Draft Stormont Budget Proposes Major Funding for Health and Education

The Northern Ireland Executive has consented to make its preliminary budget for the 2025/26 financial year available for public consultation. According to the proposed allocations, the health and education departments are slated to receive the largest portions of the £19bn budget. This expenditure strategy includes approximately £16bn for recurrent spending and £2bn for capital investments. The document indicates an increase in expenditure compared to the prior financial year, with recurrent spending projected to rise by 9%. Furthermore, it suggests an increment to the regional rate, a component of annual rates bills, by 5% for residential properties and 3% for commercial entities. Stormont officials estimate this would equate to an additional 60p weekly for an average household. On Thursday, ministers from Stormont’s four-party devolved administration convened to deliberate on these proposals. The preliminary budget allocations for the 2025/26 period for each Stormont executive department are detailed below. These figures comprise both recurrent spending and funds designated for investment, referred to as capital spending. During a news conference held on Thursday, First Minister Michelle O’Neill announced that funding had been put forward to address violence against women and girls. She stated, “This draft budget reflects our programme for government commitments to doing what matters most and to tackle the issues facing working families and communities here.” Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly noted that the preliminary budget incorporated a twofold increase in funding for a childcare strategy, reaching £50m. She further mentioned that the executive had consented to “ringfence” funding for agriculture, the environment, and rural development. Little-Pengelly commented, “The fiscal environment still remains challenging, but I do believe we are making a significant difference.” Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald drew attention to £100m in capital funding designated for housing and over £105m for Northern Ireland Water and wastewater infrastructure. She expressed her hope that this would be the final single-year budget and that the Stormont executive could transition to multi-year budgets in the future. She remarked, “Collectively we have worked together to allocate resources to where they are needed most, and in line with the executives priorities.” She added, “It supports our commitment to deliver affordable child care, focusses the energy of our economy by investing in skills, and supports our farming community and agriculture industry.” Over 50% of the recurrent funding is slated for allocation to health within the preliminary budget proposals. Archibald stated that these plans would provide an 8.3% increase compared to the health budget of the preceding year. Health Minister Mike Nesbitt indicated that there was “room for improvement” within the executive’s preliminary budget. He described it as a “very challenging allocation” but affirmed his acceptance of the challenge. Following the executive meeting, Nesbitt commented: “I think every executive minster is under pressure in terms of their budgets and the finance minister was left with an impossible challenge in terms of meeting what everybody wanted.” He continued, “I made no objection to the draft budget going out to consultation, but what I do object to is the disconnect between the budget and the programme for government.” He further stated: “In the programme for government waiting lists are one of the nine priorities, but if you go to the draft budget, there isn’t a single mention of waiting lists and therefore not a single penny for tackling those lists.” Matthew O’Toole, the leader of Stormont’s opposition from the SDLP, rejected Nesbitt’s critique of the preliminary budget, asserting that “he isn’t detached from this thing”. O’Toole remarked: “He’s in the Executive. He’s in charge of producing a plan. We’ve seen parts of a plan, concepts of a plan but we haven’t necessarily seen a full clear multi-year plan for how the health minister was to get waiting lists done.” He added, “He has more power than I do as leader of the opposition to demand that it is delivered and we will be encouraging him to do that.” Environment Minister Andrew Muir characterized the budget as “difficult” for both himself and his department. Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster’s Evening Extra, he commented: “This budget does not give me the additional tools I need to be able to address the issues in Lough Neagh.” He noted, “We’ve had two years running of severe issue for blue-green algae and it’s likely this will continue for decades.” Muir disclosed that he had requested £51m for recurrent spending but was allocated approximately £16m. He stated, “This means we will have to make difficult decisions.” Nevertheless, Muir acknowledged positive elements within the budget, adding: “It is good news in terms of the funding for agriculture, agri-environment, farm and fisheries and rural development. That funding will be ringfenced.” He also mentioned, “The executive will also prioritise funding bids I make for technology to reduce ammonium emissions in NI.” John-Patrick Clayton, spokesperson for Unison, stated that his union intends to examine the specifics of the budget. Speaking to Evening Extra, he indicated that Unison would “focus in on what the percentage change is to the overall budget”. Citing the Department of Health as an illustration, Mr Clayton remarked that they were “aware of the challenges in the health service around reform”. He asserted that there “hasn’t been sufficient resources to enable the level of transformation that is needed to address things like long-standing vacancies and the need for better pay and conditions.” He added, “We’re also mindful that in the last couple of years the Department of Health has gone out to consultation on the need for it to make cuts to its budget, we’ll see what change is there.” It is understood that Archibald presented executive colleagues with specifics of their suggested allocations earlier in the week. Previously, she had expressed being “hopeful” for progress to enable the budget to proceed to public consultation before its approval by the Assembly. The minister further noted that ministers had already received warnings regarding a “challenging” financial environment. She stated, “I have worked hard with my executive colleagues over the past number of weeks to progress the budget.” She continued, “We as an executive have a set of priorities in terms of our programme for government commitments that we want to deliver on, and so I’ve been working with my executive colleagues to make progress.” While the UK government does not conduct consultations on its budget, this practice is a standard procedure employed by Stormont and other devolved bodies to evaluate their proposals. Both the Scottish and Welsh governments undertake consultations on their preliminary budgets, though only Holyrood releases its plans for public consultation. The Treasury lacks a mechanism for submitting a Westminster budget to public consultation, but Members of Parliament have been granted additional time to discuss its contents in parliament.