Courts: Interpreters
(asked on 4th June 2025) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what comparative estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) off-contract bookings and (b) contract-based interpreter services.
We do not hold spend data for each region. Total annual spend across all 4 language services contracts, with % increases have been calculated and set out below:
Year | Total | Year on Year % increase | Total Growth (since 2020) | Sitting Days (Financial Year) |
2020 | £20,217,548.09 | - | - | 2020/21 – 199,200 |
2021 | £25,062,618.71 | 24% | 24% | 2021/22 – 559,888 |
2022 | £26,883,747.04 | 7% | 33% | 2022/23 – Over 565,000 |
2023 | £30,374,050.44 | 13% | 50% | 2023/24 – Over 580,000 |
2024 | £31,625,158.35 | 4% | 56% | 2024/25 - TBC |
Off-contract spend:
Year | Total |
2020 | £1,193,788 |
2021 | £2,157,759 |
2022 | £4,856,616 |
2023 | £6,565,781 |
2024 | £7,037,731 |
The use of off-contract is typically to cover requirements that arise at short notice and those that are more challenging to fulfil, such as the requirement for languages that are rare or scarce, and as such are more expensive to source. The use of off-contract interpreters allows hearings to go ahead, to continue the delivery of justice.
The next generation of contracts, currently being procured, includes the use of a secondary supplier of interpreters, specifically to source those short notice bookings, and to bring this spend on-contract, with benefits such as improved data and value for money.
Performance levels can be accessed via the Published statistics, which can be found at: Criminal court statistics - GOV.UK
Comparison (2020–2024)
Year | On-Contract Spend (£) | Off-Contract Spend (£) | Total Spend (£) | % On-Contract | % Off-Contract |
2020 | £20,217,548 | £1,193,788 | £21,411,336 | 94.4% | 5.6% |
2021 | £25,062,619 | £2,157,759 | £27,220,378 | 92.1% | 7.9% |
2022 | £26,883,747 | £4,856,616 | £31,740,363 | 84.7% | 15.3% |
2023 | £30,374,050 | £6,565,781 | £36,939,831 | 82.2% | 17.8% |
2024 | £31,625,158 | £7,037,731 | £38,662,889 | 81.8% | 18.2% |