Financial review
The CPS receives the majority of its resources in the form of Parliamentary funding through the supply Estimate process. This is supplemented by income, relating predominantly to awards of costs made against convicted defendants and to the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS). The CPS is accountable to Parliament for how it uses these funds and must work within the control totals that Parliament sets. The CPS’ net funding for 2024-25, as voted by Parliament, was £923 million. We operate within the control framework set by HM Government and set out in Managing Public Money.
The total amount a department spends is referred to as the Total Managed Expenditure which is split into:
- Annually Managed Expenditure (AME): This spend is volatile or demand-led in a way that CPS cannot control such as movements in provisions or impairments.
- Department Expenditure Limit (DEL): HM Treasury set firm limits for DEL spend as it is understood and controllable. The limit is set at spending reviews which usually occur every three to five years.
Budgets are also split into:
- Resource: this is most day-to-day income and spending including delivery or public services and running public sector bodies.
- Capital: captures investment activities such as purchase and disposal of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets.
- Programme: income and spending that relates directly to the delivery of departmental objectives and front-line spending.
- Admin: covers administrative functions and other overheads.
Where CPS spent its money in 2024-25
CPS’ income and expenditure is reported in the Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure (SoCNE) (page 85), and the Statement of Outturn against Parliamentary Supply (SOPS) (page 75). A reconciliation between the SOCNE and the SOPS can be found on page 79.
For the year ended 31 March 2025, CPS reported a net expenditure of £882 million. During 2024-25 CPS spent 56% of its DEL funding on our internal workforce, in particular Legal and Frontline pay and 29% on work undertaken on behalf of the CPS by the external Bar and supporting victims and witnesses attending court. CPS also made a number of transactions within AME budgets including an allowance for expected losses relating to costs awards income and the write back and utilisation of provisions for both legal cases and dilapidations.
Significant variances between Estimate and outturn
The table below shows the CPS’ performance against our 2024-25 control totals. This table ties directly to the Statement of Outturn against Parliamentary Supply page 75.
| Estimate £000 | Outturn £000 | Variance £000 | Explanation of significant variances between Estimate and outturn | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resource DEL (excluding depreciation) | 826,487 | 805,194 | 21,293 | CPS’ funding was reset with HM Treasury and approved by Parliament at the Supplementary Estimate 2024-25. The revised funding envelope provided CPS with additional resources primarily to address prosecution demand pressures, which had become a growing financial risk in that year. A number of factors subsequently resulted in CPS outturn being a 2.8% underspend against Resource DEL:
|
| Depreciation | 22,593 | 20,033 | 2,560 | |
| Resource DEL | 849,080 | 825,227 | 23,853 | |
| Of which administration: | 45,926 | 44,557 | 1,369 | |
| Resource AME | 7,950 | 1,708 | 6,242 | AME costs are inherently hard to predict due to the nature of the expenses. The impairment of costs awarded to CPS, civil litigation cases and movements in resource dilapidations were all smaller than expected at the time of submitting the Supplementary Estimate. |
| Capital DEL | 63,400 | 53,781 | 9,619 | The underspend against capital budgets was due to accounting adjustments for discounting in relation to IFRS16 leases not being factored into the Estimate. |
| Capital AME | 2,859 | 960 | 1,899 | The underspend against Capital AME was due to the movement in dilapidations provisions for IRS16 properties not being as large as anticipated. |
| Net cash requirement | 846,977 | 846,071 | 906 | The variance between the net cash requirement estimate and outturn is largely as a result of variances outlined above. |
Budget outturn trend analysis
The following charts show the CPS’ Resource DEL and Capital DEL outturn for the past five years.
| Period | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resource DEL (£m) | 566 | 628 | 700 | 800 | 825 |
| Capital DEL (£m) | 0.2 | 2.6 | 22.5 | 31 | 54 |
Payment to suppliers and witness expenses
The CPS is committed to paying bills in accordance with agreed contractual conditions or, where no such conditions exist, within
30 days of receipt of goods or services or the presentation of a valid invoice, whichever is the later. The CPS also seeks to pay all expenses to prosecution witnesses within five working days of receipt of a correctly completed claim form.
In 2024-25 the CPS settled 96.9% of undisputed invoices and staff and witness expense claims within 10 days of receipt (2023-24, 96.2%). In 2024-25 the CPS paid no (2023-24, £nil) interest due under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.