The requirement to re-register on The Electoral roll for the deadline of 10th Aug in order to avail of the Covid high street shopping voucher was very poorly communicated to households & individuals across many communities.

Furthermore, conflicting dates were stated which has misled many individuals into thinking they had until the 14th Aug to re-register:

"Those not on the electoral register are being encouraged to sign up before August 14 to be able to apply for their voucher" reported by Belfast Live on 3rd Aug.

Confirmed announcements regarding the imminent roll out of this scheme were made only 1 week prior to the 10th Aug registration deadline with many households disputing having received an informative flyer and a reminder flyer, having to rely heavily on social media posts that many don't have ease of access to, or news reports that came in only days before the deadline.

"This scheme is a key element of my department’s Economic Recovery Action Plan and will give a very welcome boost to our high streets which were hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. This uplift is what our local businesses need and deserve.

“It will mean up to 1.4 million people will have an extra £100 each to spend on our high streets rather than online. This will help bring many more customers back through the doors of local retail, hospitality and other sectors." ECONOMY MINISTER GORDON LYONS.

With the trend of online shopping threatening to cause the death of the high street, please honour us with a better chance to give our economy this much needed revival - extend the electoral roll registration deadline to allow those that the information failed to reach avail of this opportunity to bring life back to our streets, our shops, our workers, and ultimately the bounce back of our economy.