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

Cliff Edge are increasingly concerned about the upcoming cliff edge for the Benefit Cap.  The Benefit Cap is a policy that limits the total amount of social security support that working-age people can receive. The Benefit Cap is currently mitigated in Northern Ireland, which means that those who would be affected by it are currently receiving a payment in their benefits equal to what they would have lost under the policy (a ‘Welfare Supplementary Payment’). However, this mitigation is set to expire at the end of March 2025.

Cliff Edge is extremely concerned that in just six months the Benefit Cap mitigation will expire and thousands of people may lose access to vital support.  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. If the Benefit Cap mitigation is lost, households who currently rely on these payments will be forced to look to other – often discretionary and inadequate – sources of support and many will get into debt.

Cliff Edge have written to all MLAs to inform them about the upcoming cliff edge for the Benefit Cap and to encourage them to advocate in the Assembly for keeping the Benefit Cap mitigation and to strengthen the existing mitigations package.

You can read the Cliff Edge Briefing here:

https://www.lawcentreni.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Cliff-Edge-Member-Briefing-March-2024-1.pdf