To ask the Minister of Health to detail his plans to bring local recipients of Universal Credit in line with those in the rest of the UK in enabling an automatic entitlement to financial help with ophthalmic and dental services.

Entitlement to assistance with health costs in Northern Ireland is generally based on low income or on receipt of certain social security benefits set out in legislation (The Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charge Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004). At present this does not include Universal Credit. For this to change, it is necessary to make amendments to the legislation to include Universal Credit recipients with incomes below specified thresholds.

An interim measure to align Northern Ireland with the rest of the UK has been to use the existing Low Income Scheme (LIS) administered by the Department for Communities. This provides a safety net for patients who do not automatically receive full help with the cost of their healthcare, but who have a low income and who therefore face difficulty meeting the cost of their health service treatment. Options for a long term solution will be assessed in due course.