Stormont Executive ‘could be £100m short to deal with national insurance rise’
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Northern Ireland is set to be around £100 million short to deal with the outworkings of a hike in national insurance contributions, the Stormont Finance Minister has said. Caoimhe Archibald also announced the appointment of an expert to assess the region’s general level of need ahead of the upcoming Spending Review for 2026/27.
Ms Archibald was speaking as she appeared remotely before the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, which is examining the funding of public services in the region. She acknowledged the most recent funding allocation for Northern Ireland, but said “years of underfunding” of public services “was never going to be reversed in one Budget”.
“The Executive fully recognises the need to deliver public services as efficiently and effectively as possible and we are all in agreement that transformation is essential if the Executive is to put our finances on a sustainable footing,” she told MPs.
“But to be able to do that we need to have fair and stable funding.”. Ms Archibald also sounded the alarm around the impact of the increase to national insurance contributions. She told MPs that the estimated additional cost to departments and their agencies is around £200 million for 2025/26.
“The Executive, like the devolved governments in Scotland and Wales, does not have the financial capacity to compensate for decisions made on reserved taxation matters,” Ms Archibald said. “While the Chancellor has said that support will be provided for public sector employers, this is likely to fall far short of what is needed for us in the Executive, possibly in the region of £100 million.
