Unions have accepted a pay offer that will see civil servants in Northern Ireland get a pay rise worth just over 9% over two years.
In January, finance minister Caoimhe Archibald announced members of the Northern Ireland Civil Service were in line for a backdated 3% pay rise from 1 August 2024, followed by a 6% increase a year later.
The 2024-25 pay award covers a 20-month period leading up to 31 March next year, with future pay awards to be linked to the financial year.
Finance minister John O’Dowd said moving onto the same pay cycle as other workers “will give staff certainty and is a more strategic approach, leaving us better placed to recruit and retain the workforce we need”.
"This pay award signals the importance we place on civil servants and the key role they will play in transforming our services and contributing to the delivery of our Programme for Government ambitions,” said O’Dowd, whose statement said he was “pleased” unions had accepted the offer.
"The pressures facing public services are significant and increasing, skilled and motivated staff are essential to drive transformation and ensure we meet the changing needs of citizens,” he added.
When the pay offer was announced, Carmel Gates, general secretary of the NIPSA union, said that from 1 August, civil servants in Northern Ireland will have received three consecutive above-inflation pay awards. She said this "will go some way to address the scandalous pay cuts of the last decade".
The 2023-24 pay deal, awarded last April and backdated to the previous August, included a 5% pay rise and £1,500 lump sum for most NICS officials. The year before that, they received an across-the-board £552 pay adjustment.
This year’s award will also raise pay for the lowest-paid staff – those at administrative assistant and equivalent grades – to the Living Wage Foundation rates of £12.60 an hour or £24,336 a year.
It also includes contractual performance-related progression and a series of improvements to allowances and other terms and conditions such as maternity and adoption pay, which will be set out later this year.
"Confirming our commitment to being a Living Wage Foundation employer, alongside improvements in maternity cover, shows our determination to ensure equality and fairness in our pay structures,” O’Dowd said.