Debate contribution: Health and Social Care Pay Awards 2025-26
Debate contribution by Ms Diana Armstrong on .
- MLA
- Ms Diana Armstrong
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 23 September 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Health and Social Care Pay Awards 2025-26
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5129865
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I welcome the motion, as well as the opportunity to make a winding-up speech on what is undoubtedly one of the most pressing and urgent issues facing the Northern Ireland Executive. Having spoken to health workers and their families across Fermanagh and South Tyrone, I know that patience is running out. Time and again, they tell me the same thing, which is that it is not just applause that they want but action. It is not just praise in speeches that they want but parity in pay. The principle of parity matters, and perhaps even more deeply in rural communities and rural constituencies such as mine, where recruiting and retaining staff is already a challenge. We must also be honest about the consequences of inaction. If the ever-increasing prospect of industrial action is realised, patients will suffer delays, families will face uncertainty and staff will be forced to make choices that no professional should have to make: to stand up for fairness or to deliver care under impossible strain. The Assembly cannot allow that situation to unfold. Each of us, regardless of which party we are in, made commitments to value our health workers. Now is the time to show that those commitments were not hollow words but promises that we intend to keep. Our health workers in Northern Ireland do the same job as their counterparts in London, Cardiff and Glasgow. They carry the same burdens. Why, then, should their pay packets say otherwise? Why should they be asked to do more for less? I thank everyone who took part in the debate. I will mention some of the comments that were raised. Seven Members contributed to the debate. It is undeniable that there is support and goodwill for our healthcare staff and a recognition that pay parity is needed. Gerry Carroll said that it:
"should be accounted for in every year's Budget".
Philip McGuigan, the Chair of the Health Committee, said that Sinn Féin is "committed to solving the problem" in the Executive and will continue to work to make pay parity a reality. Diane Dodds from Upper Bann stated that she is:
"sad and angry that nurses are in this position."
She hopes that the Finance Minister and the Health Minister can work together to resolve the issue. Mark Durkan from Foyle expressed his:
"deep gratitude to ... our 'health heroes'"
and talked about his recent visit to Altnagelvin. He also acknowledged the problems that can arise when workers who are on universal credit receive a lump sum, telling us how their money can be clawed back through the universal credit system. He appealed to the Minister to talk to the Finance Minister on that topic. Paula Bradshaw said that the BMA has stated:
"the health service cannot continue to be run on the goodwill of staff."
She also said that the pay award should be a matter of prioritisation for the Minister and his officials. She heard the Minister's response. Órlaithí Flynn mentioned her support for the motion and her party's unwavering commitment to the staff. She said that they deserve decent, fair pay and working conditions and that we owe the full spectrum of staff nothing less than what is rightfully theirs. Alan Robinson, a Member for East Londonderry, called health staff the "spine of the system" and said that the DUP supports the principle of pay parity, while recognising the financial challenges that exist in public services. My colleague Alan Chambers, a Member for North Down, said that it was shameful that our health sector has not received a pay award. I now turn to my concluding remarks. Pay parity is not an aspiration; it is a principle. It is a line in the sand that the Assembly must not cross, for, if nothing else, we all can remember only too well the consequences of what happens when it is crossed. We can either preside over a system where staff are asked to continue to wait for pay that, they know, they are entitled to, where patients continue to wait and where our workforce continues to feel abandoned, or the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly can grasp this moment to affirm pay parity, approve the ministerial direction request from my party colleague Minister Nesbitt and show our health workers that we stand with them.
725 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.93).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.04 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.93 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.90 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.06 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.02 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.01 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:11 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
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