Deputy Prime Minister (): Each year, the Government and
the senior judiciary work to agree the sitting day allocations
and overall funding envelope for His Majesty's Courts and
Tribunals Service (HMCTS). This joint approach ensures
transparency, supports long-term planning, and enables the system
to operate within a realistic and sustainable framework.
Following extensive engagement with the Lady Chief Justice and
the Senior President of Tribunals, the Judicial Office, I can
confirm that we have reached a landmark settlement for 2026/27.
This settlement ensures that courts and tribunals are equipped to
operate at, or close to, maximum capacity.
For 2026/27, the Ministry of Justice will provide £2,785m of
total funding (£2,498m fiscal resource and £287m in fiscal
capital funding). This represents a record investment in our
courts and tribunals.
I will continue to increase the allocation in coming years. This
settlement provides an unprecedented ability to plan for the long
term. While this agreement formally governs the 2026/27 financial
year, I have established firm funding commitments through to
2028/29 across all jurisdictions. By providing this three-year
horizon, I am enabling HMCTS to plan more effectively, recruit
with confidence, and begin to address outstanding caseloads with
the stability that only multi-year certainty can provide.
The Crown Court backlog continues to rise and stands at over
79,000 cases. My focus, as I have said to the House, is on
victims who are being left to wait three, four or five years for
their day in court. Central to this allocation, then, is the
‘uncapping' of the sitting day allocation for the Crown Court for
the next financial year, removing any financial constraint on the
rate at which HMCTS operates. This will allow the Crown Court to
sit at record-high levels, hearing as many cases as possible,
getting swifter justice for victims and tackling the Crown Court
backlog. Combined with our court reform plans, this investment
will help turn the tide on the open caseload, enabling the system
to move to a more sustainable footing over the period.
Beyond the uncapped capacity provided for the Crown Court, this
settlement delivers significant resources across all other
jurisdictions. For magistrates' courts, I am funding an
allocation of 125,800 sitting days for the next financial year,
up from 114,000 in the current financial year, and I am funding
increases each year thereafter, with a target of 131,000 days in
the final year. I have also set money aside for additional
sitting days up to 140,000 in the final year of this SR period if
the system is able to deliver this.
