£688 million released for public sector pay rises

The Executive have agreed to release £688 million to settle outstanding pay awards for public sector workers.

Individual departments have each been given an allocation and negotiation between trade unions and employers can now progress.

This comes after workers from various sectors engaged in major strike action over recent months.

Multiple unions have taken to the picket lines to protest over the failure to make pay awards during Stormont’s powersharing impasse.

The Executive met for the first time on Thursday after powersharing was restored earlier this month.

Stormont's restoration opened the way for a resolution to the disputes and many unions have suspended plans for further industrial action pending the outcome of pay talks with Stormont departments.

The money was included in the UK Government’s £3.3 million package to support the restoration of powersharing at Stormont.

However, the funds allocated for addressing the delayed pay awards for public sector workers only covers the current financial year.

It will be up the Executives' responsibility to budget for sustaining pay levels going forward.

The allocation of the money to departments was agreed following a proposal by Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly along with Ms Archibald spoke to reporters at Stormont Castle after the meeting.

“We were determined to make some early decision and I’m glad that we’ve been able to do that,” Ms O’Neill said.

“We had said that whenever we returned as an Executive that we would work towards making sure that workers had fair pay.

“So, I’m delighted to say that today the Executive, on the recommendation of the Finance Minister, has decided to allocate over £685 million which will allow conversations now to commence between employers and trade unions in relation to public sector pay.”

Ms O’Neill said ministers were united in pushing for more money for Northern Ireland.

“I know we are united as an Executive in terms of the challenges that we have ahead of us but also the need to ensure that we have a properly funded public service model,” she said.

Ms Little-Pengelly added: “The people of Northern Ireland deserve public services that work for them.

“We know that there’s big challenges within our public services but, of course, we must recognise that the people who deliver those public services, our public servants, deserve fair pay.

“And that’s why this step today of the allocation of £685 million for the purposes of negotiation, and hopefully quick settlement, is a really welcome one.

“We do want to get these issues resolved because our public sector workers have deserved that fair pay, but they have deserved that before this point.

“So we do hope that we’re able to resolve that and I welcome the fact that the £3.3 billion package secured with the UK Government has been able to enable this announcement today in terms of the settlement for this year.”

Ms Archibald said she was “delighted” to secure Executive approval for the allocation.

“This is a really good day for our public sector workers who’ve had to wait too long for their pay award, for our health care workers, our teachers, our police, our civil servants, and it will enable negotiations to begin immediately with trade unions,” she said.

“And I want to see those conclude as quickly as possible to ensure that workers are getting a fair pay award and that they’re actually seeing that money in their pay packets as quickly as possible.

“I think it’s also a good signal coming from this Executive that we are working together to deliver for people in the most challenging of circumstances.”

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