Cliff Edge Coalition
The Cliff Edge Coalition is a group of over 100 organisations from across Northern Ireland, which was formed in 2018 to highlight shared concerns over the potential ‘cliff edge’ created by the ending of the welfare mitigations package in 2020.
A successful campaign led to the Northern Ireland Assembly legislating to indefinitely retain the mitigations for the Social Sector Size Criteria (bedroom tax), close the loopholes which had prevented many claimants from accessing financial assistance through the mitigation scheme and extend the Benefit Cap mitigations until 2025.
The Coalition has highlighted that Northern Ireland now faces another ‘cliff edge’ with many families facing poverty and struggling to make ends meet. This situation is further exacerbated by the current Cost of Living crisis.
The Welfare Mitigations Independent Review Report was published in October 2022 and outlined the Panel’s recommendations, while the Coalition fully endorses all these recommendations, as a Coalition we have decided to focus on three primary asks during our Campaign:
- Resolving the five week wait in Universal Credit
- Mitigating the two-child limit
- Providing support to private renters affected by the Local Housing Allowance
Dr. Ciara Fitzpatrick discusses the importance of the three asks in the video below:
Siobhán Harding, policy officer for the Women’s Support Network, discusses the impact of the Cost of Living Crisis on women. For many households, women act as the “shock absorbers of poverty in the home.”
Download the Cliff Edge Coalition’s member briefing below and find out more information here.
Follow the Cliff Edge Coalition on Twitter.
