Northern Ireland

Stormont ministers agree to extend welfare mitigation payments

The agreement follows a long-running stand-off between Sinn Féin and the DUP on the matter
The agreement follows a long-running stand-off between Sinn Féin and the DUP on the matter The agreement follows a long-running stand-off between Sinn Féin and the DUP on the matter

The Stormont Executive has agreed to extend welfare mitigation payments.

The agreement follows a long-running stand-off between Sinn Féin and the DUP on the matter.

Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey had proposed the permanent extension of top-up payments for those affected by the so-called bedroom tax to seal off loopholes that currently see hundreds of households missing out on certain mitigations.

The DUP had wanted the measures to be time limited and subject to a review in a number of years.

Around 40 previous attempts by Ms Hargey to get her proposed legislation on the Executive agenda for a decision were blocked by the DUP.

The impasse was ended after Ms Hargey revised her draft regulations to include an end date of March 31 2025 for the extensions, with a statutory obligation to review the measures ahead of that point in the 2024/25 financial year.

Executive ministers met this morning to approve the plan, meaning the minister can now proceed to bring the required legislation through the Assembly.

Ms Hargey told media at Stormont today that she "forced a breakthrough".

Asked if she made the concession to the DUP position of a time-limited measure, Ms Hargey said her "focus is about protecting families and workers and those impacted".

"The cliff edge would have been coming at the end of this year in terms of the mandate ending, I am now avoiding that, I've got approval from the Executive to go forward, and now my legislation will go into the chamber of the Assembly," she said.

"This has been welcomed by many in the advice sector in that we are bringing forward these protections. I said at the very start that I wanted to protect people, and that is what I am doing within this legislation."

Pressed on a potential cliff edge in three years time, Ms Hargey responded: "Work will be ongoing and that will be up to the Assembly once this legislation is brought on to the floor."

Ms Hargey added: "I have tried 41 times, it had been continually blocked by the DUP... I brought this paper first within three weeks of the Assembly getting up and running when I became a minister, I got agreement at that Executive meeting in principle to progress the legislation... I'm glad at this point, almost two years later, that I've been able to force the breakthrough, and my priority is about protecting families and workers, and that is what I'll continue to do."

Earlier Ms Hargey said in a statement that the schemes will be kept under review.

"I will be announcing details of an independent review panel to examine existing welfare protection measures in the near future," she said.

"I am determined to ensure that those people who need these supports will continue to receive them."

In 2015, Stormont ministers committed to a £500 million package of mitigations to supplement the benefits of claimants losing out as a consequence of UK Government welfare reforms.

The measures were temporarily extended in March 2020, at a cost of £23 million per year, after Stormont parties committed to the move in the New Decade, New Approach deal that restored powersharing.

The bedroom tax, known as the spare room subsidy, results in a reduction in housing benefit for claimants who have one or more spare rooms in their social homes.

Meanwhile the loopholes referred to see claimants losing mitigation payments when they move to a similarly sized home and also the rule that limits benefits cap top-ups to those who were claimants in 2016.

It has been estimated that hundreds of households miss out on payments as a result of those loopholes.

Ms Hargey had secured funds to cover the cost of closing the loopholes but could not release the money until her proposals were signed off by the Executive, enabling her to bring the legislation through the Assembly.

Ulster Unionist MLA Andy Allen welcomed the agreement but warned the same "cliff edge situation" cannot be allowed to arise again.

"Disappointingly it took far too long to achieve agreement, which resulted in £2 million that could have supported many individuals and families being handed back," he said.

"Furthermore, it is imperative this cliff edge situation doesn't arise again in three years. Simply kicking the can down the road is not acceptable."