2003 budget results

It was a quietly received budget, with war in Iraq stealing all the evening headlines. However key representatives in the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland were generally positive about the contents of the Chancellor's speech.

Job seekers, older people, single parents, families, people with disabilities and low income households all received some good news, albeit in small quantities.

Seamus McAleavey, Chief Executive of NICVA said: "We give a broad welcome to the Budget and a particular welcome to the Chancellor’s linkage of social justice issues and the economy. "

Families were a central focus of the Budget and a number of supports were introduced: the new Working Tax Credit which will support low-income households, the Child Tax Credit which will benefit 220,000 families in Northern Ireland and the Child Trust which will give every newborn baby a £250 nest egg start "to invest in their futures".

Gingerbread NI Director, Marie Cavanagh, said: " In a fairly nondescript Budget, Gingerbread welcomes the commitment to work life/family life balance. The introduction of tax credits is a positive development but if they are to tackle seriously family and child poverty, access to the credits needs to be less complicated and a vigorous proactive take-up strategy must be applied. ”

In an attempt to eradicate areas of unemployment, the Chancellor said local job centres would be given greater autonomy with the ability to develop local strategies for full employment. Lynn Carvill, from the Organisation of the Unemployed NI, said: “We particularly welcome the move to give local job centres discretionary powers in terms of developing tailored advice and training programmes. Past experience has proven that a blanket approach to resolve long-term unemployment, like the New Deal programme, has not worked. ”

Another welcome announcement was the rise in winter fuel payments for pensioners over the age of 80. The Chancellor estimated that up to two million older people in the UK should benefit from the additional money, which rises by £100 to £300. Although welcoming the extra help for the over 80s, Andrea Heaney from National Energy Action NI, the fuel poverty charity, considered the measures to be a sweetener, saying: “This Budget does not make any inroads into severe fuel poverty which would require increased investment in energy efficiency and tackling the much higher energy prices faced by Northern Ireland consumers."

Help the Aged welcomed the scrapping of reduced pensions during hospital stays. Speaking on behalf of the organisation, Anne O’ Reilly said: “I am very pleased with the decision to remove the anxiety older people face having their pension reduced when they are in hospital, a time when they are at their most vulnerable. The Chancellor has also tackled what has been a derisory insult to pensioners over 80 when they were awarded an extra 25p a week. It is welcome that this has been abolished and an additional £100 added to the £200 winter fuel payment for those over 80. ”