In response to facing substantial cuts amounting to approximately an £800m funding gap, the Northern Ireland Civil Service has lifted a recruitment freeze to fill around 900 vacancies. Permanent secretaries in the Stormont departments have allowed allocations to general service posts that were paused since February to resume while also planning to launch a new competition for entry-level roles. However, the Department of Finance noted that each department must assess the affordability of all its posts to fill the vacancies while responding to new demands.
The Northern Ireland Civil Service was asked by the departments in September to proceed to fill 902 general service vacancies after the temporary pause put on general service allocations. After the departments review the number of vacancies to be filled with approved funding, the numbers will be confirmed. Additionally, plans are being progressed for a new administrative officer competition.
Despite the current lifting of the freeze, the civil service had warned about the limit of what they could do to manage budget pressures. Even short term impacts were considered as well as longer-term concerns about the mix of skills and experience across the civil service.
It’s worth noting that Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government collapsed in 2022 after the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) withdrew in protest against post-Brexit trade barriers between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Consequently, the country is without local ministers, and civil servants were left to make decisions to balance the books
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