25,847 Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) employees will receive a 2% pay increase, backdated to 1 August 2019.
Despite the financial ramifications of the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, the finance minister has made the decision to proceed with the pay increase.
The offer, announced by the Department of Finance, was agreed by the board and is aligned with the 2019 public sector pay policy.
The pay award will cost £23.5 million overall and includes progression up pay scales for eligible employees. The pay rise will be funded from within existing departmental budgets.
A spokesperson at the NICS said: "In parallel, there is a need to progress public sector reform. This will include more agile working practices, new approaches to recruitment and selection for jobs in the civil service, improvement to the management of sickness absence in the NICS, with a particular focus on mental health, expansion of the NICS diversity and inclusion programme, and completion of the harmonisation of terms and conditions between industrial and non-industrial staff."
