Stormont budget: Northern Ireland departments braced for big cuts

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris is expected to set a budget for Northern Ireland later.

He is due to make a written statement to the House of Commons spelling out overall allocations Stormont departments will receive.

Stormont officials have been planning for budget cuts of at least £500m in cash terms in this financial year.

Some departments have been told they could face cuts of 10%.

On Wednesday the head of Stormont's civil service, Jayne Brady, warned that the "damage" caused by the proposed budget reductions would be unprecedented.

Writing to Mr Heaton-Harris's office, she outlined her "profound concern" about senior civil servants being placed in "harmful decision-making positions" about which services should be cut.

It was a rare and significant intervention, and one not typically made by senior civil servants.

Stormont party leaders are also due to hold a meeting with Mr Heaton-Harris about the financial situation on Thursday.

However they are not in government due to the Democratic Unionist Party's (DUP) boycott of Stormont, which began in February 2022.

Permanent secretaries - top civil servants - have been running Northern Ireland's nine departments since October but their powers are severely limited.

They can only implement policies previously agreed by politicians and their ability to react to changing circumstances is negligible.

A union representing senior civil servants previously said politicians, not civil servants, should make any "exceptionally difficult decisions" on Stormont's public finances.

Stormont spends about £14bn a year with the bulk of that going to health and education.

It was revealed in February that services provided by Northern Ireland Executive departments faced cuts of at least £500m in cash terms in the new financial year.

Inflation will increase the effects of those cuts.

Part of the reason for the falling budget was the need to bring forward about £330m to the 2022-2023 financial year to deal with an overspend.

Departments have been operating without proper budgets since the start of the financial year in April.