Publications

Report: The impact of Covid-19 on public services in Northern Ireland

This report, commissioned by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, is a companion to the recently published NIHRC report The impact of public spending changes in Northern Ireland (Reed and Portes, 2021) which presented the results from a Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) of the impact of changes in public spending in Northern Ireland between the 2010-11 and 2021-22 tax years. It does not attempt to be a comprehensive assessment of the impact of covid-19 on Northern Ireland households or the long-term implications for public service provision, but to identify at a high level the key potential impacts and some possible mitigations.

Date Produced: November 2021

Below is a summary of the report.

You can also download the full document through the links provided.

• Analyses the impact of Covid-19 on public spending pressures and public service quality in specific functional areas of spending in Northern Ireland (in particular, health and education). These services make up the bulk of public spending attributable to individuals in Northern Ireland, as in the UK as a whole, and are also likely to be the public services most directly affected by the pandemic.

• Analyses the distributional consequences of these pressures, in particular which households are most affected.

• Discusses potential options for mitigating these impacts through the social security system.

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission would like to thank Howard Reed (Landman Economics) and Jonathan Portes (Aubergine Analysis and Kings College London) for their work on this report.