12 February 2025
The justice budget for the coming year, 2025–26, is set to be about one third higher (£13.5bn) in real terms than in 2019–20 (£10bn), according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
However, this follows ‘and in most cases does not offset’ severe cuts in the 2010s, when the Ministry of Justice’s day-to-day budget fell by about one third in real terms. Moreover, next year’s day-to-day spend is ‘still set to be 14% lower than in 2007–08’, when justice spending reached its peak.
Law Society president Richard Atkinson said the report, ‘Justice spending in England and Wales’, published this week, sheds light on ‘the dire consequences of the lack of investment’ and shows a justice system ‘on the brink of collapse’.
The government will confirm its spending plans at the spending review in June.
