Simon Jones: Blinded by bureaucracy

It’s not a situation anyone would expect to see in 2023, but for the most vulnerable people receiving welfare benefits in Northern Ireland, there’s a very real prospect that they could lose their sight because of bureaucratic failings within the country’s government. Or should that be, the lack of a government?

To say the governmental situation in Northern Ireland has been turbulent in recent years would be putting it mildly, but the problem dates back to 2017, when Universal Credit was introduced while there was no devolved government in place for a period of three years.

Automatic entitlement to eye care, dental treatment and other healthcare access was removed unwittingly, because the names of benefits and the way they were attributed based on income, did not match those within existing laws. Similar problems occurred in England, Wales and Scotland, but they were able to rectify the problem as they had sitting governments.