Siobhán continues to attend meetings of the Cliff Edge Coalition Working Group which is working to strengthen the existing mitigations package for Northern Ireland.

The Coalition was pleased to hear that the Minister for Communities announced plans to bring forward legislation to extend the existing protections against the Benefit Cap beyond 31st March 2025.

The Cliff Edge Coalition welcomes this positive intervention, which will provide critical protection to those who are most in need in our society, in the face of rising poverty rates.  Like the Two-Child Limit, the Benefit Cap is a highly gendered policy; 86% of payments to mitigate the Benefit Cap are made to women.

You can read the Cliff Edge Coalition briefing paper here which explains what the Benefit Cap is, who is affected, and why mitigations are necessary.

The Coalition looks forward to reading the detail of the legislative proposals on the Benefit Cap as work continues on the key asks to protect people in need which are:

• Resolving the five-week wait in Universal Credit
• Removing the two-child limit
• Providing support for private renters affected by the Local Housing Allowance.