# Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust: funding, staff and response times

url: https://whereyourmoneygoes.co.uk/ambulance/northern-ireland-ambulance-service/
updated: 29 September 2026
licence: Our words, analysis, charts and derived calculations: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), credit [Tekstak Ltd](https://tek-stak.co.uk). Figures: each source's own licence, listed under Sources.
publisher: [Tekstak Ltd](https://tek-stak.co.uk)

# Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust: funding, staff and response times



Last updated 29 September 2026.
Figures refresh every night. [How each figure is worked out](/methodology/).





**£153m** for Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust in 2025-26, **£79.24** per resident, −22.4% on a year earlier after inflation.



Figure as of unknown date. Source:
[Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust](https://nias.hscni.net/download/21/annual-reports/9874/nias-annual-report-and-accounts-2025-26.pdf), [Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust](https://nias.hscni.net/download/21/annual-reports/9875/nias-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-25.pdf).





## Key figures



- £153m2025-26, cash

−19.7% on a year earlier
- £79.24Per resident, 2025-26
- 1,594 FTEStaff (full-time equivalent), 2026-06

Northern Ireland: 1,594 FTE
- 11.8 minutesCategory 1: average response (Northern Ireland), 2026-03

Northern Ireland: 11.8 minutes
- 76.6 minutesCategory 2: average response (Northern Ireland), 2026-03

Northern Ireland: 76.6 minutes




Sources: [Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust](https://nias.hscni.net/download/21/annual-reports/9874/nias-annual-report-and-accounts-2025-26.pdf), [Department of Health (Northern Ireland)](https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2026-08/hscwb-workforce-statistics-tables-june-2026.xlsx).






## Over time: cash, real terms and per resident




**Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust: spending in cash and in 2025-26 prices, £ million**








Real terms use HM Treasury’s GDP deflator, 2025-26 prices. Breaks in the series: 2017-18: England’s response categories 1 to 4 and their standards (the Ambulance Response Programme) began in 2017; the NHS England series here starts with them. Earlier red/green figures are not comparable. 2022-23: Scotland: response times from April 2022 are provisional while the Scottish Ambulance Service revises its definition. 2023-24: England: handover times are in AmbSYS from October 2023, replacing the winter situation reports. 2025-26: Wales: a new clinical response model from July 2025 (purple, red, orange, yellow, green); the old red 8-minute measure ends in June 2025 and the two are not comparable. 2026-27: England: integrated care boards merged in April 2026; the trust areas are drawn on the new boards. From August 2026 NHS England moved some ambulance data to the Ambulance Data Set, and the latest month is revised the month after.




**The numbers behind this chart**





| Year | Real terms (2025-26 prices) | Cash |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2023-24Details | £167.2m | £155.3m |
| Cash£155.3m | | |
| 2024-25Details | £196.9m | £190.3m |
| Cash£190.3m | | |
| 2025-26Details | £152.8m | £152.8m |
| Cash£152.8m | | |






Figure as of unknown date. Source:
[Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust](https://nias.hscni.net/download/21/annual-reports/9874/nias-annual-report-and-accounts-2025-26.pdf), [Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust](https://nias.hscni.net/download/21/annual-reports/9875/nias-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-25.pdf).





**Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust: spending per resident, 2025-26 prices**








Per resident divides by ONS mid-year population estimates.




**The numbers behind this chart**





| Year | Per resident, 2025-26 prices | Per resident, cash |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2023-24Details | £87 | £81 |
| Per resident, cash£81 | | |
| 2024-25Details | £102 | £99 |
| Per resident, cash£99 | | |
| 2025-26Details | £79 | £79 |
| Per resident, cash£79 | | |






Figure as of unknown date. Source:
[Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust](https://nias.hscni.net/download/21/annual-reports/9874/nias-annual-report-and-accounts-2025-26.pdf), [Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust](https://nias.hscni.net/download/21/annual-reports/9875/nias-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-25.pdf).




Source: Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust, [Northern Ireland Ambulance Service HSC Trust, Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26](https://nias.hscni.net/download/21/annual-reports/9874/nias-annual-report-and-accounts-2025-26.pdf); Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust, [Northern Ireland Ambulance Service HSC Trust, Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25](https://nias.hscni.net/download/21/annual-reports/9875/nias-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-25.pdf).





## Where it sits, and what is below it



- UK total
- Nation
- Department or service body
- Local body not published
- Spending category
- Line or transaction not published





- Ambulance services, United Kingdom
- Northern Ireland
- Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust





### Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust



Total operating expenditure, trust (consolidated statement of comprehensive net expenditure); staff costs. 2024-25 is raised by a £56.3m provision expense (mostly a £55.6m increase in provisions), which fell back to £5.1m in 2025-26; the service's net expenditure funded from its revenue resource limit was £124.2m in 2024-25 and £136.1m in 2025-26.



