The SDLP has written to the Communities Minister Peter Weir calling for him to confirm mitigation measures will be put in place by the time the Bedroom Tax is introduced in February.

SDLP Communities Spokesperson and North Belfast MLA Nichola Mallon said the window for implementing mitigation against the Bedroom Tax has all but disappeared.

She said: "Failure to introduce legislation to put mitigation plans in place could see vulnerable tenants with two bedrooms unoccupied for example, who are already struggling to make ends meet, lumbered with an extra £100 on top of their monthly bills forcing more people into poverty and putting more people at risk of homelessness.

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"I have written to the Minister for Communities requesting urgent assurance and confirmation that the mitigation measures, that were much heralded by the DUP and Sinn Féin last year, will be in place by the time the Bedroom Tax is introduced next month.

"Vulnerable people must pay the price for the chronic failure of the DUP and Sinn Fein through an obscene Bedroom Tax."

(CD/LM)