The PSNI has been allocated an additional £36.7 million by Justice Minister Naomi Long.
The allocation comes after Chief Constable Jon Boutcher warned that his service was facing a £37 million-a-year funding gap.
Ms Long announced her budget plan on Monday after last week’s October monitoring round, in which previously unspent allocations are redistributed around the Stormont departments.
The Department of Justice was allocated an additional £39.3 million, which includes £2.75 million for civil disorder in the summer.
Ms Long welcomed the allocation and outlined how she was distributing the funds to alleviate pressures across the justice system.
She said her department had been “proactive in working to reduce expenditure and to live within budget”, including “making tough decisions on vacancy management”.
“Coupled with some easements arising from demand in our prisons being slightly less than anticipated, the department has been able to reprioritise a further £7.4 million to help address pressures elsewhere,” she said.
“There are many areas of justice that are experiencing unprecedented pressures, and I have had to make decisions to direct additional funding to where I believe it will make the most impact at this time.
Naomi Long (Rebecca Black/PA)
“This includes an additional allocation of £36.7 million to the PSNI. This further funding meets in full the pressures identified by the PSNI to sustain and stabilise policing in this financial year.
“I am also allocating £5.2 million to legal aid which will enable the processing of more legal aid payments and reduced payment times. I hope this will alleviate some of the strain being reported by the legal profession at this time.”
Ms Long said challenges remain, including a “shortfall in meeting exceptional pressures of £227 million”.
“We are very much demand-led, and the majority of my department’s costs are inescapable,” she said.
“We cannot control the volume of calls to the PSNI, the number of cases in our courts, the amount of legal aid required to provide access to justice, the amount of compensation claims, or the number of people committed to our prisons or placed on probation.
“I am determined in my efforts to continue to push for a better financial settlement for the Department of Justice.”