Scope Articles

The 'rape clause' - understandable opposition

4 Aug 2017

Welfare Reform comes to NI next month. Opposition to the two-child limit on tax credits in general - and the 'rape clause' in particular - has grown more voluble. Scope looks at women's groups' objections.

Kids Company. It couldn't happen here. Could it?

4 Aug 2017

The Insolvency Service is seeking to ban the former trustees of Kids Company from holding directorships for up to six years. It couldn’t happen here. Could it?

Volunteering information

28 Jul 2017

Volunteering means a lot of different things. To get the best out of it, we need information that is clearer on the distinctions, on how different people donate their time in different ways – and on what they achieve.

Northern Ireland's ecological disaster: the untold story

26 Jul 2017

Campaigners are setting about tackling Northern Ireland’s least known and most devastating ecological disaster, Scope explores a forgotten tragedy.

Saving lives: focus on the RNLI

RNLI volunteers deal with difficult circumstances

21 Jul 2017

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a rarity – a first-response emergency service operating on a voluntary basis. Scope shines a light on this successful and highly-thought-of organisation.

Mental Health: How GPs need to change

21 Jul 2017

All politicians of all parties both locally and in the UK say they want to address the crisis in mental health.

Reforming prisons

14 Jul 2017

In the wake of some startling statistics about reoffending and youth justice, Scope looks at whether prisons represent the best way of reducing criminal behaviour.

Welfare reform will cause housing crisis - report

14 Jul 2017

Homelessness and evictions are set for a sharp rise as welfare reform is implemented in Northern Ireland, according to a stark report.

£1bn could provide extra mitigations against Welfare Reform

Kevin Higgins (third from left) at the launch of Advice NI's Universal Credit helpline

7 Jul 2017

The DUP’s money from Westminster could provide a softer landing for September’s changes to social security – but decisions like this will need to be made by a functioning Executive and Assembly.

A new era for fund raising

7 Jul 2017

Charity fund raising entered a new era this week with the establishment of the Funding Preference Service.

Why City Deals are the best bit in the Tory/DUP pact

30 Jun 2017

The Conservative/DUP deal has been much dissected and analysed. Yet the one clause with the most transformative potential has been largely ignored.

Less uncertainty is a good thing

PM Theresa May needed to do a deal and the DUP has taken home some policy concessions and a lot of money

27 Jun 2017

The Tory-DUP deal at Westminster will remove some of the many layers of uncertainty plaguing local politics and policy – overall, good news for the third sector.

How to strengthen democracy in Northern Ireland through people power

There is wisdom in a crowd. Picture credit: Timon Studler, Unsplash

23 Jun 2017

The current political impasse at both Stormont and Westminster raises important issues for the Voluntary and Community Sector, not least whether the Civic Forum should be restored. Nick Garbutt explores the issues.

Dormant Accounts Scheme living up to its name

Mervyn Storey is one of four ministers to announce the same, still-unspent fund

21 Jun 2017

Progress on the Dormant Accounts Scheme has indeed been dormant. Stormont has sat on over £7m of funding, earmarked for the third sector, for nearly ten years. Scope takes a look.

Stroke services require reform

The Stroke Association works with stroke survivors to create better services

16 Jun 2017

Scope talks to the Stroke Association about why a restructuring in services could provide both improvements in acute care and – crucially – huge benefits in long-term care.

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