A £3.3bn funding package that led to Stormont being recalled will not provide long-term stability to services or public finances, new first minister Michelle O’Neill has said.
“Systemic underfunding” has put Northern Ireland’s education services into a financial crisis that could have a “lasting and detrimental impact on learners,” the Independent Review of Education has...
Northern Ireland’s civil servants have warned that “sub-optimal” budgets will lead to further cuts that could constrain council services and worsen court delays.
A shrinking budget and higher spending needs could force Northern Irish departments to make £800m of cuts this year, the nation’s financial watchdog has warned.
The absence of a working Northern Ireland Executive is putting critical government services at risk and jeopardising public sector transformation, civil servants have warned.
The lack of political leadership in Northern Ireland risks politicising the role of civil servants, and UK ministers should intervene to oversee spending, a body representing senior officers has...
Delays in allocating post-European Union funding to Northern Irish departments have had “serious consequences” for organisations reliant on the funding, senior civil servants have warned.
Northern Ireland’s largest public sector union has become the latest to approve industrial action, which could go as far as strikes, following “the worst pay offer that any public sector worker has...
Profound divisions between officers, the lack of investment prioritisation and dated digital infrastructure are hampering Invest Northern Ireland’s ability to fully utilise government funding, an...
Stormont’s departmental spending will exceed UK government funding by £660m in 2022-23 putting the devolved administration’s finances at risk, amid the lack of a formal budget, according to finance...
The Northern Irish government could be given responsibility for setting and collecting income tax by 2027, matching agreements in Scotland and Wales, if there is political will to do so, a report has...
The agency administering housing benefit on behalf of the Northern Irish government has had its 2020-21 accounts qualified over “material levels” of fraud and error, according to the...
The Northern Irish government is set to increase focus on healthcare spending in the 2022-23 draft budget, impacting on other departmental funding, including local government.
The level of fraud and error in benefit payments made in Northern Ireland rose again last financial year, leading to a spending watchdog issuing a qualified opinion.
Belfast City Council has rejected a commercial investment strategy, put forward with the aim of helping raise additional funds and finance the authority’s Covid-19 recovery.
The recently announced budget watchdog created to assess Northern Ireland’s public finances will not have “legally binding teeth” to prevent scandals such as that surrounding the green energy scheme.
New legalisation passed by Stormont will allow local authorities to set independent tax rates, giving councils the flexibility to tailor rates to local needs.
