Stormont ministers will have to find ways to live within their budgets after Caoimhe Archibald revealed a £161 million funding shortfall in the current financial year following Wednesday’s Autumn Statement.
The Finance Minister said based on current trajectories, departments face pressures of £769m in 2024-25, with the Treasury allocating an additional £640m for this year.
Ms Archibald said while the in-year funding, coupled with the £1.5 billion announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves for the executive in 2025-26 appeared to show genuine attempts to protect public services and invest in infrastructure, she said “it will not undo the damage caused by the underfunding of our public services” under the previous government.
“Austerity was never going to be reversed in one budget. The scale of the current pressures are so severe that this will take time and significant further investment to turn the tide.”
Speaking on Wednesday evening, Ms Archibald said the £769m of pressures facing Stormont’s departments this year includes the recent pay body recommendations for public sector workers.
She said while the Treasury allocations reflect a recognition of the level of underfunding of the past number of years, the extra money still falls short of what is needed, “and will inevitably mean departments have to take decisions to live within their budgets”.
She added: “The reality is that public services are still stretched, and this level of funding announced today, still doesn’t plug the current gap.
The finance minister said she will move “swiftly” to put her recommended funding allocations before the executive in the coming weeks.
Ms Archibald said while she has been looking into new avenues for raising additional revenue, she said any potential new measures won’t be available to address the shortfall this year.
Looking ahead, she said: “I think we will be looking at how the executive balances its budget going forward in terms of looking at how we can generate efficiencies, how we can generate income and also in that longer term piece, the need to look at the fiscal powers the executive has at its disposal, because they are very limited.”
