Cost of Living Coalition

Siobhán Harding (Policy Worker, WSN) continues to attend meetings of the Cost of Living Coalition Belfast.  This is a group of trade unionists, anti-poverty campaigners, environmentalists and activities who want to see action on cost of living issues.

Siobhán has spoken about the impact of the Cost of Living Crisis on women at a protest at the Department for the Economy in Belfast and also gave an interview to the BBC.

Cliff Edge Coalition

Siobhán continues to work as part of the Working Group for the Cliff Edge Coalition on extending and strengthening the welfare mitigations package in Northern Ireland.  The focus of Cliff Edge work will now be on strengthening the mitigations package with some possible new mitigations.  A meeting has been organised to discuss future plans for the Coalition over the next few months.

Keep the Lifeline Campaign

Siobhán continues to attend meetings of Keep the Lifeline with a focus on the Cost of Living Crisis.  A range of work has been planned nationally over the coming months on this and Siobhán will continue to circulate this information/actions to the Consortium and beyond.

NI Child Payment

Siobhán continues to attend the two-weekly meetings of the Coalition to take work forward on lobbying for a NI Child Payment.  This has had some coverage in the media recently with a number of commentators mentioning the possibility of a NI Child Payment to help tackle rising child poverty levels.  A meeting is also being organised with the Minister for Communities to discuss this.