills, Conservative MP for Amber Valley and chair of the committees’ inquiry, said: “Welfare claimants in Northern Ireland cannot be left to shoulder the costs of inadequate social housing stock and the devastating impact left behind by the Troubles.
“Thousands of claimants are relying upon the social security mitigation package – it cannot be allowed to suddenly stop because the corridors and benches of Stormont lie empty.
“Our joint report today calls for the secretary of state to recognise the gravity of this situation, and to urgently introduce legislation to Westminster to extend the mitigation package beyond March 2020.”
He added that there is “a clear consensus among the main political parties in Northern Ireland that the package can continue”.
The UK government has committed to legislate to avoid housing associations in Northern Ireland being moved to the public sector for accounting purposes.
The committees’ joint report also said that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) should halt the implementation of the two-child benefit limit in Northern Ireland, reimburse affected households, and investigate whether it is discriminating against larger families.
And it recommended that the DWP should “urgently address the delay” in automating direct rent payments to landlords under Universal Credit, while the Northern Ireland Audit Office should examine whether there is a “policy gap” in addressing poverty in the region.
A spokesperson for the UK government said: “The secretary of state’s priority remains getting Stormont up and running urgently.
“The Department for Communities in Northern Ireland is responsible for the delivery of the various mitigation schemes relating to welfare reform in Northern Ireland.
“Its officials are ensuring that appropriate advice in relation to welfare mitigation is available for an incoming minister.”
