Magdalena Domínguez

Why higher spending, without attention to how resources are used, may not translate into better outcomes.

While financial resources in the justice system are important, so are their management, location and interactions with other parts of the state.

We review the pressures and challenges facing the UK justice system in our mid-grant report for the Transforming Justice programme.

Civil legal aid case volumes have fallen 57% since 2012, with 38 local authorities now lacking any active provider.

We analyse the evolution of civil legal aid cases and active providers in England and Wales from 2009 onwards.

We summarise new research that examines the impact of police efforts in Barcelona to ‘sweep’ many suspected gang members at once. 

We summarise recent work on the economic impacts of domestic abuse, sexual assault and workplace harassment.

Welsh health and education services are performing worse than before the pandemic and lag behind England

Welsh health and education systems are underperforming – with cuts to spending on some public services likely post-election.

Five years on from COVID, Scotland's public services are still struggling to recover

Scottish public services are struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and cuts to some services loom.

We summarise new research that examines how the ban on new psychoactive substances affected drug availability and violence in prisons.

The Crown Court of England and Wales – the court that deals with the most serious offences – had around 75,000 outstanding cases at the end of 2024. 

The Crown Court case backlog has doubled since 2019 and continues to grow. We explore whether falling productivity is part of the reason why. 

This report analyses the Scottish Government’s Budget for 2025–26, with chapters on tax strategy, school spending, public sector pay and more.

As a result, public sector workers in Scotland now enjoy a considerable pay premium relative to their counterparts in the rest of the UK.

How have public sector pay and employment changed in Scotland in recent years and what are the implications of those changes?

New research presents the first consistent estimates of what has happened to Ministry of Justice funding over a period of more than 20 years.