The Crown Prosecution Service
CPS 2022-23 Business Plan

The summary below sets out the key elements of the CPS expenditure as well as some high-level information on the types of spending indicated.

Our expenditure for 2022/23 is financed from centrally agreed budgets administered by HM Treasury.
The budget allocation is expressed net of relevant income, and any shortfall in projected income will need to be offset by savings in expenditure.

*Net RDEL includes £12m Budget Exchange from 2021/22, without the inclusion of this £12m Net RDEL would be £701.10m
**CDEL in our Settlement Letter is £2.8m, however this figure is pre-IFRS16 adjustments ding
***AME is inclusive of both Capital AME (£0.5m) and Resource AME (£5.95m)

The table above sets out the CPS’s funding for 2022/23, expressed as Resource spending (RDEL), Capital (CDEL) and Annually Managed Expenditure (AME). 

Resource spending (RDEL) is money that is spent on day-to-day resources and administration costs. It includes the hire of agents, prosecution costs, costs of confiscating the proceeds of crime, capacity building in the criminal justice system, support of voluntary sector organisations within the criminal justice system and depreciation. The RDEL funding is shown net of income, including that arising from costs awarded to the CPS in court or received through the Recovered Assets Incentivisation Scheme. We use a detailed activity-based costing model to accurately assess required resources to meet projected demands. 

Capital spending (CDEL) is money that is spent on assets that will be utilised for more than one financial year. Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) covers movements in provisions such as write-offs and changes in allowance for irrecoverable debts and provisions for dilapidations on buildings. 

The majority of our spend goes towards our internal workforce, in particular legal and frontline pay. This spend has increased following the investment we received from HM Treasury, which is allowing us to deliver the most ambitious recruitment campaign in our history. We are also making decisions to determine the future workforce capability and capacity needed to effectively manage operational recovery, increasing RASSO and other complex casework and to keep building confidence in our services. 

Each day, highly valued work is similarly undertaken on behalf of the CPS by the external Bar, which requires a fee scheme for the future that is fair and affordable. Our 2022/23 spend under External Workforce and Courts reflects the uplift in the payments agreed following the 2019 review of our fee schemes. The other part of this spending goes towards supporting victims and witnesses attending court.

The 2022/23 budget also allows for some modest continued investment in digital capability and innovation. Such investments remain important in addressing the changing nature of crime and improving the way justice is done.

Projected spending

2021/22 Budget to 2022/23 Budget (£m)