When: Friday 31 January 2025, outside court 0930 hearing at 1030
Where: High Court, Kings Bench 2, Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast
What:
  • The High Court will hear a judicial review on the 31 January, against the Stormont Executive for failing to adopt an anti-poverty strategy, a legal obligation from the St Andrews Agreement. 
  • The challenge has been brought by rights-group the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) with support from the Public Interest Litigation Support (PILS). 
  • The respondents are the Department for Communities (Department with lead responsibility for the strategy), Executive Office and First and deputy First Ministers.
  • CAJ co-convenes the Equality Coalition network with the trade union UNISON. Through the Coalition, UNISON the NI Anti-Poverty Network and Barnardo’s NI have been active in campaigning for the Anti-Poverty Strategy, will attend the hearing on the 31 January and be available for interview prior to the hearing.
Background
  • S28E of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (as amended at St Andrews) places a legal obligation on the Stormont Executive to “adopt a strategy setting out how it proposes to tackle poverty, social exclusion and patterns of deprivation based on objective need.”
  • In 2015 a similar JR taken by CAJ with support from PILS found the Stormont Executive had acted unlawfully in not discharging the legal obligations to adopt the Anti-Poverty Strategy in that mandate. There was no progress in the short 2016 mandate, and no Executive was in place 2017-2020.
  • During the 2020-2022 mandate evidence-based work was progressed to develop an anti-poverty strategy. Following the 2022 collapse the Department for Communities confirmed in 2023 a draft strategy was ready to present to incoming Ministers.
  • Following the restoration of the Executive however in 2024 and the appointment a new Communities Minister no strategy has been published, presented to the Executive or adopted, despite the outstanding legal obligations.
  • Further background information into the Anti-Poverty Strategy can be read here in written evidence from the Equality Coalition to the Communities Committee.