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 […]
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. […]
Through the engagement of WSN, The Consortium 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 […]
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) consulted on changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) as it has been 10 years since it has been introduced. The Green Paper explored changes that could be made to the current PIP system including reforming the PIP assessment so that it is more linked to a person’s condition. It also […]
The Department for the Economy are consulting on proposals to strengthen employment rights legislation and increase the number of working age people in ‘Good Jobs’. The consultation covers a wide range of possible improvements to employment legislation aimed at modernising employment rights. The consultation is seeking views on the terms of employment, pay and benefits, […]
The Department for the Economy are consulting about the introduction of regulations to entitle employees who are the victims of domestic abuse up to 10 days paid safe leave in each leave year so that they can deal with issues related to that abuse. The Domestic Abuse (Safe Leave) Act (NI) 2022 is an important […]
The Department of Education are consulting on plans to introduce statutory guidance so that all school governing bodies will be required to review their school uniform policy and ensure that costs are manageable for parents/carers. The consultation is seeking views on their approach and what should be contained within any statutory guidance particularly around the […]
The Committee for the Executive Office in the Northern Ireland Assembly is undertaking an inquiry into differences in equality legislation between Northern Ireland and other regions of the UK as well as between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and the EU. The purpose of the inquiry is to find out where equality legislation is […]
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 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 […]
