Our response to the draft budget consultation was informed by an engagement session for sector representatives to capture their views on the draft Budget, where we were also joined by Department of Finance officials who shared detail of the proposed budget for 2025/26.
In formulating our response we also considered key messaging from submissions made from organisations across the voluntary and community sector and insights, knowledge and perspectives gathered via our day-to-day work in supporting and representing the sector across Northern Ireland more broadly.
Given the limited detail within the budget document as to individual departmental spending proposals and the rationale for spending decisions, in our response we took the opportunity to provide comment on the general fiscal outlook, and the budgetary and public sector funding environment from our sectors perspective more broadly, rather than providing detailed responses to the individual consultation questions as posed.
Our response is therefore at a high level and when more specific detail becomes available, for example through other Departmental budget consultations, we will provide further comment.
