The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) will receive a £15.6bn settlement in 2028-29, the ‘equivalent to an annual average real terms growth rate of 3.1% from 2023-24’, according to a Treasury document. The probation service will receive additional funding of £700m per year by 2028-29 compared with 2025-26 ‘to deliver the transformative reforms recommended through the Independent Sentencing Review’.
An additional £450m will be provided to the courts system for 2028-29 compared with 2025-26, ‘increasing Crown Court sitting days to record levels and helping to implement the recommendations from the Independent Review of Criminal Courts’, the Treasury document noted.
‘This will help tackle court backlogs and improve court productivity. There will be increased capacity every year to process asylum appeals, to help reduce illegal and irregular migration and bear down on asylum costs’.
It also noted the MoJ has committed to delivering 5% savings and inefficiencies including reductions to ‘back-office headcount and using AI to reduce administrative burdens’.
Bar Council vice chair, Kirsty Brimelow KC said: ‘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.
‘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.’
Law Society president Richard Atkinson said the spending review announcement ‘gives the public hope that the justice system is a growing priority for the government.
‘Funding this essential public service is vital for a fair and just society. 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.’
Lawyers also welcomed the Chancellor’s pledge to boost investment for house-building, with £39bn set aside for affordable homes over the next ten years up to 2036.
Gabor Taller, partner, Browne Jacobson, said the investment ‘is being described as “transformative” and a “watershed moment” by the housing sector, providing a potentially once-in-a-generation opportunity to boost the provision of social housing in England.
‘Coupled with the 10-year rent settlement, a pledge to consult on how social rent convergence can be implemented and giving housing associations equal access to building safety funding, this package of measures provides housing associations—and their partners—with the certainty they have been severely lacking in recent years.
‘The government’s manifesto said it would deliver the biggest increase in supply of social and affordable homes in a generation—and these announcements signal a transition from policy to practice.’
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