Scope Articles

Welfare Reform mitigations must continue

13 Sep 2019

A Westminster committees inquiry has concluded that NI’s mitigations package should continue beyond next March’s benefits cliff edge – action is required now.

If you want to improve the benefits system, speak up

Prof. Eileen Evason (centre) along with Barry McVeigh (left) and Kevin Higgins (right), both members of her team that produced the Welfare Reform mitigation report, and the then First and deputy First Ministers

2 May 2019

The IFS says Universal Credit will lower the incomes of millions of people and that the welfare reform “hits the persistently poor the hardest on average.” But change is possible.

Welfare Reform mitigations have problems that could be helped by an Executive

23 Jan 2019

An Audit Office report has highlighted huge Welfare Reform underspend. Several NI organisations say bigger problems are coming. With no Assembly, we are rudderless – but Stormont struggled to deal with this first time round.

How NI relies on Europe for employability schemes

18 Jan 2019

The European Social Fund represents a small amount of EU money – but supports a huge proportion of the schemes in its sector. Westminster’s delay on developing a replacement is worrying.

Christmas is the busiest time of year for foodbanks

30 Nov 2018

Another Christmas, another busy month for foodbanks. For most people, they are an abstract concept – that’s because most people never have to use them.

Universal Credit: more reasonable in Northern Ireland

8 Jun 2018

Welfare Reform faces plenty of controversies, but the Department for Communities has taken a more sympathetic approach than is seen in GB. Scope speaks to Law Centre NI about their DfC funded guide to avoiding sanctions.

Sanctions have been a dystopian farce but there are wider problems for social security

25 May 2018

A major report from Welfare Conditionality, released this week, slammed the sanctions programme that is a key strut of Universal Credit. Scope takes a look.

Hand to mouth: Northern Ireland’s poverty outlook

8 Dec 2017

Employment is no guarantee against poverty, and lack of qualifications makes things harder still. A new Joseph Rowntree Foundation report shows Northern Ireland is not well equipped to tackle this issue.

Citizen’s income and globalisation’s crisis of confidence

22 Jul 2016

The global village was meant to bring harmony and prosperity to the human race, is progressing roughly as predicted – and is in a state of peril. One mooted solution is free cash for everyone.

Sinn Fein Assembly manifesto for 2016

29 Apr 2016

We continue to look at the main party's manifestos ahead of the Assembly elections - and find that Sinn Fein's document is unsurprising.

The changing face of local poverty

16 Mar 2016

The whys and wherefores of being poor in Northern Ireland are changing and could become more difficult to address, according to a new Joseph Rowntree Foundation report.

What now for welfare?

29 Jan 2016

Social security does not occur in a vacuum and, while Tory changes might look absurd by their own criteria, there are huge global socioeconomic trends that effect what is possible and these have no easy solutions.

Equality, austerity and peace in 2016

Panel members at the October conference which led to the report

7 Jan 2016

Scope looks at the Equality Coalition's recent report into a shrinking public purse, stagnant economy and the risk of violence - and concludes a relapse is currently unlikely but 2016 will be a big year for NI generally.

Equality, austerity and the threat of violence

Panel members from the recent Equality Coalition's austerity and inequality event

29 Oct 2015

If people lose faith in what society offers then violence can rear its head. Scope looks at recent efforts from the Equality Coalition into whether there is a risk of a Troubles relapse as the public purse tightens and our economy splutters.

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