SDLP Foyle MLA Ma\rk H Durkan
The extra money from the Department for the Communities was designed to deal with the high numbers of newly unemployed and reduced salaries during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Departmental officials confirmed to the Committee for the Communities it would be surrendering £2m which was unspent on the Covid-19 Discretionary Support Scheme.
SDLP Social Justice spokesman, Mark H Durkan said, considering the financial difficulties which are rife for families across the north due to the effects of the pandemic, the problem must be with the scheme’s provisions.
“The hardship people are facing during this pandemic is undeniable, so it beggars belief that the Communities Minister feels she is in a position to return £2 million of the Covid-19 Discretionary Support Scheme funding,” he said.
“With such demand for support the only explanation can be overly stringent criteria and poor design. This is totally unacceptable and will shock those families struggling to make ends meet.”
The Foyle assembly member renewed his long-standing call for a scheme similar to the £500 self-isolation grant available in England, Scotland and Wales, to support people who cannot work as a result of being told to self-isolate.
He claimed “4,000 people could have benefited from that £2 million if such a scheme was available here”.
“Instead, the £20,405 income cap excludes thousands of low-income families.
“The minister needs to look again at this scheme urgently and ask herself if we are really in a position not to distribute £2m to families struggling as a result of this pandemic.”
A department spokeswoman said the Discretionary Support Scheme, including the Self-Isolation grant, “has already provided almost £11.7m… and is set to reach over £17m by the end of the financial year”.
She said the scheme was extended at the beginning of the pandemic “to provide support to those on low incomes who are impacted by Covid-19” with a self -isolation grant “tailored to individual and family circumstances”.
The department said “there is no limit on the amount that can be awarded and awards made include help for any children in the household” and the self-isolation grant can be made for longer periods to “assist people experiencing a temporary reduction in salary… (with) no limit to the number of grants that can be claimed”.
Eligibility “is determined on the basis of the annual income of a household” which “increases the likelihood that a person in low-paid employment or who is claiming a contribution-based benefit can access emergency support for themselves, their children or another member of their immediate family”.
The spokeswoman said it was “specifically designed to reflect a typical wage for a person on low pay”, while England’s “£500 test and trace payment – available only from September to the end of January 2021… is taxable, requires proof of loss of income and is payable only to those on a means tested benefit”.
“Payments are limited solely to the period of self-isolation and the same flat rate of £500 is paid regardless of the size of the household or whether children are being affected.”
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