Almost £120m set aside for PSNI data breach payouts

Stormont ministers have agreed to ring fence £119m to compensate police officers over a major data breach.

The Justice Minister Naomi Long had requested the money to allow the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to make a universal offer to settle the claims

The breach involved the accidental release of some personal details of all 9,400 officers and staff.

In October, the Treasury rejected a second request from the executive to help with the cost of paying hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation.

The PSNI and the Department of Justice (DoJ) previously said they do not have the funding to pay for it, and the costs are expected to crystallise in the next financial year.

Last week, Long said she "misspoke" after mistakenly suggesting the issue had been resolved, when the Department of Finance had recommended the Northern Ireland Executive approve the costs.

Six test cases for damages are currently being heard at the High Court.

Long had asked the executive to set aside the money from its budget for 2026/27 in order to allow the PSNI to begin negotiations on a universal offer and prevent costs from rising further.

The PSNI has already accepted liability for the data breach, which occurred in August 2023, and talks over the settlement have been taking place for more than a year.

The data breach occurred when the PSNI accidentally released details of its workforce in response to a Freedom of Information request.

The details were published on a website and later obtained by dissident republicans.

Details of what could be offered to individuals have not been made public.

In a statement PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said he is "absolutely delighted" with the announcement.

"Claimants can now have confidence that a settlement process will progress next year following two years of lobbying numerous stakeholders to get to this position," he said.

"As I stated last week this is a hugely important step in recognising the impact this has had on everyone and it is a signal that the government recognises the seriousness and importance of delivering a fair and timely resolution."

On Wednesday, Long said the funding will "enable the PSNI to advance negotiations with police officers and police staff in a timely manner, to bring about an early settlement of the ongoing legal proceedings and ensure that significant additional costs to the public purse are not incurred".

"I am also mindful of the distress experienced by those affected and I hope that today's decision will bring reassurance to staff and their families," she added.

In a statement Deputy First Minister Emma-Little Pengelly welcomed the funding.

"The loss of £120m to fund public services however is significant. This was a very costly error," she said.

"I have asked the Head of the Civil Service to ensure the risk of further data breaches is minimised through better systems and processes.

"Whilst this is good news for the PSNI, it will have significant impact for next year's overall budget for public services which is far from ideal."

Meanwhile Stormont ministers have clashed over funding to resolve a teachers' pay dispute.

Education Minister Paul Givan hoped to secure approval at a meeting of the Northern Ireland Executive on Wednesday to allocate money for a pay award.

But the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) minister claimed the move was blocked by Sinn Féin from being placed on the agenda.

In a statement a Sinn Féin spokesperson said: "Instead of trying to manufacture headlines, it would suit Minister Givan to focus on managing his department.

"Sinn Féin fully supports teachers and believe they should be paid properly.

"Minister Givan needs to do his homework so the pay offer can be agreed."

The Department of Finance and Executive Office have been approached for comment.

Givan was seeking approval to spend the extra money by issuing a ministerial direction – a formal instruction to overrule advice from accounting officers.

It followed his department receiving less than requested in a reallocation last week of unspent Stormont funds.

"I think it's in inexplicable and I also think it is inexcusable that this wasn't agreed to today," the education minister said at Stormont following the executive meeting.

He said it could further delay attempts to reach a settlement with teachers' unions.

"There is a process in place to allow formal negotiations to take place in the early part of January," he said.

"But to facilitate that I needed to be in a position to allow the employers to make a formal pay award, and the executive didn't do that today."

Givan said the issue was not placed on the meeting agenda despite being "cleared" by his party colleague and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly.

He said he raised this "directly" with First Minister Michelle O'Neill, vice-president of Sinn Féin, "as to why this hadn't been put on the agenda".

The education minister said teachers "should not be treated any differently when it comes to allowing a pay award to be made", citing recent decisions for other public sector staff including police and healthcare workers.

"I will take forward an urgent procedural request now as a result of it not having now moved forward," he added.

The dispute comes after leaked letters between the finance and education ministers laid bare tensions over Stormont's budget.

It is not yet clear if ministers will agree a multi-year budget paper at Wednesday's executive.

Last week, Finance Minister John O'Dowd said he was "confident" the executive would agree one before the end of this year.

Ministers have failed to agree a multi-year budget since 2011.

In 2021, then-Sinn Féin Finance Minister Conor Murphy published a multi-year budget but other parties refused to back it with the result it was replaced by a single-year one.

A multi-year budget would allow departments to plan day-to-day spending better over the next three years.