Campaigns: Guarantee our Essentials
Siobhán is part of a campaign from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Trussell Trust calling for an Essentials Guarantee within Universal Credit. The Essentials Guarantee would embed in the social security system a principle that at a minimum Universal Credit should protect people from going without essentials.
The Campaign is planning a number of actions now that there has been a change of Government in Westminster to lobby for increases in the levels of Universal Credit and Siobhán will continue to attend and contribute to this group where possible.
You can read more about the campaign here:
https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/guarantee-our-essentials
Campaigns: Coalition of Carers
Siobhán continues to attend regular meetings of the Coalition of Carers which is chaired by Carers NI. The Coalition is made up of a number of organisations all working to highlight the key issues that carers are facing across Northern Ireland.
Campaigns: Cost of Living 24
Siobhán is part of a coalition of organisations led by Inspire Wellbeing NI who have come together to host a one-stop shop service for the many impacts of the Cost-of-Living Crisis. The Cost of Living 24 campaign aims to make navigating community and voluntary services easy, local and accessible, thanks to a dedicated webpage and freephone number. The partnership provides information and advice on a range of subjects: benefits and entitlements, fuel and child poverty, affordable childcare and housing. It also signposts to foodbanks in towns and cities throughout Northern Ireland.
Cost of Living 24 offers support and information via:
Webpage: www.communitywellbeing.info/cost-of-living-24 (Or search ‘Community Wellbeing Cost of Living 24’)
Freephone: 0808 189 0036
Webchat: www.communitywellbeing.info
An article was featured in Belfast Live on this new campaign featuring Atlas Women’s Centre and the important work they do helping women and communities in the Cost of Living Crisis. You can read the article here:
Campaigns: Cliff Edge
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 removal of the two-child limit is a key ask of the Cliff Edge Campaign. Following the change of Government at Westminster there has been increased focus on the damaging impacts of the two-child limit in relation to child poverty. While it is positive to see increased focus on this policy and the need to remove it there have been some issues around the terminology used to reference this policy in the media and among some politicians including NI politicians.
This led to Cliff Edge writing to all the local MLAs and all the Northern Ireland MPs to clarify the terminology and to warn about the implications of getting it wrong. It clearly set out the following:
- Cliff Edge Coalition’s concerns about the increasing use of the incorrect term ‘two-child benefit cap’ to refer to the two-child limit for Universal Credit (and Tax Credits). The concern is that the misleading term risks conflating two different policies – the two-child limit and the benefit cap – in the minds of the public, with potentially wider implications.
- For example, in some cases, this may lead claimants to incorrectly believe that they are not entitled to claim Child Benefit for more than two children, potentially causing harm and financial hardship to claimants.
- The two-child limit limits the child element in Universal Credit (and Tax Credits) to two children (with some limited exceptions).
- The benefit cap is a separate policy which limits the total amount of benefits a claimant/family can receive. The benefit cap is currently mitigated until the end of March 2025 in Northern Ireland.
- Child Benefit is an allowance paid to claimants for each child no matter how many children they have.
Following the concerns raised by Cliff Edge members and others about the use of the incorrect terminology, Martin Lewis (Money Saving Expert) produced a short video explaining the differences between all these policies which you can watch here:
