Budgeting for health

An overview of how Northern Ireland’s Health Service is financed.

The health and social care system’s share of current expenditure should rise from 41.7 per cent to 43.5 per cent over the 2011-2015 Budget period. Its share of capital expenditure (generally around 15 per cent per annum) is much lower due to the large allocation for roads projections.

Health and social care is funded under Objective A of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety budget. Objective B covers the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service: around £75 million in current expenditure and £6 million in capital expenditure per annum. Departmental budgets are subsequently amended in monitoring rounds held three times during the financial year. The DHSSPS has generally received £10-20 million in each round although a much larger allocation (£54.4 million) was made in June 2013.

This was mainly to implement the Transforming Your Care reforms. Monitoring round funding has also been used to purchase specialist drugs, complete health and safety works, and relieve pressure on elective surgery.

The DHSSPS also pays out a substantial amount of annually managed expenditure (£868 million in this financial year). This includes pensions and depreciation and impairment charges on assets.

Budget baselines (£ million)