Daniel McCrossan has sought leave to present a public petition in accordance with Standing Order 22. The Member will have up to three minutes in which to speak.

I will start by putting firmly on record, on behalf of the House, our deep appreciation of all the carers in our community, who do outstanding work in looking after vulnerable family members and others throughout every one of our constituencies. On behalf of those carers right across Northern Ireland, I am calling on the Executive and the Department to deliver a carer's allowance recognition payment for unpaid carers in Northern Ireland. Carer's allowance is entirely unfit for purpose. It provides pennies per hour to those who are caring around the clock, leaving nearly half — it is 46% — of local recipients living below the poverty line. The inadequacy of carer's allowance has taken on even greater significance during the current cost-of-living crisis, with many recipients in Northern Ireland facing severe financial hardship. They are forced to cut back on everything but the bare essentials and are using food banks, skipping meals and getting into debt. Why? It is because they are caring for their loved ones and people in our communities, doing a huge amount of work and saving the health system from collapse.

While it would be only the first step in the wider reform that carer's allowance needs, implementing the recognition payment would make an enormous difference to local carers, putting £540 per year more in their pockets and immediately lifting 3,400 of them out of poverty. The cost of delivering the policy pales in comparison with the money that carers save the Executive every single year. Our carers are propping up the health and social care system and keeping Stormont's Budget from collapsing. They deserve better than a social security benefit that systematically traps them in poverty. Delivering the carer's allowance recognition payment would not change that completely, but it would be an important starting point. There is a significant moral and financial case for the Department to prioritise it during the rest of the Assembly mandate. It is so important that the House recognises carers' outstanding contribution. Today, as I present this petition and thank Carers NI for the work that it does, as well as all those who signed the petition, we must put on record our deep appreciation of all that carers have done for the people of Northern Ireland.

Mr McCrossan moved forward and laid the petition on the Table.

I will forward the petition to the Minister for Communities and send a copy to the Communities Committee.