AQW 51070/22-27


Ms Kate Nicholl
Alliance Party
South Belfast


Tabled Date: 07/09/2026
Answered On Date: 15/09/2026
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail the total loss of funding for further education, between 2021-22 and 2026-27, broken down by (i) institution; and (ii) financial year.


Answer:
There has been no total loss of resource budget funding for Further Education (FE) between 2021-22 and 2026-27. The total net resource budget funding provided by my Department for the six FE colleges increased from £213.5m in 2021-22 to £245.9m in 2025/26.
Capital funding provided to FE colleges from 2021-22 to 2025-26 has been provided based on each college’s annually identified need and allocated in line with available capital funding within my Department in each financial year.
In the absence of an Executive agreed budget for 2026/27, funding has not been confirmed for FE and FE colleges have been provided with a total contingency allocation of £227.9m for resource and £8.6m for capital.
The tables below provide detail of resource and capital funding allocations by (i) institution and (ii) financial years, where funding has been agreed.
Resource Budget - Overall Net Funding Provided
FE College
2021-22£'000
2022-23£'000
2023-24£'000
2024-25£'000
2025-26£'000
BMC
50,171
50,713
57,735
51,615
54,592
NRC
29,404
30,320
32,783
32,401
34,052
NWRC
30,417
31,189
34,729
33,074
34,338
SERC
41,916
43,100
46,732
46,645
48,667
SRC
31,305
33,870
34,278
36,074
37,952
SWC
30,281
31,749
35,238
34,801
36,260
Total
213,494
220,941
241,495
234,610
245,861
Capital investment
FE College
2021-22£'000
2022-23£'000
2023-24£'000
2024-25£'000
2025-26£'000
BMC
2,200
1,500
1,700
1,500
3,000
NRC
9,900
27,200
36,300
23,700
7,200
NWRC
1,400
1,900
2,300
1,300
600
SERC
2,300
2,500
1,400
1,500
700
SRC
3,000
1,900
1,600
1,900
1,800
SWC
1,800
1,600
1,100
1,100
500
Total
20,600
36,600
44,400
31,100
13,800