What will benefits cuts mean for Northern Ireland?
PA MediaThe UK government is expected to outline plans aimed at cutting spending on health and disability benefits on Tuesday.
Ministers are planning to make it harder to qualify for Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
The government is looking for savings so that it doesn't break its self-imposed tax and spending rules.
The Prime Minister has said the current benefit system is discouraging some people from working which is "unsustainable, indefensible and unfair".
The UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said there is an "overdiagnosis" of mental health conditions.
What is PIP?
PIP is a benefit for people under state pension age who need help with daily activities or getting around, due to a long-term illness or disability.
It can be claimed by people who are in work as well as those out of work.
It is not means tested so income, savings or other assets don't affect eligibility or the amount someone can receive.
It has two components, one for daily living and one for mobility. The maximum weekly payment is £184.30.
How many people in NI get PIP?
The most recent figures, from November 2024, suggest just under 218,000 people in NI were receiving PIP.
The figures, from Stormont's Department for Communities, show that about 104,000 of those claimants were aged 55 and older.
At the other end of the age distribution there were just over 18,000 16-24 year olds getting PIP.
Almost a quarter of claimants lived in the Belfast local government district.
The most common reason for receiving PIP was "anxiety and depressive disorders" which accounted for almost 52,000 claims. The next most common condition was arthritis, featuring in around 17,000 claims.
How many people in NI don't work due to sickness and disability?
Working age people who are not in work and not looking for work are described as being economically inactive.
As well as people who are sick or disabled this group includes students, early retirees and unpaid careers.
At the end of last year there were around 318,000 economically inactive people in NI. Of that 118,000, or 37%, were long term sick.
NI had an overall economic inactivity rate of almost 27%, compared to the UK average of 21.5%.
A high rate of economic inactivity is a long-term feature of NI's economy.
Has the situation been getting worse?
Since 2019 the number of people in NI who are inactive due to sickness has increased by a third, according to an Ulster University Economic Policy centre analysis of official data.
It found that, since 2022, long-term sickness levels in NI have reached record highs, "to the point that over one in ten (11%) of all working age individuals are economically inactive due to ill health."
A separate analysis of people classified as disabled under the 2010 Equality Act looked at the main reported health conditions.
It found that at the end of 2021 almost one in five (19%) disabled people reported specifically suffering from depression, bad nerves or anxiety, increasing from 10% a decade earlier.
This is mirrored at the UK average level where depression, bad nerves or anxiety increased from 7% of people with disabilities in 2011 to 18% in 2021.