The Minister of Education plans to introduce statutory guidance so that all school governing bodies will be required to review their school uniform policy and ensure costs are manageable for parents/carers. This consultation seeks views on this approach and on what should be contained within any statutory guidance, particularly around the cost and affordability of […]
July 2024 Scheme Funder Note Date Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust Round 3 opens 1 Jul 2024 The 7 stars Foundation: Project Funding The 7 Stars Foundation Application Opening Date 1 Jul 2024 Music for All Music for All Round 2 Application Deadline: 8am 1 Jul 2024 The 7 stars Foundation: […]
WOMEN’STEC, in collaboration with funder CITB Northern Ireland (CITB NI), were thrilled to host a #NotJustForBoys taster day for P7 pupils from St Patrick’s Primary School in June 2024. This exciting event provided young girls with hands-on experience in various trades, including drills, saws, bricklaying, and car mechanics. “Thank you to CITB for partnering with […]
Summer is here and the children are delighted but I don’t think the same can be said for the parents, because summer doesn’t always mean Fun, fun, fun. The Summer holidays brings a different set of stresses for this 9-week break. Whether or not you’re employed on unemployed the challenges that these summer months brings […]
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 Women’s Regional […]
A number of the NI Government Departments equality impact assessments (EQIAs) on the 2024-25 Budget have been published. Siobhán will be making a detailed response to the Department for Communities EQIA given the volume of evidence contained in Consortium research on the issues around welfare reform and poverty. Siobhán will work alongside the Women’s Policy […]
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are consulting on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) as it has been 10 years since it has been introduced. The Green Paper explores changes that could be made to the current PIP system to ensure support is targeted where it is most needed. These options include: · Making changes […]
The last Consortium research paper on Women, Unpaid Care & Employment was published in February in collaboration with Carers NI. The final report includes a wealth of feedback from women who took part in focus group sessions as well as the results of survey data from Carers NI through their State of Caring report. Siobhán […]
The Women’s Support Network (WSN) has just finished a series of focus groups with local women on the issue of Economic Inactivity and women’s barriers to education, training and work. Given that Northern Ireland has consistently had the worst figures for economic inactivity across the UK particularly for women this is important research. During the […]
The Department for Communities (DfC) is holding a 12-week public consultation on a registration threshold below which charities in Northern Ireland would not be required to register with the Commission or provide an annual report and accounts for publication on its website. The consultation closes on 11 August 2024. The consultation is designed to explore […]
