Rising Costs - Vulnerable people would be helped by Govt data sharing
9th September 2008
As fuel prices in Northern Ireland are hiked even higher, Citizens Advice called on the Assembly to pass legislation allowing government departments to share data. Derek Alcorn Chief Executive of Citizens Advice in Northern Ireland said that people should be able to take a record of transactions with them into government offices, in much the same way as they used loyalty cards in supermarkets.
“A number of key government agencies – Social Security, the Housing Executive, Lands and Valuation, are all dealing with the same socially vulnerable people, and key information held on one card should be able to identify not only what help they are currently receiving, but what additional help they may be entitled to such as warm home grants, home insulation and rates relief for elderly people living on their own in private houses. These are the people who will also struggle with water charges, rates and energy prices.”
This would require a reorganisation of back office processes, said Mr Alcorn, but if a supermarket can track my business with them across any of their sites in Northern Ireland why can’t government? Why do people have to ring one of 3 numbers depending on the type of water (river, drains or roads) which floods their homes?
Notes To Editors
- Citizens Advice is the largest advice charity in Northern Ireland working against poverty, meeting the information and advice needs of some 260,000 people per year. Sixty per cent of queries relate to social security.
- Citizens Advice is currently managing a £1.2m contract from DETI for the provision of debt advice in Northern Ireland, and a contract from the Social Security Agency for benefit take up which is targeted on 25,000 people.