Unison is balloting its members in health and social services in Northern Ireland for industrial action over the failure to implement a pay award. The ballot opens on Tuesday and runs until December 1.

The union said tens of thousands of workers are being denied a promised pay award because of a budget stalemate between Stormont and Westminster. Unison regional secretary Patricia McKeown said workers have been caught in the middle of the dispute and that repeated commitments on pay parity and the real living wage have not been honoured.

The Executive has not agreed a budget for the current financial year, which means pay uplifts have not been paid. Ministers say they do not have enough funding from Westminster to agree a budget. Secretary of State Sir Chris Bryant has said there is no more money for Stormont.

The UK Government has offered about £1.5 billion in extra funding over the next three years, including £525 million this year. It is understood the extra funding would depend on Stormont raising about £200 million annually from its own revenues. The UK Budget last month allocated a further £131 million to Northern Ireland in the current financial year and £270 million across three years.

During ministerial questions in the Assembly on Monday, SDLP MLA Colin McGrath asked Finance Minister John O'Dowd what he was doing to ensure healthcare workers receive their pay award before the end of the calendar year. It had previously been indicated that it was too late in the year for the uplift to be paid before Christmas.

O'Dowd said pay awards for healthcare workers were a matter for Health Minister Robbie Butler but that the Executive has a collective responsibility to ensure public sector workers receive the pay awards to which they are entitled. He said he was exploring every avenue available to him and was continuing to press Sir Chris Bryant for a fair funding settlement for the Executive.

McGrath said that was cold comfort for thousands of health workers who will not get their pay rise or back pay this side of Christmas. He asked whether O'Dowd was saying there was nothing he could do to help workers get the money they are owed.

O'Dowd said he was exploring all options open to him. He said the Executive had been pressing the British Government for a proper, fair and sustainable funding package to assist in funding health workers and other public sector workers. He added that while it is first and foremost the responsibility of the health minister, there is a responsibility on the Executive to support all ministers collectively to ensure public sector workers receive their pay uplift.