Transparency Concerns Deepen as Watchdog Reveals Massive Delays in Government Accounting
The UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ), responsible for overseeing the nation’s prisons, courts, and probation services, has come under intense scrutiny following revelations that it has failed to file spending receipts amounting to nearly £11 billion. According to an analysis by public spending watchdog Tussell, the department is now over two years behind in submitting receipts for multimillion-pound contracts a lapse experts warn weakens public accountability and transparency in government finances.
The MoJ, which manages an annual budget exceeding £13 billion, has not published any spending receipts since May 2023, despite the government’s own two-month publication standard. Analysts say this creates a major blind spot in public financial oversight.
Tussell described the situation as “deeply concerning,” emphasizing that the government is failing to meet its own transparency obligations.
“Such delays undermine visibility over public spending at a time when accountability and scrutiny are more critical than ever,” said a spokesperson for Tussell.
Using previously available data, Tussell calculated the missing receipts by averaging the department’s £5 billion spending from June 2022 to May 2023, multiplying it by the 26 months of missing reports. The result £10.8 billion in unreported expenditure underscores a systemic issue that raises serious questions about how public money is managed.
Transparency advocates have criticized the Ministry’s failure as unacceptable at a time when public finances are already stretched thin.
The UK’s Ministry of Justice faces backlash after watchdogs reveal £11 billion in unreported spending, raising new concerns over transparency and accountability.
“With government finances painfully tight, spending receipts must be published promptly,” said Tom Brake, Director of Unlock Democracy. “They help detect and prevent the misuse and waste of precious resources. Delaying their publication damages the government’s ability to control its expenditure.”
Unlock Democracy, among other watchdog groups, has urged Parliament to investigate the backlog and introduce measures to ensure departments comply with transparency laws.
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Tussell’s report revealed that the Ministry of Justice is the worst-performing department across Whitehall when it comes to filing spending receipts. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero trails by 13 months, with £3.7 billion in undisclosed spending, while the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology lags by 10 months, with £880 million unreported.
Experts warn that such widespread delays across departments signal a deeper failure of internal auditing and public reporting systems especially concerning for a government that has championed transparency as one of its core values.
Despite these concerns, the MoJ recently received a 1.8% real-term spending increase following the government’s latest review. Day-to-day MoJ expenditure is projected to reach £13.2 billion by 2028–29, with capital spending climbing to £2.3 billion by 2026–27.
These investments are intended to support ambitious infrastructure goals, including the creation of 14,000 new prison places by 2031, with 2,500 already completed as of mid-2024. However, critics argue that without transparent reporting, it is impossible to verify whether such funds are being used efficiently.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) highlighted that MoJ funding had been slashed dramatically in the early 2010s with total spending falling by 70%, and capital funding for prisons and courts plummeting by over 90%. While recent increases aim to rebuild capacity, the lack of up-to-date receipts raises fears that spending inefficiencies could go unchecked, undoing years of fiscal discipline.
In response to Tussell’s findings, an MoJ spokesperson denied any suggestion of financial mismanagement, insisting that all departmental spending remains fully accounted for in annual reports.
“We need to review a substantial amount of data to ensure we do not release anything that could cause any risk, particularly to individuals,” the spokesperson said. “All departmental spend is accounted for in our annual accounts and it’s misleading to suggest otherwise.”
Still, critics argue that the official explanation does not address the core issue the failure to publish timely receipts, which remain the most direct way for the public to track how taxpayer money is spent.
