To ask the Minister of Health to detail the process his Department will use to process claims for the reinstated Help with Health Costs Scheme from 1 December 2025.

The Help with Health Costs scheme remains unchanged, however the legislation has been amended from 1 December 2025 to enable automatic passporting to certain Universal Credit recipients. Over 195,000 current recipients of Universal Credit in Northern Ireland will be eligible for automatic passporting to Help with Health Costs from 1 December 2025. The underlying threshold eligibility criteria for the Help with Health Costs have not changed, rather, some individuals who may have previously accessed support through the Low-Income Scheme will now be automatically passported.

Those in receipt of Universal Credit who are not automatically passported from the 1 December 2025 will continue to have to apply through the Low-Income Scheme. The legislation which makes provision for the Help with Health Costs scheme falls within the remit of the Department of Health, however operational responsibility for the delivery of the Help with Health Costs scheme rests with the Department for Communities.

My officials, both policy and operational have worked with the Department for Communities to ensure that relevant operational processes in addition to external and internal guidance are updated to facilitate a smooth rollout of the new policy.