Call For Roll-Out Of Universal Credit To Be Suspended

The Alliance Party is calling for the roll-out of universal credit in Northern Ireland to be suspended.

Kellie Armstrong MLA made the call after the Department of Communities announced a planned phase launch on Wednesday, 27 September, starting in the Limavady area.

Due to the lack of an Executive, statutory regulations which would normally mitigate against the bedroom tax part of universal credit have not been passed here. It will affect any new claimants, not those who will transfer over from their old benefits.

She said: "The political impasse and lack of a functioning Executive means issues which would normally be addressed via a Minister, Committee and in the Chamber currently do not have that luxury. Changes to the welfare situation affect many people - with over 300,000 households expected to be impacted by the full roll-out of universal credit.

"A number of regulations relating to welfare reform were laid in the Assembly last year but these didn't extend to universal credit. These regulations are needed to mitigate the bedroom tax within universal credit, so perform a vital function.

"Without a functioning Executive restored as soon as possible, these vital decisions will be left in limbo. Therefore until this issue is made clear, the universal credit scheme here should be suspended immediately, to stop any people here suffering unnecessarily."

Sinn Féin MLA Alex Maskey also called for it to be halted.

He said: "It's not so long ago that we were being accused of bringing the Assembly to the point of collapse on this very issue.

"Despite the opposition of all the other parties, we were able to secure a £585 million package to mitigate the impact of welfare reform here and to prevent the kind of problems we have seen taking place in Britain.

"This package included halving the maximum sanction that can be imposed, agreed additional protections for lone parents and local political and administrative oversight to protect the most vulnerable.

"However, despite repeated requests, there is still no clarity about how these mitigation measures will be incorporated into the local roll-out. That isn't good enough and the introduction of Universal Credit should be halted as a result.

"The department does have flexibility to support rather than punish people and they now need to exercise those powers."

(CD)