Updated Thursday, 25 February by www.railstaff.co.ukUK
Having experienced passenger growth of 130% over 12 years, Northern Ireland’s stations needed urgent attention.
The Northern Ireland network carried 15 million passengers in 2018, with growth having hit 130 per cent over a 12-year period. Trains and stations were becoming increasingly crowded and investment was needed. Tim Casterton reports on how operator Translink has tackled the constraints on its stations.
During the five years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the world economy, the number of passengers using Translink’s Northern Ireland Railway (NIR) service had been increasing dramatically. This is down to several reasons, including increased traffic congestion in Belfast, new trains and improved rail timetables.
Thousands of vulnerable people in Belfast will be crippled by an almost £300,000 reduction in funding to the independent advice network in Northern Ireland, it has been warned.
It is part of a proposed overall £1.5m cut in funding to the network, which provides help and advice to those receiving welfare support - a cut that Advice NI has warned will cause suffering to those in need, job losses, increased universal credit applications and benefit appeals.
The plans are currently out for consultation and no final decisions have been made.
The proposed cut will also mean 45 direct job losses to the advice network.
BBC News
Published
image captionAdvice NI said the proposed cuts amounted to a £1.5m funding reduction for the sector
An advice network that has helped deliver the government s Covid-19 hotline could lose 45 staff under proposed welfare cuts.
The Department for Communities (DfC) draft budget includes cuts to welfare reform mitigations and homeless support.
It said the 2020-2021 budget presented very significant challenges .
The plans are out for consultation and no final decisions have been made, it added.
Advice NI said the proposed Department for Communities cuts amounted to a £1.5m funding reduction for the sector.
Bob Stronge, from the organisation, said it had been given no warning of the proposals, which would cut support to Northern Ireland s most vulnerable.
Updated
Friday, 29th January 2021, 9:52 am
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The funding, allocated via the Department for Communities (DfC), is to be distributed by Mid Ulster District Council in a new partnership with schools and the Education Authority’s welfare service which aims to ensure that the families of children entitled to free school meals and other support will now receive Council fuel stamps towards home heating costs.
Continued support will also be provided to charities which are also responding to people in food and fuel crisis.