**£153m** in 2025-26 (cash); £153m in 2025-26 prices; £79.24 per resident; −19.7% on a year earlier in cash, −22.4% in real terms.





| Spending category | Cash, 2025-26 | Real terms (2025-26 prices) | Per resident | Real change on a year earlier | Source | Below this |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| StaffDetails | £109m | £109m | £56.27 | +8.8% | [Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust](https://nias.hscni.net/download/21/annual-reports/9874/nias-annual-report-and-accounts-2025-26.pdf) | Line or transaction not published: The annual accounts break spending down no further than staff and other costs in a form that is comparable year to year, so no finer lines are shown. |
| Real terms (2025-26 prices)£109mPer resident£56.27Real change on a year earlier+8.8%Source[Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust](https://nias.hscni.net/download/21/annual-reports/9874/nias-annual-report-and-accounts-2025-26.pdf)Below thisLine or transaction not published: The annual accounts break spending down no further than staff and other costs in a form that is comparable year to year, so no finer lines are shown. | | | | | | |
| Everything else (supplies, vehicles, premises, depreciation and other costs)Details | £44m | £44m | £22.96 | −54.5% | [Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust](https://nias.hscni.net/download/21/annual-reports/9874/nias-annual-report-and-accounts-2025-26.pdf) | Line or transaction not published: The annual accounts break spending down no further than staff and other costs in a form that is comparable year to year, so no finer lines are shown. |
| Real terms (2025-26 prices)£44mPer resident£22.96Real change on a year earlier−54.5%Source[Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust](https://nias.hscni.net/download/21/annual-reports/9874/nias-annual-report-and-accounts-2025-26.pdf)Below thisLine or transaction not published: The annual accounts break spending down no further than staff and other costs in a form that is comparable year to year, so no finer lines are shown. | | | | | | |







Cash is as published. Real terms are in 2025-26 prices, using HM Treasury’s GDP deflator. Per resident divides by
ONS mid-year population for the area the body serves. Changes compare the same body in consecutive years.






## What is recorded alongside the money



These figures are published beside the funding, not as its result. Demand, geography, recording practice and
many other things differ between areas and change over time; none of these charts shows cause and effect.





| Measure | Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust | Northern Ireland | Period |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Staff (full-time equivalent)Details | 1,594 FTE | 1,594 FTE | 2026-06 |
| Northern Ireland1,594 FTEPeriod2026-06 | | | |
| Category 1: average response (Northern Ireland)Details | 11.8 minutes | 11.8 minutes | 2026-03 |
| Northern Ireland11.8 minutesPeriod2026-03 | | | |
| Category 2: average response (Northern Ireland)Details | 76.6 minutes | 76.6 minutes | 2026-03 |
| Northern Ireland76.6 minutesPeriod2026-03 | | | |






**Staff (full-time equivalent): Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust and comparisons**








All staff employed by the trust or service, full-time equivalent, as each nation’s workforce statistics count them (England and Wales: NHS staff statistics; Northern Ireland: HSC workforce statistics; Scotland: the service’s accounts). Counts include NHS 111 and patient transport staff where the service runs them, so they are not like-for-like between nations.




**The numbers behind this chart**





| Year | Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust | Northern Ireland |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2021-06Details | 1,464 | 1,464 |
| Northern Ireland1,464 | | |
| 2022-06Details | 1,501 | 1,501 |
| Northern Ireland1,501 | | |
| 2023-06Details | 1,492 | 1,492 |
| Northern Ireland1,492 | | |
| 2024-06Details | 1,434 | 1,434 |
| Northern Ireland1,434 | | |
| 2025-06Details | 1,509 | 1,509 |
| Northern Ireland1,509 | | |
| 2026-06Details | 1,594 | 1,594 |
| Northern Ireland1,594 | | |






Figure as of unknown date. Source:
[Department of Health (Northern Ireland)](https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2026-08/hscwb-workforce-statistics-tables-june-2026.xlsx).





**Category 1: average response (Northern Ireland): Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust and comparisons**








Mean response time for category 1 calls under Northern Ireland’s clinical response model, monthly. The categories follow England’s, but the model and its recording are Northern Ireland’s own. Target: 8 minutes (Northern Ireland category 1 mean).




**The numbers behind this chart**





| Year | Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust | Northern Ireland |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025-04Details | 10.6 | 10.6 |
| Northern Ireland10.6 | | |
| 2025-05Details | 11.0 | 11.0 |
| Northern Ireland11.0 | | |
| 2025-06Details | 11.6 | 11.6 |
| Northern Ireland11.6 | | |
| 2025-07Details | 11.7 | 11.7 |
| Northern Ireland11.7 | | |
| 2025-08Details | 12.4 | 12.4 |
| Northern Ireland12.4 | | |
| 2025-09Details | 11.9 | 11.9 |
| Northern Ireland11.9 | | |
| 2025-10Details | 12.2 | 12.2 |
| Northern Ireland12.2 | | |
| 2025-11Details | 12.4 | 12.4 |
| Northern Ireland12.4 | | |
| 2025-12Details | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| Northern Ireland13.0 | | |
| 2026-01Details | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| Northern Ireland13.0 | | |
| 2026-02Details | 12.0 | 12.0 |
| Northern Ireland12.0 | | |
| 2026-03Details | 11.8 | 11.8 |
| Northern Ireland11.8 | | |






Figure as of unknown date. Source:
[Department of Health (Northern Ireland)](https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2026-07/hs-emergency-care-tables-25-26.xlsx).





