Northern Ireland school budgets to be cut - Department of Education

Schools have also been told what their interim individual budgets will be for the new financial year

The overall budget to fund schools in Northern Ireland has been cut for 2023-24.

The news came in a letter from the Department of Education (DE) to school governors.

Schools have also been told what their interim individual budgets will be for the new financial year.

But the DE letter said that it had not been "possible to include the funding allocated in 2022-23 to mitigate pay and energy increases" for schools.

On Thursday, the department said it was axing 'holiday hunger' payments for families of over 96,000 children entitled to free school meals to save money.

The department also said it could no longer fund a mental health and counselling programme for children in primary schools called Happy Healthy Minds.

Funding for a scheme which employed extra teachers to help children with their learning post-pandemic called Engage was also cut.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has not yet set a Northern Ireland budget for 2023-24 in the absence of an executive at Stormont.

But the NI Fiscal Council has warned that Stormont departments are facing large cuts in the new financial year.

Chris Heaton-Harris has not yet set a Northern Ireland budget for 2023/24 in the absence of an Executive

In the letter to all schools, seen by BBC News NI, the department's director of finance Gary Fair said he shared their "frustration that, as we approach the start of the 2023-24 financial year, details of the 2023-24 Budget have not yet been announced".

He said that schools were being provided with interim budgets by DE to help them plan for 2023-24.

"The interim allocation reflects the likelihood of significant cuts to the education budget, as advised by the Department of Finance and the Northern Ireland Office," Mr Fair wrote.

"Given the anticipated constrained financial position it has not been possible to include the funding allocated in 2022-23 to mitigate pay and energy increases".

Therefore, Mr Fair continued, the overall budget for schools of just under £1.4bn represented "a 1.6% reduction" compared to the closing position in 2022-23.

The cut to the schools budget comes as inflation remains high.

Mr Fair also said that schools should not assume that they would receive further allocations of money in 2023-24.

He also said that Boards of Governors should "make every effort" to ensure schools stayed within their budget.