Nesbitt: Stormont May Not Match UK Health Staff Pay Deals

Stormont’s health minister has indicated that he may be unable to match the pay agreements offered to healthcare personnel in other regions of the United Kingdom. Mike Nesbitt made these remarks following a budgetary reallocation process referred to as a monitoring round. Although his department received an extra £350 million, he stated that this amount would still leave a £100 million deficit for a balanced budget. Nesbitt expressed that he was “incredibly reluctant” to exceed the budget and anticipated challenging negotiations with health sector unions. The previous week, members of the Unison union organized a rally at Stormont, issuing a warning about potential industrial action concerning pay. The independent Pay Review Body proposed a 5.5% pay rise for health workers in Northern Ireland for the 2024-25 period. This identical recommendation has been put into effect for NHS employees elsewhere in the UK, but not yet in Northern Ireland. Nesbitt stated that his current choices were either to incur an overspend or to engage in negotiations with the unions, “making clear from the get-go that I don’t have enough money for the various national pay awards to be met”. He remarked, “I’m not prepared to look a health worker in the eye, to (health) trusts who have delivered over £200m in savings this year, and say: ‘I’m not trying to maintain pay parity for you’.” Nesbitt reiterated that an additional £100 million was required to balance his department’s budget for the current year, and that he was “incredibly reluctant” to overspend. Nesbitt indicated his intention to commence discussions with health unions regarding pay parity, expressing hope for negotiation flexibility, but also foreseeing that these talks might be challenging. Deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly commented that there was a “collective acknowledgment” that this particular “round of allocations” did “not allow ministers to prioritise pay in the way that they would want to do”. Earlier in the year, finance minister Caoimhe Archibald informed MLAs that departments were confronting total spending pressures amounting to £767 million. A spending pressure occurs when a department determines it requires more funds than its current budget provides. While the new allocations contribute to alleviating these pressures, First Minister Michelle O’Neill stated that £180 million in pressures persisted. She further added, “One budget was not going to be enough to reverse the toxic legacy of austerity.” Monitoring rounds establish a framework for reviewing expenditure plans and priorities. They enable adjustments in executive priorities to be reflected through supplementary allocations and offer adaptability to address new requirements. Typically, monitoring rounds are conducted three times annually, in January, June, and October. The Department for Communities has received £17 million to partially offset the effect of reduced winter fuel payments for pensioners. In July, Chancellor Rachel Reeves declared that payments of up to £300 would become means-tested in England and Wales, and would be restricted to individuals receiving specific benefits. Stormont subsequently opted to adopt this policy, as maintaining universal payments would have incurred an annual cost of £44 million for the Executive. At that juncture, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons stated: “Regrettably there is no additional resource available in the budget to allow us to diverge from the UK government decision.” The method for distributing the £17 million to pensioners has not yet been clarified. An additional £24 million will also be allocated to the Department for Communities for the construction of social housing. Earlier in the year, Stormont encountered criticism for reducing the social housing budget. This reduction resulted in sufficient funding for only 400 new social houses, compared to a target of 2,000. The deputy first minister indicated that the new funding would facilitate the delivery of an extra 1,400 homes. The Department of Justice will receive an additional £36 million. The department had previously reported that increased demands, more intricate investigations, and court backlogs had placed considerable strain on its budgets. Stephen Herron, Northern Ireland’s director of public prosecutions, stated that victims were being failed due to underfunding, and that the Public Prosecution Service required an additional £7 million annually. In September, PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boucher declared that the service was at a “watershed moment” concerning current officer numbers. He then indicated a desire to raise its officer count from 6,300 to 7,000 by 2028. Justice Minister Naomi Long described the extra £36 million as “very welcome news” and affirmed it would contribute to easing the pressures confronting the department. She stated, “We will now consider how this additional funding can be best allocated.” The finance minister also plans to present a draft budget for the 2025-26 financial year prior to Christmas. This draft will subsequently undergo public consultation before being finalized for the commencement of the financial year. The Westminster budget signifies that Stormont will have an extra £1.5 billion available for expenditure next year.