Taxpayer spending on court translators has surged to an average of £152,000 a day amid rising numbers of foreign nationals appearing in Britain’s courts. In 2024, £38.6 million was spent on translation services in England and Wales, up from £21.4 million in 2020 and marking a thirteenfold increase compared with daily averages between 2005 and 2011. Partial figures for 2025 suggest costs could climb even higher.

Spending on the ten most requested languages, largely from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and South Asia, reached £16.2 million in 2024, with Polish and Romanian accounting for nearly £30 million over five years. Costs for Albanian and Kurdish interpreters more than doubled over the same period. Between 2020 and 2024, total expenditure reached £155.8 million.

The rising bill has drawn criticism from former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who described the system as 'woefully poor, expensive and massively open to fraud' and called the costs unsustainable. A House of Lords report previously warned that interpreting services were inefficient and risked undermining justice, citing poor quality and oversight.

Several fraud cases have intensified concerns, including instances of forged qualifications, inflated invoices and translators linked to criminal activity. Courts minister Sarah Sackman said new contracts aim to improve oversight, secure better value for taxpayers and reduce off contract spending through additional suppliers.