The lack of a budget in Northern Ireland is jeopardising the delivery of key services, the heads of more than 50 public sector bodies have warned.
The Public Sector Chairs’ Forum, which represents public bodies across the North, has written to Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris calling on him to act urgently.
The body also said its members were alarmed by the potential impact of “drastic reductions” on public services.
In the absence of devolved Stormont ministers, Mr Heaton-Harris is responsible for setting the budget, in which several departments are facing large cuts.
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Permanent secretaries, who are currently running Stormont departments, have been asked to find savings. No date has currently been set for the budget.
The North has been without a functioning government for more than a year due to the DUP’s refusal to re-enter the power sharing institutions over its ongoing opposition to post-Brexit trading arrangements.
In the letter from the forum chair, Nicole Lappin, it is warned that an “outline financial envelope representing up to 20% reductions on 2022-23 spending has been indicated”.
It added: “Members are alarmed by the potential impact of such drastic reductions, which is exacerbated by the uncertainty brought about by the lack of a definitive budget.
“In the absence of locally elected ministers, the legal responsibility to set a budget for Northern Ireland falls to you,” the letter said.
“Following considerable discussion, members are therefore taking the unprecedented step of writing to call on you to act urgently and provide a strategic and manageable way forward.”
The letter continued: “Given that we are already one month into the financial year, we call on you to provide urgent clarity.”
A leaked Northern Ireland Office briefing paper recently estimated the devolved executive is losing £700 million (€790 million) a year by failing to charge for services like domestic water supply, prescriptions, domiciliary care, transport for the over-60s and having significantly lower university tuition fees than England.
When local ministers left office last year, Stormont was facing a £600 million black hole.
Civil servants were forced to make a range of in-year savings and the Treasury provided a £300 million advance down-payment on the current financial year’s block grant to help bridge the financial gap.
However, that £300 million will have to recouped in the current financial year. – PA