Northern Ireland has 40% more public sector workers per capita than England, new figures reveal.
The north’s 229,000 public sector employees equates to 119 for every 1,000 people, whereas the corresponding number in England per head of population is 80.
It has been estimated that the Stormont Executive would have an additional £2.5bn to spend on public services if the number of state-employed workers per capita matched those in England.
Finance Minister John O’Dowd attributed the 40% difference in the proportion of public sector staff to the north’s higher level of relative need and the provision of some services in England, such as water utilities and transport services, by private companies.
“In addition, our size and rurality mean that we do not benefit from the same economies of scale in some areas of delivery,” he said in response to a written assembly question.
Ulster University’ Esmond Birnie, a member of the NI Fiscal Council, said the minister’s explanation for the greater proportionate size of the public sector workforce was “true to an extent but probably only to an extent”.
The senior economist estimated that the difference in cost of the additional 40% staff was around £2.5bn.
“Yes, some of the much higher rate than England can be explained in terms of NI having a more dispersed population and also by the fact that some activities here are in public sector rather than in private. However, that is not going to explain much of the gap,” he said.
In relation to Mr O’Dowd’s assertion about the greater level of need, Mr Birnie said estimates made by NI Fiscal Council and other research put the figure between 124-128% of England, which the economist pointed out did not correspond to the workforce being 40% bigger.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that one-fifth of regional civil staff are employed through recruitment agencies at an annual cost of more than £135m.
In response to separate questions, Mr O’Dowd revealed that the number of agency workers employed by the civil service increased by more than 76% over two years, with costs rising accordingly.
At the end of March 2023, the regional civil service, which is headed by Jayne Brady, employed 2,975 agency workers but by 2025, the figure had risen to close to 5,000 and has continued to increase.
In the financial year 2023-24, the bill for agency workers was £64.8m, while the corresponding figure for the following year was £135.3m.
According to the Department of Finance, the sharp increase in numbers and costs is because around 45% of all civil service agency workers have been “assigned to fulfilling the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) contract”.
“The use of agency staff is a necessary and cost-effective way to manage some time bound aspects of temporary work and to meet particular business needs, thereby ensuring essential support for the delivery of public services and minimising potential impacts or delays in critical Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) operations,” the spokesperson said.
“While agency staff help maintain service delivery, NICS remains focused on building a resilient and permanent workforce through strategic planning and ongoing recruitment efforts.” Ulster Unionist leader Jon Burrows, who submitted the questions on agency workers, said the figures reinforced the need for urgent civil service reform.
“Reliance on agency staff at this scale highlights deep rooted problems from the absence of long term planning to a public sector that continues to grow without any real strategic direction or control,” he said.
“Our people will now see a massive surge in agency staffing costs, yet they won’t see seeing a corresponding improvement in outcomes or delivery for the public services – that should concern anyone who wants to see a Northern Ireland that actually works for its people.”
