Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness met British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London this evening.
The hour-long meeting featured discussions on the devolution of policing and justice powers to Stormont.
Mr Robinson stressed the importance of financial support to bolster community confidence in the changes.
Asked if there had been any breakthrough on the issue, the DUP leader joked: 'We didn't see the Prime Minister moving his hand towards his chequebook, if that's what you are asking.'
He added: 'We made it very clear that we both share the view that there are inescapable expenditure costs that the Government is going to have to cover or look at some mechanism whereby they can be covered.
'The big issues are getting community confidence and the finance in place. Even in terms of getting community confidence, the financial element is an important part of that.'
Mr McGuinness characterised the discussions on policing as 'very useful'.
He said: 'As we have seen with the terrible news of the attacks on the Romanian community in Belfast, it is vital that we see the Police Service well equipped to deal with challenges not just in that regard but in relation to other situations in the future.'
Earlier today, Mr Robinson urged Mr Brown not to leave the decision over the future of the police reserve in the hands of Chief Constable Hugh Orde.
Mr Orde is set to leave as head of the PSNI in September.
The devolution of policing powers was promised in the St Andrews Agreement that paved the way for establishing the power-sharing government led by the DUP and Sinn Féin.
But last year Sinn Féin accused the DUP of dragging its feet on the issue after the unionist party said the necessary community confidence did not exist for the move.
Executive meetings were stalled for five months as a result of the dispute before the parties agreed a new way forward.
The blueprint set out a process leading to the transfer of the powers, but it did not specify a date for when the move would be completed, though it has been speculated that it could be finalised by Autumn.
