22 April, 2020 Open access
22 April, 2020 Open access
Amendment to legislation will increase level of income below which a person is eligible for support from £18,137 to £20,405
The Northern Ireland Assembly has approved an increase in access to discretionary support in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Following a debate in the Assembly yesterday, Members of the Legislative Assembly approved the Discretionary Support (Amendment No. 2) (COVID-19) Regulations 2020 which will amend the Discretionary Support Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (SR.No.270/2016) to raise the level of income below which a person is eligible for support from £18,137 to £20,405.
Welcoming the change, Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey said -
'I am determined that my Department will do everything it can to help people during this extremely difficult time. Today’s amendment will mean that many more people on low incomes will be able to access emergency financial support. This will include the new living expenses grant for people affected by COVID-19 that the Assembly recently approved.
I can advise that almost 1,300 living expenses grants for COVID-19, totalling approximately £219,000, have already been issued. This includes £175,000 awarded to more than 1,000 households in the week ending 17 April. Indeed, in the past month, my Department has awarded over £1 million in emergency financial support to more than 5,000 households.
The introduction of this amendment to discretionary support, alongside the other changes introduced recently, will enable more people on low incomes access to emergency financial support and will provide further help to the most vulnerable in society who are facing extreme, exceptional or crisis situations during this period.'
For more information, see Minister announces further support for those affected by COVID-19 from ni.gov.uk
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