NI Education: Budget will leave 80% of schools ‘in the red’

The Northern Ireland Assembly passed its first budget, external in three years in May 2024.

But the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the assembly’s official opposition, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), refused to support it.

The Department of Education (DE) received significantly more money than it had received in 2023/24.

The Department of Health got the largest share of day-to-day funding (£7.8bn) in the budget, but the Department of Education got the next largest allocation (£2.9bn).

The EA is responsible for spending most of the education budget and allocating funding to schools to pay their staff and running costs.

All schools have to submit information about their finances to the EA, and the budgets they are allocated are mainly dependent on the number of pupils they have.

Teachers in Northern Ireland recently received their first pay increase for three years, bringing to an end long-running industrial action.

But a pay deal for school support workers, including bus drivers, classroom assistants and canteen staff is not yet over the line – although progress has been made.