With the UK in an official period of mourning following the Queen's death, politics as normal has largely been put on hold.
Parliament has gone into recess and the UK government has cancelled most public-facing activities such as ministerial interviews, visits and announcements.
The postponement of usual business has led to concerns that major interventions pledged by Prime Minister Liz Truss to tackle the cost-of-living crisis could be delayed.
Read more: Prime Minister Liz Truss says £2,500 cap on energy bills will apply in Northern Ireland
There are also questions over whether it could affect the progression through parliament of a bill aimed at overriding Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol.
Here is a rundown of how matters currently stand:
Cost-of-living measures
The Prime Minister last week announced long-awaited plans to tackle soaring energy bills, with a focus on capping prices and boosting domestic energy supplies.
Under the government's "energy price guarantee", bills for the average annual household will go no higher than £2,500 over the next two years.
The measures are still expected to come into effect for Great Britain as planned from October 1, but it remains unclear when support for Northern Ireland will commence.
The uncertainty stems from the region having a separate energy market from Great Britain and there is currently no fully functioning devolved government at Stormont.
Government support will include setting up a fund to help those who use home heating oil, which in Northern Ireland accounts for two-thirds of households, but the details are still unclear.
Businesses are also still facing a wait for details about financial support pledged under a separate scheme.
A "fiscal event" to set out funding for the package will still take place this month as previously promised by Ms Truss, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.
No date has yet been set for the announcement, but it is expected to take place next week when the national period of mourning ends following the Queen's funeral on Monday.
Ms Truss has offered assurances that the price freeze plans will extend to Northern Ireland.
Responding to DUP MP Sammy Wilson in the Commons last week, the Prime Minister said: "I can assure him that this policy will apply in Northern Ireland and those benefits will be open to the people of Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom."
Northern Ireland Protocol
The period of mourning has curtailed an already busy parliamentary timetable, which could further delay proposed legislation to override Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol.
Parliament will not resume until after the Queen's funeral on Monday, but it is then scheduled to go into recess for party conference season the following Thursday, September 22.
Currently, there are no plans to amend that date. Westminster parties are reportedly in talks about cutting the recess short, potentially bringing forward MPs' return to Parliament by a week to October 11.
But it still leaves little time to progress the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, the passage of which the DUP has linked to restoring Stormont power-sharing.
The DUP is blocking the re-establishment of the institutions in protest against the protocol, which has angered unionists for introducing new checks on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
If no new devolved government is formed by October 28, the Secretary of State will be required to call a snap Assembly election within the subsequent 12 weeks.
Speaking in Belfast last week before the Queen's death was announced, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he understood the Bill would receive its second reading in the House of Lords in October.
He said the timetable was "a matter for the parliamentary authorities" and his party's actions were "not driven by timetables, they are driven by solutions".
"And the sooner we get to a solution the better, whether that is in the form of the legislation at Westminster, or in the form of a realisation by the European Union that it is no longer acceptable to put in place barriers to trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and those barriers have got to go," he added.
The EU's chief negotiator on Brexit, Maros Sefcovic, has said they stand ready to work in an "open and constructive" way with the UK government.
In an interview with the Financial Times, he suggested physical checks on goods travelling across the Irish Sea could be cut to a "couple of lorries a day".
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