• In February, the Finance Minister announced a funding allocation that included £688 she said should prioritise public sector pay awards.
  • This followed wider negotiations with the UK Government, including pressure from elected representatives of other major NI political parties, not just the minister’s party (Sinn Féin).
  • Before being announced, the funding allocations themselves were agreed with the Executive – which includes politicians from four of NI’s largest parties.

In it’s 2024 election manifesto, Sinn Féin claimed that:

“Sinn Féin Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald allocated £688 million to prioritise public sector pay awards on the restoration of the Executive.”

Is this the case? 

In short, yes – Dr Archibald announced over £1bn in funding in February, the bulk of which was allocated to different Executive departments, which the Finance Minister said should cover estimated departmental overspends and also provide £688m for pay.

This money stemmed from wider negotiations that involved multiple political parties (including Sinn Féin) with the UK Government around extra funding for Northern Ireland, while the package itself was agreed with the Executive before being announced by the Finance Minister.

  • Announcement

On 15 February 2024, the Minister of Finance, Caoimhe Archibald MLA announced that £688 million was to be allocated to prioritise public sector pay awards following Executive agreement. The accompanying statement explained:

“The allocation was part of the £1.045bn available from the Executive Restoration package for general pressures and pay in 2023-24. Some £22 million of resource funding was also available from the Executive’s own funds.”

It also detailed that this funding was being provided to each Department with an allocation based on the then current forecast of overspend and pay costs – and that Ministers would have the flexibility to make decisions to manage their own budgets.

  • Context

In February 2022 the Northern Ireland Assembly was dissolved following the resignation of the then DUP First Minister Paul Givan in protest at the introduction of the Northern Ireland Protocol (or NIP) – a set of post-Brexit trade checks between the region and Great Britain. 

In January 2024 an agreement was reached between the UK government and the leadership of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), culminating in a command paper, entitled Safeguarding the Union, which was presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris. Then in February 2024, the UK Government confirmed details of a £3.3billion funding package to support the restored power sharing administration in Northern Ireland – or Executive Restoration Package Settlement. 

  • Public Expenditure

In a Ministerial Statement, “Public Expenditure 2023-2-24 Plan” published on 6 March 2024, gives more detail on the wider context for this funding, which had been dependent on the restoration of the Executive on 13 February 2024: 

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury confirmed the detail of the financial package

which accompanied the restoration of the Executive on 13 February 2024. The key elements of this which are relevant to the 2023-24 position are:

• £1,045.6 million Resource DEL in 2023-24 for general overspend pressures and pay, of which £559.0 million is repayable.

• Deferral of the repayment of £559.0 million for two years, with a commitment to writing this off if the Executive publishes a Sustainability Plan by May 2024 and implements it by May 2025.

The Statement further details:

The Resource DEL allocations… [c]over the current level of department forecast overspends, totalling some £380 million and provides an additional £688 million for pay. The allocation for pay awards is just over £100 million higher than the £584 million provided specifically for pay in the financial package…

FactCheckNI inquired with the Department if this was funding was explicitly ring fenced for public sector pay,  and they responded with the following:

“Following restoration of the Executive on 13 February 2024 the Chief Secretary to the Treasury confirmed the detail of the financial package which accompanied the return.  This provided £1045.6 million in 2023-24, including up to £584 million of public sector pay. 

“Following representations from the Finance Minister, the Treasury agreed to provide flexibility to allow the Executive to use any funding not required for general overspends in 2023-24 for pay pressures.

“The Finance Minister brought recommendations to the Executive on the allocation to each department for overspends and public sector pay pressures. This included £380 million for overspends and £688 million for public sector pay, over £100 million more than in the original financial package.  To provide flexibility to manage budget, the funding was provided as a total allocation to each department.

“The Executive agreed the allocations recommended by the Finance Minister.”

  • What this means

In short, the claim is backed by evidence. The Finance Minister did bring forward a funding allocation earlier this year that included £688m recommended for public sector pay.

However, it is useful to note that this was part of a process that had first involved wider negotiations with Westminster from several local political parties. Following that, the budgetary allocations brought forward by the minister were then agreed by the Executive – and individual ministers will have discretion over how they each spend their department’s funding envelope.

  • Departments and details

For context, the overall departmental allocations – which include the money recommended for pay awards, as well as other funding – are below.

Figure 1 – source: Annex A of the Finance Minister’s February statement 

A DEL allocation, or a “Departmental  Expenditure Limit” allocation is described as cover plans that departments are committed to, announced at spending reviews. They are often set for a multi-year period, and spending is limited, meaning departmental leaders cannot over spend on their allocated DEL budget.