debt<\/a>, as they may be requested for a range of reasons, including budgeting preferences and payment flexibility\u201d.<\/p>\nThe data comes less than a month after the Advice NI charity, which offers free advice on financial issues, warned that households were facing a \u201cgrowing debt burden\u201d over domestic rates, with a 5% increase in the regional rate, and councils across the north raising district rates from between 1.96% (Fermanagh and Omagh) to 4.5% (Ards and North Down).<\/p>\n
The charity said the amount of rates debt it was assisting households with had exceeded \u00a31m for the first time in 2025\/26 \u2013 up from \u00a3705,558 the previous year.<\/p>\n
Advice NI\u2019s head of money, debt and quality, Sinead Campbell, said she expects the debt figure her organisation was assisting ratepayers with to \u201cgrow substantially\u201d in the coming year \u201cas the sharp rise in the cost of living continues to be deeply felt\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want people to understand that rates bills should be treated as a priority debt,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cFalling behind on this payment can lead to serious financial and legal consequences such as a court order for money to be taken directly from your wages or benefits, or in some cases insolvency proceedings that may place someone\u2019s home at risk. It\u2019s important that anyone struggling to make their payments reaches out to us as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Diane Forsythe told The Irish News the rising number securing payment arrangements over rates \u201cshould not be ignored\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany households may choose a payment plan simply because it suits their budgeting needs, and that is entirely understandable,\u201d the MLA said. <\/p>\n
\u201cEqually, improved engagement by Land and Property Services and greater use of flexible payment arrangements can help support rate collection by working with people to manage their bills rather than allowing arrears to escalate.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, we must also recognise the significant financial pressures facing many families as the cost of living continues to place strain on household finances. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese figures should serve as a reminder that, for some households, meeting everyday costs remains a challenge. Government must remain focused on supporting families and ensuring people are not pushed further into financial hardship.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Department of Finance said: \u201cThe Executive acknowledges the financial pressures facing ratepayers and this is why recent rates increases have been kept to a minimum while still retaining the ability to support public services and the economy. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf a ratepayer is experiencing financial difficulties, they are encouraged to contact Land & Property Services as soon as possible to explore support options, including relief schemes, tailored payment plans, and signposting to wider benefits.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More ratepayers in Northern Ireland are facing \u201csignificant financial pressures\u201d as the number entering into payment arrangements has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1040728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[487,2825,6408,474,3781,159184,1144,3711,11191,16,15],"class_list":["post-1040727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-cost-of-living","tag-debt","tag-dup","tag-finance","tag-finances","tag-john-o-dowd","tag-northern-ireland","tag-rates","tag-stormont","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116787814793742002","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1040727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1040728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1040727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1040727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1040727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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