The Northern Ireland secretary has said he is "extremely disappointed" that a Stormont Executive has not been restored, adding that he will provide an update on his "legal duty to act".
Chris Heaton-Harris tweeted: "I am extremely disappointed that the Executive has not reformed. The people of Northern Ireland deserve a fully-functioning devolved government.
"Today Stormont could be taking decisions to ease the challenges people face. Instead, the legal duty to act falls to me as Secretary of State. I will be providing an update on this."
Read more: Analysis: December Stormont Assembly election will only deepen divisions
Mr Heaton-Harris is expected to call a fresh Assembly election following the passing of a deadline for Stormont power-sharing to be restored.
A six-month legislative timeframe to form an administration expired in the early hours of Friday.
With no ministerial Executive in place, the UK Government assumes a legal responsibility to call another election.
While Mr Heaton-Harris has not yet laid out the details, the Electoral Office has been making preparations for a poll to be held on December 15.
The DUP has been blocking the restoration of the devolved institutions in protest against the Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol.
Stormont ministers, who have been operating in a caretaker capacity since the Assembly collapsed earlier this year, also ceased to hold office at midnight.
Responsibility for running devolved departments will now pass to senior civil servants, although their powers are limited.
Environment minister Therese Coffey said an Assembly election will "definitely happen".
She told Sky News: "I think it's regrettable the parties were not able to come together to form that executive.
"But the law was clear. We passed the legislation that this would happen and clearly there wasn't sufficient agreement to be able to avoid the elections.
"That wasn’t in the hands of the Government, that was in the hands of the parties representing the different communities in Northern Ireland.
“I hope that the next elections will be an opportunity for people to reconsider their approach, recognising the New Decade, New Approach agreement that was signed only a couple of years ago, and we need to make sure that we do what we can to work together to try and make that come to fruition.”
Asked if there is any chance the elections could be avoided through new legislation, she said: “They will definitely happen.”
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson insisted it is the fault of the UK government that devolved government in Northern Ireland is not functioning.
"We've had six months in which to do something about the protocol, and during those six months we have had three prime ministers, we have had the Government changed often and we haven’t seen the progress that is needed,” he told BBC Radio Ulster.
“I think the Government would be within its rights to say, given that those six months have elapsed and progress hasn’t been made, that we need a further period to sort this out, get a solution on the protocol that restores Northern Ireland’s place within the UK internal market and that will see the institutions restored immediately.”
Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy dismissed the notion that the DUP tactic of refusing to form an executive was exerting any pressure on the Westminster government to act over the protocol.
He said: "The chaos and the infighting that is going on within the Tory government means their focus is entirely on themselves, and if there is a negotiation with the EU, that will take place because the British government want it to take place not because the DUP are punishing the people of the north by preventing them having their own institutions.
“The DUP action is harming only the people that they represent, and we all collectively represent, and is serving no purpose other than to do that.”
The last Northern Ireland Assembly election was held in May of this year, and Sinn Fein emerged as the largest party for the first time.
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