A ‘workaround’ is being sought to ensure that people in Northern Ireland do not miss out on a £400 payment in the autumn to help with energy costs because there is no functioning government in the province, a Stormont minister has said.

Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey was set to have discussions with Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi on Wednesday over how the scheme can be extended to Northern Ireland.

Before the meeting, Mr. Zahawi reiterated the Government’s commitment to delivering the payment to Northern Ireland.

Locally, Community Advice Fermanagh Welfare Rights Specialist, Samantha Gallagher, said the wording of the £400 scheme and how it would operate leads to confusion as to whether there is the power in Northern Ireland to implement it without needing to create new legislation to do so.

She said: “We understand that this is still being discussed due to the fact we have no functioning Executive.

‘Crisis here in Fermanagh’

“We are already seeing the impact of the cost of living crisis here in Fermanagh, and statistics are showing that 70 per cent of Northern Ireland will be in fuel poverty by January, 2023.

“In addition, Child Poverty Action Group released a briefing paper which indicated that by 2024/2025, child poverty in Northern Ireland is predicted to rise to over 25 per cent.

“Regardless of how it is implemented, help is essential, and is desperately needed for those on the poverty line in Fermanagh.”

Referring to the lack of an Executive, Minister Hargey said the fastest way to deliver the money would be for the Stormont political powersharing institutions to be restored as she warned that families faced a bleak winter with the escalating cost-of-living crisis.

Last month, Westminster officials revealed details of the scheme in which households in Great Britain will get more than £60 off their energy bills each month throughout winter as part of its cost-of-living support measures.

The money, which is part of a package announced in May, will come in six instalments over six months, and is projected to reach some 29 million households.

Households will see £66 taken off their energy bills in October and November, and £67 between December and March. However, unlike the rest of the UK, there has been uncertainty on how Northern Ireland households will receive the payment to help with energy costs.

The region is currently without a functioning NI Executive or Assembly as part of the DUP’s protest against the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol.

Ms. Hargey said: “I know [Stormont Finance Minister] Conor Murphy has been engaging with Treasury to try and look at a solution.

“The quickest solution here is to have a functioning government. We know the Economy Department can run out a scheme quickly – they have all of the details and mechanisms to do that. In the absence, we are having to find workarounds, and those workarounds take some time to try and work through.”

Ms. Hargey added: “These payments should have hit people’s bank accounts the way the other fuel support payments have begun to, and we need to do all that we can, working with the Treasury, working with the British government, to do that in the absence of others who are unwilling to form a government.”

However, she warned: “This one-off payment of £400 is not going to be enough. It will assist, but this winter is going to be bleak for many families and low-income workers, and that is why we need a functioning Executive.

“This has taken time to try and get a workaround, and people are struggling here and now.

“If we had a functioning Executive we could give certainty to those families, and we could get the money out into their pockets as soon as possible, rather than trying to find workarounds which don’t give any certainty, which create instability and worries.”

She added that pressures are already beginning to build on families affected by soaring costs.