Chancellor Rachel Reeves today pledged to ‘begin to repair the justice system’ as she announced hefty real-terms spending increases for the next two years.
The Ministry of Justice’s day-to-day budget (known as the Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit) will climb from £10.4bn in 2023-24 to £11bn this year, and is forecast to rise to £11.8bn in 2025-26. This amounts to average annual real-terms growth of 4.3% from 2023-24 to 2025-26, according to the Autumn Budget Report laid before the Commons.
The rise in capital spending is larger still, as the MoJ scrambles to supply more prison places. The capital DEL will rise from £1.5bn in 2023-24 to £1.8bn this year and £2bn in 2025-26. This amounts to an average real-terms increase of 14.9% from 2023-24 to 2025-26.
Total spending overall will rise from £11.9bn in 2023-24 to £12.7bn this year and £13.8bn in 2025-26.
'The government will begin to repair the justice system by providing an additional £1.9bn total departmental spending to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in 2025-26 – an average real terms increase of 5.6% each year from 2023-24 to 2025-26,' the Budget Report states. The report adds that there will be:
- £2.3bn of investment in prison expansion over 2024-25 and 2025-26, ensuring thousands of new prison places open over the next two years.
- A minimum £500m additional investment across prisons and probation in 2025-26 to recruit thousands of new prison and probation staff, keeping prisons safe and managing offenders in the community.
- £220m investment in prison and probation service maintenance in 2024-25 and up to £300m in 2025-26, keeping prisons safe and secure.
- 106,500 Crown Court sitting days in 2024-25 to bring offenders to justice. MoJ will work closely with the senior judiciary to set court capacity in 2025-26 to continue bringing access to justice for victims.'
Funding for the Law Officers’ Department, which finances criminal prosecution services, provides total funding of £1.1bn in 2025-26. This is equivalent to an annual real terms increase of 7.5% over this financial year and the next.
The Law Society welcomed the investment but warned that increased funding across the system is needed to avoid collapse. It noted the budget made no mention of civil and criminal legal aids.
'It is clear the lord chancellor made a strong case to the Treasury and secured investment for the justice department,' said Law Society president Richard Atkinson. 'What remains uncertain is whether the vital funding needed in civil and criminal legal aid and to address growing court backlogs will be forthcoming. Rebuilding the justice system will not be possible unless there is sustained investment in all parts of it including legal aid and courts, not just prisons and probation.'
Atkinson said that the physical infrastructure of the courts 'is so poor that there are 100 emergency court room closures every week'. Meanwhile, 'in some parts of the country, criminal cases that are ready for trial are being listed to be heard in the second half of 2027, amid a huge backlog. Cases involving children being taken into care are often taking well over a year to resolve, against a target to conclude them in six months. Legal aid solicitors who provide a vital public service to those forced to navigate our courts are becoming as rare as NHS dentists.'
He concluded: 'Increased funding for all these elements is a must if the system is to avoid collapse and access to justice for ordinary people is to be protected. Our research has shown that a well-funded justice system will save public money down the line. The message that the lord chancellor should be hearing is spend to save.'
Bar chair Sam Townend KC welcomed the government's recognition of justice as a key public service. 'But there’s still a way to go,' he said. 'Justice has suffered a real terms cut of over 20% since 2010 and will need sustained funding through next spring’s spending review to move away from crisis mode. For the government to meet its ambitious targets to halve violent crime and violence against women and girls in a decade, equally ambitious policy thinking, coupled with long-term resource and capital funding, will be required.'
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