Financial review
We operate within a financial framework set by HM Treasury which categorises public spending into two principal types:
Departmental expenditure limits (DEL) DEL budgets are set for each department over a multi-year period at Spending Reviews, with adjustments each year as set out in the Estimates voted by Parliament. They cover relatively predictable and controllable spending areas, and split further into: | Annually managed expenditure (AME) AME budgets are used for spending that is more volatile, demand-led, or otherwise difficult to forecast accurately. In CPS, they mainly allow for non-cash items such as impairments and provisions for future costs. These are split further into: | |
Resource DEL (RDEL) This includes day-to-day operational costs, such as staff salaries, work undertaken on behalf of the CPS by the external Bar and supporting victims and witnesses attending court. RDEL costs are split between administration costs (administrative functions and other overheads) and programme costs (expenditure that relates directly to delivery of departmental objectives and front-line services). In order to maximise spending on front-line services, departments are set limits on administration expenditure. | Resource AME (RAME) This includes the accounting cost of annually revaluing our property assets, along with provisions for potential future costs such as legal liabilities, which can fluctuate significantly from year to year. | |
Capital DEL (CDEL) This includes long-term investment in infrastructure and assets, including purchase of IT equipment and investment in digital transformation and IT systems. | Capital AME (CAME) In CPS this is used exclusively for provisions relating to leased assets. |
This framework enables us to plan and manage its resources effectively and efficiently, while maintaining flexibility to respond to changing demands and financial pressures.
Each of the above spend categories represents an expenditure limit (parliamentary control total) that we must operate within. These limits are set on a net basis with no separate controls for income and expenditure. Subject to HM Treasury approvals on the retention of income, additional income can be offset against additional expenditure.
Budgets for depreciation and impairment of assets are ring-fenced and may not be used for other spending without HM Treasury approval, although this ring-fence is not a parliamentary control total.
Departments are also subject to a Net Cash Requirement which represents the maximum amount of parliamentary funding that we can draw down; breaching this limit results in an Excess Vote. It reflects the cash funding requirement arising from Resource and Capital budgets, together with planned movements in working capital.
Spending review
Phase One of the Spending Review 2025 settlement established the budget for the financial year 2025-26 and set the strategic direction for CPS for the remainder of the Spending Review period. The Phase Two settlement was announced in the Spending Review Statement in June 2025 and set budgets from 2026-27 to 2028-29 for RDEL, and up to 2029-30 for CDEL.
Across Phase One and Phase Two, the CPS will receive a budget increase of 10% towards additional day-to-day funding, supporting work to reduce delays through strengthening workforce capacity and improving the prosecution experience for victims and witnesses.
In addition to the increase in day-to-day funding set out above, the settlement also provided up to £241.1 million of net investment in programmes, supporting delivery of CPS 2030 objectives through modernised systems, improved efficiency, and greater consistency and quality in service delivery. This includes planned growth in in-house advocacy roles, strengthening internal capacity and supporting improved value for money through reduced reliance on external advocates over time.
Financial performance
A detailed breakdown of the approved budgets, actual outturn for the current financial year, and variances is presented in the table below. This information corresponds directly with the audited Statement of Outturn against Parliamentary Supply.
| Estimate | Outturn | Variance | Explanation of significant variances |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Resource DEL (excluding depreciation) | 910,595 | 853,520 | 57,075 | Following the reset of our funding by HM Treasury and subsequent Parliamentary approval via the Supplementary Estimate 2025-26, our final outturn reflects a 6.4% underspend against the Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (RDEL). This variance was driven by several contributing factors as below: Prosecution costs were lower due to a decrease in the average cost per case. While finalisation rates per court sitting remain consistent with prior year trends, the cost reduction is primarily attributed to a strategic focus on cases that can be finalised quickly to ensure an efficient reduction of the case backlog. Pay costs were also lower driven by lower than forecast recruitment for vacant positions. Depreciation was slightly lower due to slippage in capitalising assets. |
Depreciation | 21,687 | 18,944 | 2,743 | |
Resource DEL | 932,282 | 872,464 | 59,818 | |
Of which administration: | 52,769 | 47,543 | 5,226 | |
Resource AME | 7,950 | 5,450 | 2,500 | The AME estimate was set conservatively to provide sufficient year-end headroom for unpredictable, irregular costs. The main cost was an addition to the yearend cost award impairment. |
Capital DEL | 46,200 | 41,715 | 4,485 | The underspend relative to the capital estimate was primarily driven by timing differences and the slippage of capital projects into the subsequent period. |
Capital AME | 2,859 | 4 | 2,855 | The underspend against capital AME was due to the movement in dilapidations provisions for IFRS 16 properties not being as large as anticipated. |
Net cash requirement | 956,795 | 907,238 | 49,557 | The variance between the net cash requirement estimate and outturn is largely the result of variances outlined above. |
Assets and liabilities
As at 31 March 2026, the balance sheet reflects a strong net asset position of £14.2 million. This represents a significant financial turnaround from the previous year, where the position stood at a net liability of £3.7 million as at 31 March 2025. This has been driven by an increase in net parliamentary funding to enable the CPS to fund investments into internally generated intangible assets. Another contributory factor was the decrease in non-current liabilities as a result of the reduction in long term provisions and lease liabilities.
Where we spent our money
Our total resource budget (DEL and AME) for 2025-26 was £940.2 million and total capital budget (DEL and AME) for 2025-26 was £49.1 million. We are an operational delivery ‘downstream’ department, and therefore subject to demand pressures not fully within our control, including court sitting days.
Resource
The CPS is an operational department with the majority of our resource budget spent on prosecuting crimes, confiscating proceeds of crime, building capacity in the criminal justice system and supporting victims and witnesses attending court. The table below shows where our money was spent in 2025-26:
Expenditure category
Amount (£000)
% of total spend
Staff costs
546,820
57.8
Prosecution costs
249,074
26.3
IT costs
64,911
6.9
Estate costs
23,149
2.4
Depreciation and amortisation
18,943
2.0
Other goods and services
22,866
2.4
Other expenditure
20,101
2.1
Capital
Our capital budget provides funding for property leases to provide offices for staff to work in, digital transformation and technology to develop digital assets, office fit outs and equipment. In 2025-26 we focused on investing in developing digital assets to help modernise the criminal justice system and improve our operational productivity. The table below shows where our capital budget was spent in 2025-26:
Expenditure category
Amount (£000)
% of total spend
Property leases
5,320
12.8
Digital transformation and technology
32,420
77.6
Office fit-outs
3,113
7.5
Equipment
867
2.1