Stormont's anti-poverty plan criticised by charities and organisations
The signatories said they are 'dismayed and frustrated' at the Executive's Anti-Poverty Strategy 2025-35.
The letter has been signed by organisations, charities, community groups, campaigners, unions, academics and religious representatives.
The open letter, published on Monday, said the strategy does not meet the criteria of a 'reasonable strategy'.
'It fails to fulfil what oversight bodies, including the NI Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee, outline as the basic elements of any strategy,' it added.
'The NI Audit Office said that 'an integrated cross-departmental anti-poverty strategy (should) ensure that the focus is on a number of properly defined and more specific actions' and 'it should include an action plan containing clearly defined indicators and targets aimed at quantifying and reducing poverty'.
'The Public Accounts Committee said that there is a 'clear need for targets and outcomes that are quantitative, qualitative and time-bound to properly measure performance and demonstrate the impact of strategic actions'.
'It also considered that 'a strategy which does not have specific resources devoted to it is never going to be as effective as it could be'.
'We acknowledge that the (Communities) Minister (Gordon Lyons) has indicated that an action plan with targets and specific actions will follow at a later, unspecified date, but every expert, every oversight body, is clear that a strategy must include measurable and time-bound targets within or alongside the strategy.'
They urged the minister to note research published by the Independent Expert Advisory Panel (2020), the Anti-Poverty Strategy Co-Design Group (2022), the Welfare Reform Mitigation Review (2021) and the Discretionary Support Review (2022).
They said the research provides clear evidence of the interventions that work to tackle poverty.
The letter added: 'We are committed to working with you in good faith to eradicate poverty in Northern Ireland, and therefore, we are asking the NI Executive to withdraw their support of the draft anti-poverty strategy, on the basis that it is more harmful to have a strategy that will not address poverty than no strategy at all.
'Our children, families and communities – your constituents – deserve better.'
Launching the strategy earlier this month, Mr Lyons described it as being based on three pillars of minimising risks of falling into poverty, minimising the impact of poverty on people's lives and working to help people get out of poverty.
Figures indicated that around 18% of people in Northern Ireland live in relative poverty, and 15% live in absolute poverty, with 25% of children in relative poverty and 21% of children in absolute poverty.
The strategic commitments from across departments include continuing the Extended Schools Programme, working with partners to scope out an NI Debt Relief Scheme, a commitment to develop an Executive Disability Strategy and a Fuel Poverty Strategy.
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