Northern Ireland (Welfare Reform) Act 25nov2015

Following the fast-track passage of the Northern Ireland (Welfare Reform) Act (see rightsnet news 25nov2015),  plans to bring in local welfare assistance can now be put into effect in Northern Ireland (as well as roll-out of personal independence payment and universal credit).

I’ve updated my page at http://www.cpag.org.uk/lwas/northern-ireland but I’m still trying to find out the details of when the changes will start to take effect - and in the case of LWAS, whether each LA in NI will have its own scheme.

http://www.nidirect.gov.uk still says
“Changes to benefits ... Welfare Reform will result in changes to the benefits system. Many of the current benefits will cease to exist and new benefits and payment systems will be introduced. To date, has not been introduced in Northern Ireland.”
See http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/changes-to-the-social-fund and http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/index/information-and-services/money-tax-and-benefits/benefits-and-financial-support/welfare-reform-index/changes-to-benefits-welfare-reform.htm

Does anyone have more details of plans to roll out the changes in Northern Ireland, please?

In the midst of both developing localised schemes and getting into implementation mode re the welfare reform changes ... if you want to drop me an email Robbie I would be happy to keep you up to speed (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)), Kevin.