Benefits and pensions

The Department provides help and financial support if you are unemployed and looking for work. It also provides you with additional income when your earnings are low, if you are bringing up children, are retired, care for someone, are ill or have a disability.

The Department has a responsibility to detect and investigate benefit fraud and customer error.

The Department administers all aspects of State Pension for the people of Northern Ireland. It is also responsible for the implementation of the new State Pension system which was introduced on 6 April 2016.

We are responsible for the formulation and development of policy and legislation on private pensions in Northern Ireland.

Guidance to assist decision makers or stakeholders within the advice community on the interpretation of Social Security and Child Maintenance Legislation.

An electronic version of the printed volumes 'The Law Relating to Social Security for Northern Ireland' (The Blue Volumes).

The Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 is introducing many changes to our current benefit systems. It will see many of them scrapped, with new benefits and payment systems introduced.This section provides details of each of the new changes.

This area contains analysis and research which details the potential impact to the Northern Ireland population and provides an evidence base for Welfare Changes.

Analytics Division provides statistics on social security benefits in Northern Ireland. Statistics on all main benefits are provided in the pages below.

Improving the uptake of benefits by people who are entitled but not claiming is a key priority for the Department for Communities (DfC).