News alert / Health faces unprecedented cuts (Northern Ireland)

The Northern Ireland Department of Health’s budget allocation for 2024/25 represents a 2.3% reduction in funding compared to expenditure in 2023/24. The Department had estimated it needed an extra £1bn on top of last year’s opening budget, after allowing for £200m of savings and anticipated additional income. The Budget in fact awards an additional £515m and the Department has assumed a further £100m will be received through further savings and in-year allocations resulting from Barnett consequentials. This left a gap of £400m to breakeven, split between a shortfall of £250m in trusts and an estimated £150m for a 3% pay uplift in 2024/25. The settlement, therefore, means that there is no provision for 2024/25 pay settlements to staff. The assessment concluded that the scale of cuts needed to achieve breakeven was unprecedented in Northern Ireland. (See News).