SaishutsuUK public spending, followed

Sections · PESA departmental group

Justice

The Ministry of Justice: courts, prisons, probation and legal aid. In 2025-26 the bodies in this section spent £15.1bn on services. £10.8bn of it (71.8%) can be followed to who received it, and at most 84.7% counting payees who are named but can't be identified yet.

Reached an identified organisation: £4.5bn (29.6%)Reached a recipient the publisher did not name: £3m (0.0%)Reached staff (pay) or holders of government debt (interest), followed as one published total: £6.4bn (42.2%)Named payee, not yet identified (may be another public body): £1.9bn (12.9%)Not followed: £2.3bn (15.3%)
  • Reached an identified organisation
  • Reached a recipient the publisher did not name
  • Reached people, counted by benefit
  • Reached staff (pay) or holders of government debt (interest), followed as one published total
  • Named payee, not yet identified (may be another public body)
  • Not followed
£15.1bn
spent on services, 2025-26 (PESA 2026, table 5.1)
71.8%
followed (71.8% counting outturn only)
£2.3bn
not followed at all, not even to a named payee
£572m
passed on to other public bodies: counted where they spend it

How far it is followed, and why the rest can't be

  • Ministry of Justice: 11 of 12 months publishedmeasured

    Payment records for 2025-26 cover 11 months: 2025-04, 2025-05, 2025-06, 2025-07, 2025-08, 2025-09, 2025-10, 2025-11, 2025-12, 2026-01, 2026-02.

  • Below the publication threshold

    Payments under £25,000 (central government and the NHS) or £500 (councils) are not published one by one. Some publishers list every payment anyway; most do not.

  • Pay: followed to staff as one total£6.4bnmeasured

    Wages are never published person by person, and must not be. The staff costs of the 9 bodies in this section, from HM Treasury's OSCAR database (2025-26, provisional outturn), are counted as followed to their staff.

Where the records come from

Each publisher's 2025-26 payment records, and where their money went. "Identified" means matched to a registered company, charity or other organisation outside government; "named only", a payee named in the record but not yet matched; "passed on", paid to another public body.

PublisherMonthsRecordsIdentified Named onlyWithheldPassed on
Ministry of Justice11 36,989£4.5bn£1.9bn £3m£572m

The largest payees not yet identified

Payees paid £5m or more. Named in the records as shown, but not yet matched to a registered organisation or a public body. Some may be public bodies; until they are matched they are counted as followed by name only.

Payee, as published2025-26
G4S CARE JUSTICE SERVICES UK LTD£160m
SSCL SHARED SERVICES CONNECTED LTD£110m
KIER CONSTRUCTION WESTERN & WALES£101m
GEOAMEY LTD£96m
GALLIFORD TRY CONSTRUCTION (UK) LTD£84m
EDF ENERGY£71m
KIER CONSTRUCTION LTD T/A EASTERN & MIDLANDS£70m
KIER CONSTRUCTION - SOUTHERN£60m
LAING O ROURKE DELIVERY LTD£50m
GALLIFORD TRY CONSTRUCTION UK LIMITED£43m

What PESA says this section spends on

Function2025-26Share
Public order and safety£15.2bn101%
General public services£5m0%
Social protection−£139m-1%