Chancellor Rachel Reeves today committed up to an extra £450m a year to the courts system by 2028-29. This will ‘increase Crown court sitting days to record levels’ and help implement the forthcoming recommendations of Sir Brian Leveson’s review of the criminal courts, she said.
The pledge appears in HM Treasury papers issued alongside the chancellor’s Spending Review. They reveal that day-to-day spending by the ministry will grow by an average of 1.8% a year in real terms between the 2025-26 financial year and 2028-29, rising to 3.1% when calculated from a 2023-24 baseline.
Capital spending is set to rise sharply next year to help fund 14,000 new prison places by 2031, but will remain flat from 2027 to 2029.
Last December Reeves declared that government departments would be asked to identify 5% efficiency and productivity savings when setting their budgets for 2026-27 to 2028-29. The Treasury said the MoJ has committed to delivering at least 5% savings and efficiencies, including savings identified through the so-called Zero-Based Review. These savings include ‘reductions to back-office headcount’ and using AI to reduce administrative costs. The MoJ has also worked with the Office for Value for Money to identify £360m of ‘technical efficiencies’ by 2028-29.
Year by year, day-to-day spending (known as the Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit) will climb from £11.9bn in 2025-26 to £12.6bn in 2026-27, £12.9bn in 2027-28 and £13.2bn in 2028-29. Capital spending will climb from £2bn in 2025-26 to £2.3bn in each of the following three years, before falling back to £2bn in 2029-30.
The probation service will receive up to £700m in extra funding per year by 2028-29 compared with 2025-26, Reeves said. This will 'deliver the transformative reforms’ recommended in former lord chancellor David Gauke’s Independent Sentencing Review.
The Law Officers’ departments, meanwhile, will see total funding rise from £1.1bn this year to £1.3bn in 2028-29. Day-to-day spending will rise by £160m in real terms from 2023-24 to 2028-29. This 'will provide record investment into the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to bring criminals to justice, with total funding of £1 billion in 2028-29,' the Treasury said. 'The CPS will recruit more Crown advocates and frontline staff to prosecute cases, build workforce capacity and capability, and improve the quality and efficiency of prosecutions.'
Law Society president Richard Atkinson said the review gives the public hope that the justice system is a growing priority. 'However, all parts of the justice system have been starved of investment for decades. It will take long-term sustained funding to fix it, including in civil and criminal legal aid to address the crises there.
'The consequences of the neglect are plain for all to see. There are crumbling court rooms and antiquated IT systems, huge backlogs delaying criminal court cases to 2029 and thousands of children in legal limbo due to family court delays. Prisons are overcrowded and there are chronic shortages of legal aid lawyers.
'Families, victims and business need justice to be prioritised. The government must invest across the system, reducing pressure on the courts, by focusing on early advice and out of court resolution. We also need proper funding of solutions that will reduce the prison population and improve rehabilitation to break the cycle of reoffending.
'We can only maintain our reputation as a global legal centre and the legal sector continue to be a crucial part of the UK’s economy if the justice system is properly funded.'
Kirsty Brimelow KC, vice chair of the Bar Council, said: 'The average real terms increase in Ministry of Justice funding of 3.1% is a welcome recognition by the government that justice is a key public service. Money for increasing court capacity, tackling court backlogs, and implementing the recommendations from the Independent Review of Criminal Courts are signs of listening by Government to our voices from the courts. Increased funding for the probation service is long overdue, and funding of the Crown Prosecution Service will enable them to achieve parity between prosecution and defence pay in the Crown Courts.
She added: 'We hope that the details of the settlement for the courts will address the need for further support for the criminal bar, including the implementation of legal aid increases which will assist retention, as well as additional support for both the civil and family bar, covering legal aid and early legal advice.'
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