“Justice is at breaking point — it’s time to fund the whole system, not just policing” - PCCs Matthew Barber and Donna Jones
Police and Crime Commissioners for Thames Valley and Hampshire are urging the Government to take bold, system-wide action in its spending review this Wednesday (11 June), and warning that chronic underfunding of the Ministry of Justice is undermining the entire criminal justice system and putting public safety at risk.
Despite recent funding increases, the Ministry of Justice, which oversees courts, prisons, probation, and victim services remains one of the worst-hit departments. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, day-to-day spending on justice in 2025–26 is still forecast to be 24% lower per person than in 2007–08.
73,105 court cases were awaiting trial as of September 2024 — nearly double the backlog in 2019.
In 2024 alone, 16,231 prisoners were released early under the Government’s early release scheme to ease overcrowding.
Victim support services are under pressure from funding cuts and rising operational and staffing costs.
Police offender management teams face growing workloads as more criminals are diverted into community sentences and rehabilitation pathways.
While policing has received funding uplifts to support recruitment and reduce crime, PCCs Donna Jones and Matthew Barber say this alone is not enough to keep communities safe or rebuild public confidence in the justice system.
“The system is buckling. Policing is just one agency. We cannot continue to starve the criminal justice system of resources and expect the public to have confidence in it. Justice doesn’t end when an offender is arrested. It ends when a victim sees a resolution, and when rehabilitation or punishment has been delivered properly. Right now, that cycle is broken.
“Officers are working tirelessly to arrest dangerous individuals. They are tackling violent crime, child abuse, domestic violence and organised crime, but too many of these cases are falling apart because courts are clogged, evidence is lost, or legal processes fail due to under-resourcing. Victims are left in limbo, and in some cases, they’re denied justice altogether.
“Releasing thousands of prisoners early and proposing lighter sentences in the community may relieve pressure, but only if community supervision, rehabilitation services and offender management teams are properly funded. If not, we are simply pushing risk into the public domain and onto overstretched police, probation and support services.
“I support meaningful rehabilitation. Not everyone needs to be behind bars, but for those who do, especially serious sexual and violent offenders, prison is essential for public protection. Where rehabilitation is right, it must be resourced and monitored. At the moment, neither is happening to the standard the public expects.
“We cannot continue to treat justice as a patchwork of agencies. It’s a single, interdependent system. When one part breaks down, it affects every other part – and most importantly, it fails the public we all serve.”
