The Department of Finance has issued a consultation on the draft budget for 2025-26. The Draft 2025/26 Budget sets out the proposed funding for all the different Government departments for the financial year. The NI Executive is encouraging people to get involved in the Draft Budget consultation and have their say on how to prioritise […]
The Department for Communities is consulting on a new Fuel Poverty Strategy for Northern Ireland. The draft Fuel Poverty Strategy proposes a framework for addressing fuel poverty and its impacts. Fuel poverty is the inability of a household to heat and power their home adequately. It is affected by the cost of energy, the energy […]
The Department for Communities is consulting about policy changes to the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Scheme, to limit the annual Winter Fuel Payment in Northern Ireland to pensioners in receipt of Pension Credit or other means tested benefits. The deadline for comments is Sunday 2nd March and is available on the Department for Communities […]
Sinn Féin have launched a Private Members Bill on Holiday Hunger. This Private Members’ Bill (PMB) is about legislating to provide direct support to children and young people entitled to free school meals and their families throughout school holiday periods. Approximately 100, 000 children are eligible for free school meals. However, this entitlement ends when […]
The Department for Communities has launched a consultation on funding for the Employment Support Scheme. It is seeking views on the potential equality implications arising from a proposal to cease funding for the Employment Support Scheme. This is being considered in response to the constrained financial position the Department is facing as a result of […]
A consultation on proposed changes relating to the requirements for employers to publish information on the pay of male and female employees has been launched by the Department for Communities. These requirements show whether there are differences in the pay of male and female employees, the Gender Pay Gap, and the consultation will look at […]
The Department of Education has launched a consultation on the options considered as part of the review of the eligibility criteria for free school meals and uniform grants. This consultation looks at a number of options and has modelled the potential impact of each option in terms of the number of extra pupils that could […]
The Women’s Regional Consortium’s latest research paper Women, Skills & Barriers to Work was launched in Shankill Shared Women’s Centre in December 2024. The research contains the results of 10 focus group sessions and questionnaire engagement with 60 women on the reasons they are currently out of work, the barriers they face getting into work, […]
24 women murdered in NI since 2020 by men, making NI the second most dangerous country for women in Europe. So a VAWG strategy is very much welcomed. However, this didn’t come out of the blue as the women’s sector and especially the WPG led by Elaine Crory invested an incredible amount of time, effort […]
Summary of Research Proposal The Department for the Economy has commissioned the Alliance for Lifelong Learning to carry out a short piece of research into Impact Measurement of Adult Education, with a particular focus on non-formal learning. Alliance members FALNI and AONTAS will carry out the research. Rationale As noted in the Northern Ireland Community […]
