The Northern Ireland Executive is now seven months into the financial year without a budget. One of the remarkable things about this situation is the relatively muted practical impacts. Public sector managers have adapted to emergency budget procedures; the money still flows, services are delivered, wages are paid.
But this week real consequences began to emerge as hospital doctors ran out of patience and announced two strikes next month. The lack of a Stormont budget means the doctors cannot be given the 3.5% pay uplift which was recommended by an independent body and accepted by the health minister. Elsewhere in the UK doctors have had that extra 3.5% in their pay packets since April.
Hospital doctors to strike as pay dispute continues Resident doctors in England accept pay deal and end strikes Divided executive 'speaking as one' on budget, says finance minister "I don't know long you'd like us to wait?" said Clodagh Corrigan from the doctors' union, the British Medical Association (BMA). The BMA met the health minister two weeks ago, and Corrigan said they were told that there will be no pay rise before Christmas "if at all". In response resident doctors will hold a 24-hour walk out on Friday 20 November while consultants and specialists will operate a much-reduced service on the following Monday.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has opened a ballot, external for industrial action for the same reasons as the doctors. "It is despicable that, year after year, nursing staff in Northern Ireland are forced to fight for a pay award that colleagues elsewhere in the UK receive as a matter of course," said Professor Rita Devlin, executive director of the RCN in Northern Ireland. "Would governments in England, Scotland or Wales allow their health service staff to go indefinitely without a pay award?
"So why is Northern Ireland expected to accept this?" Health Minister Robbie Butler has attempted to strike a conciliatory note while acknowledging there will be no movement without a budget deal. "I remain committed to implementing this year's pay award but unfortunately, I am currently unable to do so in the absence of a sufficient budget being agreed for my department," he said. There is no budget because of a consensus among the executive parties that the operation of the UK's devolution funding formula now leaves them so short that they cannot produce a workable financial plan.
The UK government has conceded that more funding is necessary and has offered an additional £1.5bn over the next three years, with a first tranche of £525m to be paid this year. The Stormont parties say this is nowhere near enough. On Tuesday, Finance Minister John O'Dowd laid out his position in the assembly.
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