On 10 December, Law Centre Director Les Allamby gave evidence to the Northern Ireland Assembly's Ad Hoc Committee on welfare reform.

He set out a number of areas within the Bill and subsequent regulations which give rise to human rights concerns, including:

• the provisions to make EU workers meet the 'all work requirements' regardless of their circumstances,
• the Inability of DSD to provide suitable alternatives to claimants caught by the 'spare room tax'; and
• the intention to remove Universal Credit altogether where one member of a couple signs the claimant commitment and the other member refuses.

He also outlined concerns about the adequacy of the current EQIA accompanying the Bill.