Finance Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald today updated the Assembly on the October Monitoring round.
In total £631.5 million Resource will be provided to departments for pressures and pay with £68 million Capital being invested in social housing, infrastructure and tackling rural poverty and social isolation.
Announcing the allocations, the Minister said:
“The Interim Fiscal Framework I negotiated in May has resulted in an additional £124 million from the Autumn Budget, bringing the total Barnett from the Chancellor’s announcement to some £640 million.
“While the additional funding from the Autumn Statement is to be welcomed it still falls short of the pressures facing departments. This means departments will have to make savings or reduce what they would want to do in order to live within their allocations.”
Outlining the resource allocations the Minister said:
“Despite the challenges facing us the Executive has prioritised the funding available with £350 million being allocated to health, £170 million to education and £36 million to Justice to address general pressures, including pay. This reflects 92.6% of the general resource allocations.
“£17 million has been allocated to the Department for Communities for winter fuel support. While this funding cannot mitigate fully against the bad decisions taken at Westminster it shows our determination to do what we can within the constrained funding available to us to provide a level of mitigation from the detrimental impacts of Winter Fuel Payment changes on vulnerable older people this winter.”
Turning to capital allocations, Minister Archibald added:
“Once again capital bids far outstripped the funding available – some five times over.
“Given the importance of social housing £24 million is being allocated to help enable the delivery of 1,400 houses in this financial year.
“Due to the pressures it is facing including constraints within the wastewater infrastructure, and the impact both on construction and the environment £39.6 million has been allocated to the Department for Infrastructure.”
Total departmental allocations including both Resource and Capital funding being made are:
Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs - Resource £3.7 million/Capital £2.1million
Department for Communities Resource £28.6 million/Capital £25 million
Department for the Economy - Resource £8.6 million/Capital £0.2 million
Department of Education - Resource £171million
Department of Finance - no allocation
Department of Health – Resource £350 million
Department for Infrastructure Resource £22.8 million / Capital £39.6 million
Department of Justice – Resource £39.3 million
The Executive Office - Resource £7.0 million / Capital £1.4million
Highlighting the need for departments to live within budget, Dr Archibald said:
“While these allocations will go some way towards addressing pressures a significant gap remains.
“Overspending is not an option. Doing so would put the £559 million which the Treasury have agreed to write off at risk. This would serve to make an already challenging situation far worse. Collectively we must work together to deliver a balanced budget."
The Minister concluded:
“Given the continued pay and inflationary pressures and growing demands on our services this highlights the need for the transformation of our public services.
“The level of in-year funding reflects the reality of underfunding of public services following 14 years of austerity. The Autumn Statement signalled a step in the right direction. But we will need to see continued investment over the coming years to help transform public services.
“With the substantive funding from the financial package ending prior to 2026-27 I am determined to continue building on the progress made to negotiate a fair funding model going forward which ensures that our budget is reflective of our relative need and not just the uplift provided through Barnett consequentials.
“My focus will now turn quickly to the 2025-26 Budget which I intend to bring to the Executive for consideration later this month for what I hope to be the last single year budget.”