Health Minister Seeks Urgent Talks On Pay

The Health Minister has confirmed that he has requested an early meeting with health service trade unions to discuss next steps on pay offers for 2024/25.

Due to Northern Ireland's budgetary constraints, the Minister is unable to deliver the desired pay settlements for this year.

Ahead of this week's NI Executive monitoring round, the Department of Health had identified remaining financial pressures totalling £450 million. This included £320 million to implement staff pay increases recommended by health service pay review bodies, along with a £130 million budget deficit to maintain core health and social care services at current levels. This week's Executive monitoring round allocated an additional £350 million to Health, but a significant funding gap of £100 million remains. The prospect of additional funds in the remaining months of 2024/25 is extremely limited.

Despite over £200 million in savings across the Health and Social Care system and in-year allocations from the Executive, it has not been possible to fully bridge the funding deficit for Health.

The remaining £100 million gap means the Minister and Department cannot fully match the pay awards made to health staff in England and Wales for this year.

The Minister has expressed deep disappointment with this situation and acknowledges the understandable frustration of the HSC workforce.