Pay uplift for police officers as ministers agree monitoring round funding

The Stormont Executive has agreed £104 million for public sector awards, which will allow police officers in Northern Ireland to be awarded pay rises.

Capital funding will also be directed towards social housing and water infrastructure after Finance Minister John O’Dowd updated MLAs on funding agreed as part of the December monitoring round.

However, while additional cash is going towards health and education, it will not bridge a funding gap in Stormont finances previously estimated at around £400 million.

Mr O’Dowd said his next step would be to bring a multi-year budget to the Executive for agreement, the first in the region in more than a decade.

The Finance Minister said the Executive has agreed £104 million towards public sector pay awards and £162 million for capital allocations.

He said the additional funding, made up of unspent money redistributed from other departments and some new funding from Westminster, would make a “positive difference to citizens across society”.

Mr O’Dowd said: “We have agreed £104 million towards supporting pay awards for health workers, police, teachers and infrastructure workers and honoured the previous commitment of £7 million towards PSNI workforce recovery costs.

“These allocations demonstrate the priority the Executive attaches to our public sector workers and the role they play in the delivery of our public services.”

He added: “The capital allocations represent a major investment that will deliver real improvements across a wide range of public services and infrastructure.

“Over £59 million will be directed towards water services, road maintenance and safety improvements, and rail projects driving economic growth and enhancing connectivity. This includes funding for new trains and track investment for the Enterprise Cross Border Service.

“Almost £30 million is being allocated to deliver more social housing.

“Recognising the importance of supporting our health service, over £25 million will be invested in IT and the health estate.

“£22 million is being provided to support our school and education sector including funding for Irish-Medium facilities and accommodation. With £12.6 million for Higher Education and Further Education – underlining our commitment to improving skills and opportunities for our young people.”

Allocations for departments include £42.4 million capital funding for communities, £25.6 million resource and £22.0 million capital for education, £12.6 million capital for economy, £69.3 million resource and £25.2 million capital for health, £4.6 million resource and £59.8 million capital for infrastructure and £11.6 million resource for justice.

Mr O’Dowd said: “Following the conclusion of the December Monitoring Round, my next step will be bringing forward the multi-year budget to the Executive.

“The multi-year budget will give departments the certainty they need to plan on a longer-term, more strategic basis and transform our public services for the years ahead.”

Justice Minister Naomi Long said funding for PSNI recruitment and the full recommended pay uplift for police officers will now be available.

She said: “It is crucial that the PSNI can recruit and retain highly skilled and motivated people – and pay plays an important role in achieving this.

“I am, therefore, pleased that following my representations, police officers have been recognised on the same basis as our health and education colleagues in the December monitoring round, as a result I am now able to fund this year’s police pay uplift in full.

“This is a welcome step forward and I will now work with the Chief Constable (Jon Boutcher) to get this much-deserved uplift into officers’ pockets as quickly as possible.”

Ms Long also welcomed £7 million to meet the full cost of the first year of the PSNI’s workforce recovery plan.

She said: “I have been absolutely clear that rebuilding policing capacity is one of my highest priorities and am pleased to have been able to secure this funding to meet Year 1 of the PSNI’s workforce recovery plan.

“Looking ahead, policing requires sustained multi-year funding, to enable the Service to plan, recruit, train and retain with confidence, and I will continue advocating for this as part of the three-year budget setting process.”