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David McNarry MLA, the Ulster Unionist Chief Whip and Assembly Member for Strangford, has introduced a Private Members Bill into the Northern Ireland Assembly to prevent Carer’s Allowance being cut when a carer receives the state pension. This is the first Private Members Bill of the reformed Assembly.
Mr McNarry’s comments on the proposed bill can be read here.
Commenting on the proposed bill, Helen Ferguson, Director of Carers Northern Ireland said -
“We are delighted to see our Assembly Members tackle the overlapping benefits rule for carers who are pensioners” said Helen Ferguson, Director of Carers Northern Ireland. “Carers at our conference last autumn highlighted this issue as a greatest injustice to older carers. They feel that older carers are not being recognised for what they do, and they want to see the law changed.
“Ideally we would prefer to see a complete overhaul of benefits for carers across the UK” continued Helen. “We hope that the review of the ‘National Carers Strategy’, which will shortly report to Gordon Brown, will deliver the changes that carers need. However any developments by the Northern Ireland Assembly will add to the pressure on Government to bring carers benefits into the 21st Century.
“This Bill will also challenge the Assembly to ‘put their money where their mouth is’ when it comes to properly supporting Northern Ireland’s 185,000 carers.”
The Bill passed its first stage on 31st March.
