A LIMIT on the amount of benefits any one household in the north can claim is due to be introduced in May.
The measure is one of a series of Tory welfare reforms being introduced as part of last year's Fresh Start agreement.
Up to 450 families are expected to be affected by the benefits cap, which will initially be set at £26,000 for a couple with dependent children.
Confirmation that the first of many controversial welfare reforms will be imposed over the coming months comes as it was confirmed that the Stormont executive has accepted Eileen Evason's welfare mitigation recommendations.
Social Development Minister Maurice Morrow is expected to table his implementation plan for the Evason proposals at an executive meeting on February 10.
However, Lord Morrow's department has conceded that the timeframe for putting the measures in place is "challenging", as it requires the passing of Stormont legislation before the assembly is dissolved at the end of March, ahead of the election.
Ms Evason and her panel unveiled the welfare top-up recommendations last month. The raft of bespoke measures for mitigating the effects of the Tories' benefits shake-up will cost the executive around £500m over the next four years.
They include a £35m-a-year 'cost of working allowances' scheme is aimed at working families who will move to universal credit and a total of £91m to pay for Stormont's decision not to implement the so-called 'bedroom tax'.
Around £121m is expected to be paid out over the next four years mitigating the impact on 120,000 people of a move from DLA (Disability Living Allowance) to PIP (Personal Independence Payment).
Although power to implement the reforms was handed to Westminster in November through a legislative consent motion, the assembly still needs to pass secondary legislation that enables DSD to make top-up payments.
The first tranche of mitigation regulations, those relating to the imposition of a benefit cap, are scheduled to be brought before next month and will come into effect in May. In June, new powers will be introduced limiting the time that Employment and Support Allowance can be claimed.
A second tranche of regulations dealing with benefits for the disabled is expected to go before the assembly at the start of the new mandate after May's elections.
A DSD spokesman admitted that there could be difficulties putting the initial regulations in place in such a short period of time.
"Ensuring the secondary legislation is passed before implementation will be extremely challenging as this legislation requires affirmative solution and therefore also requires a vote in the assembly before the measures can be put into operation," he said.
"A number of these measures require assembly approval prior to the assembly coming to the end of its term mid March."