**Category 2: average response (Northern Ireland): Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust and comparisons**








Mean category 2 response time, monthly. Target: 18 minutes (category 2 mean).




**The numbers behind this chart**





| Year | Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust | Northern Ireland |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025-04Details | 53.1 | 53.1 |
| Northern Ireland53.1 | | |
| 2025-05Details | 62.5 | 62.5 |
| Northern Ireland62.5 | | |
| 2025-06Details | 66.4 | 66.4 |
| Northern Ireland66.4 | | |
| 2025-07Details | 65.3 | 65.3 |
| Northern Ireland65.3 | | |
| 2025-08Details | 80.4 | 80.4 |
| Northern Ireland80.4 | | |
| 2025-09Details | 74.5 | 74.5 |
| Northern Ireland74.5 | | |
| 2025-10Details | 77.8 | 77.8 |
| Northern Ireland77.8 | | |
| 2025-11Details | 85.4 | 85.4 |
| Northern Ireland85.4 | | |
| 2025-12Details | 107.4 | 107.4 |
| Northern Ireland107.4 | | |
| 2026-01Details | 141.1 | 141.1 |
| Northern Ireland141.1 | | |
| 2026-02Details | 89.9 | 89.9 |
| Northern Ireland89.9 | | |
| 2026-03Details | 76.6 | 76.6 |
| Northern Ireland76.6 | | |






Figure as of unknown date. Source:
[Department of Health (Northern Ireland)](https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2026-07/hs-emergency-care-tables-25-26.xlsx).






## What these figures do and don't show



- **Each nation measures response times its own way.** England uses categories 1 to 4 with national standards; Wales moved to a new model in July 2025, which breaks its series; Scotland and Northern Ireland publish their own measures. Times are compared within a nation, never across.
- **No Treasury figure for ambulances.** HM Treasury counts ambulance services inside medical services, so the UK figure here is the sum of the services’ own accounts, for years all of them have.
- **Handover delays are hospital as well as ambulance.** Time lost at hospital handover depends on the hospital’s capacity as much as on the ambulance service.
- **Vehicle numbers are not published** as official statistics for any nation.
- **Nothing here shows cause and effect.**




Where this sits: Ambulance services, United Kingdom → Northern Ireland → Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust. Figures from data/services/ambulance.json, generated 29 September 2026.



## Use this data



The figures belong to the bodies that published them and are used under their terms, listed in
[Sources for this page](#sources); most are Crown copyright under the Open Government Licence.
Only our own words, analysis, charts and derived calculations are ours, published under
[CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): reuse them, including
commercially, if you credit [Tekstak Ltd](https://tek-stak.co.uk) and link back to this page.



### Download



- [Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust: the dataset (CSV)](/data/services/ambulance.csv)
[JSON](/data/services/ambulance.json)

- [All data, field definitions and licences](/data/)







## Sources for this page





| Source | Publisher | Figures as of | Updated | Licence |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Northern Ireland Ambulance Service HSC Trust, Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26](https://nias.hscni.net/download/21/annual-reports/9874/nias-annual-report-and-accounts-2025-26.pdf) | Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust | — | annual | [Open Government Licence v3.0](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/) |
| [Northern Ireland Ambulance Service HSC Trust, Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25](https://nias.hscni.net/download/21/annual-reports/9875/nias-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-25.pdf) | Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust | — | annual | [Open Government Licence v3.0](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/) |
| [HSC workforce statistics, June 2026](https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2026-08/hscwb-workforce-statistics-tables-june-2026.xlsx) | Department of Health (Northern Ireland) | — | annual | [Open Government Licence v3.0](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/) |
| [Hospital statistics: emergency care activity 2025/26 (ambulance tables)](https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2026-07/hs-emergency-care-tables-25-26.xlsx) | Department of Health (Northern Ireland) | — | annual | [Open Government Licence v3.0](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/) |





Each source's figures are used under the licence shown. Our own words, analysis, charts and derived calculations
are ours, under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Published by [Tekstak Ltd](https://tek-stak.co.uk). Our words, analysis, charts and derived calculations: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), credit [Tekstak Ltd](https://tek-stak.co.uk). The figures belong to the publishers listed under Sources and are used under their licences. Figures last updated 29 September 2026.