Stormont budget needs £2.3bn to deliver same level of services as 2021 – report

The department has published a financial context for revenue-raising measures which sets out the financial challenges facing the region.

It said that current funding of public services in Northern Ireland is £2.3 billion lower than what would be required to maintain the same level of services as in 2021-22.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris wrote to senior civil servants last month, directing them to launch public consultations on measures to support budget sustainability and raise additional revenue.

These include potential measures such as introducing domestic water and waste water charges, drug prescription charges, and increasing university tuition fees.

While Stormont ministers would have to make decisions on any revenue-raising measures, Northern Ireland is currently without devolved powersharing institutions due to the DUP's protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Senior civil servants are currently running public services in the region.

Mr Heaton-Harris, who has also asked for a review of the level of the domestic and non-domestic regional rate, has previously said generating revenue to balance the Stormont budget is a "critical necessity".

Individual public consultations by Stormont departments on revenue-raising measures are expected to be launched later this month.

The Department of Finance document said the budget for the current financial year includes £14.2 billion in resource departmental expenditure limits and £2.3 billion in capital departmental expenditure limits.

It stated: "Just like household and business budgets, departmental budgets have been severely impacted by sharply rising prices because of inflation.

"Sustained high inflation has fundamentally reshaped the price of what the public pound can buy."

The report said the current resource departmental expenditure limit is £2.3 billion lower than the figure that would have been required to deliver the same level of services as in 2021-22.

The report said balancing public finances in Northern Ireland will require a "multi-faceted approach" which could include actions in areas including efficiency, gaining additional funding, reducing or stopping some services and additional revenue-raising.