Policy paper

Ministry of Justice Strategic Asset Management Plan – Executive Summary

Updated 16 December 2025

Aim

The purpose of the SAMP is to set out the Ministry of Justice’s vision, aspirations and objectives for its land and property assets, and to outline a plan for achieving these outcomes.

Our Purpose

The MoJ and its agencies deliver prison, probation and youth custody services; administer criminal, civil and family courts and tribunals, support victims, children, families and vulnerable adults in England and Wales, develop modern and efficient civil courts and tribunal services and uphold the rule of law supporting economic growth.

The MoJ is responsible for managing a broad portfolio of properties, ensuring their maintenance and compliance with statutory Fire, Health & Safety, and Environmental requirements in the provision of capacity in the Criminal Justice System.

MoJ Property plays an important role in supporting the delivery of the Government Property strategic outcomes through the management of the second largest estate in government to:  

• Transform places and services
• A smaller, better, and greener public estate
• Improve professional excellence and insight

Current Estate Profile

The MoJ estate is a composition of prisons, probation contact centres and approved premises, courts and tribunals and office accommodation with over 1,200 built assets which comprise an aggregated Gross Internal Area (GIA) of over 6.1 million sq.m and costs around £2bn to run.

The majority of the MoJ estate is operational, directly supporting ‘front-line’ operational services in courts, tribunals, prisons and probation, and we further provide services to our Public Bodies which vary according to their size and individual needs.

Current Locations

• 107 public sector prisons and 16 privately managed prisons. At present, with over 87,000 prisoners.
• 89 approved premises, 360 contact centres, and 70 Community Payback sites where the Probation Service supervises over 250,000 offenders in the community.
• 329 operational court and tribunal buildings (including 8 tribunals in Scotland). We also have 2 storage sites, 13 admin sites and 5 Courts & Tribunals Service Centres (CTSC)

Strategic Programmes and Projects

Prisons

We continue to work towards delivering additional, modern prison places across England and Wales with a commitment to build 14,000 new prison places and aiming to do so by 2031. The prison build programme will ensure the right conditions are in place to rehabilitate prisoners, helping to cut crime, and protect the public. These places are being delivered through the construction of three new prisons, as well as the expansion and refurbishment of the existing estate and temporary accommodation. 

Construction of HMP Millsike, the UK’s first all-electric prison, was completed in spring this 2024/25 with a capacity of c.1,500. We have full planning permission for a new prison in Leicestershire & outline planning permission for a new prison in Buckinghamshire. 

Major refurbishments are taking place, for example at HMP Liverpool, delivering c.1,000 cells, along with construction of new houseblocks.

Probation

We are making an increased capital investment in probation estate maintenance; which we will use to manage the highest priority issues including statutory obligations, critical health and safety improvements, keeping Approve Premises (AP) beds online, mitigating building closures and complying with fire and security requirements.

Extra capacity has been added at five APs, where we have delivered small capital projects to make better use of space. We are also beginning delivery on AP expansion projects for which we have existing planning permission.

The pipeline of Probation lease events works through decisions on renewals and term lengths for Probation Contact Centres ensuring a continued presence for current probation activity.

HM Courts and Tribunal Service

HMCTS has an Estates Strategy HMCTS Estates Strategy 2021 to 2031 - GOV.UK which sets out four core strategic priorities (Care, Place, Innovation and Value) and how HMCTS will apply these when making decisions about its estate. The document also includes five and 10-year ambitions to improve the condition, resilience and sustainability of its buildings.

HMCTS has planned pipelines of future works to support the resilience of the court service and will continue to prioritise spending towards ensuring our buildings are safe, secure and meet statutory requirements to ensure continuity of service.  

HMCTS is involved in a number of major projects, including:

• Victory House Employment and Fox Court Social Security and Child Support Tribunals are to be replaced by 7 Newgate Street in London providing a new, modern, and flexible Tribunal Centre. This site will help secure tribunal hearings within the centre of London for the long term and will provide 30 hearing rooms.
• The Mayor’s and City of London County Court and City of London Magistrates’ Court are to be replaced by a purpose-built building on Salisbury Square, The City of London Law Courts, providing 18 court rooms on Fleet Street which is scheduled to open in 2027/28. The new court will concentrate on financial crime.
• With funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, HMCTS will construct a new Combined Court complex in Blackpool. The new court will deliver improved court facilities for the Blackpool area and will replace the existing Blackpool Court buildings, which is closed permanently due to Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).

Headquarters (HQ) Estate

We have significantly reduced our HQ Estate through successive rationalisation programmes, and have  transferred the majority of our remaining administrative estate to the Government Property Agency (GPA).

• National Talent Location Strategy

To achieve our Places for Growth (PfG) commitments, MoJ launched the National Talent Location Strategy (NTLS) which requires roles to be advertised nationally. We are developing a National Office Network in strategic locations which will enable us to recruit talent from across the country. We have opened eight Justice Collaboration Centres (JCC’s) and 37 Justice Satellite Offices (JSO) across England, Scotland and Wales. We are on our way to complete a total of 55 sites 2025/26.

• London Accommodation Project

As part of the Plan for London MoJ has contributed to the reduction of Government buildings in central London through the exits and decommissioning of our demises at both of Albany House (Dec 2024) and Clive House (Sept 2025). Further to this it has been announced that 102 Petty France will close in December 2028 and MoJ will be working closely with GPA to facilitate relocation of its Whitehall staff.   

Climate Change and Sustainability

Sustainability is a strategic enabler of justice outcomes and our vision is to lead the way in greening government, embed sustainability in everything we do and use sustainability activity to deliver justice and outcomes. Our Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy outlines our approach to becoming the climate resilient, resource efficient and sustainable organisation of the future.   

In support of this we have developed strategies and plans to address Net Zero Carbon. Climate Change Adaptation, Circular Economy, Water Efficiency and Nature Recovery.  Projects planned for 2025-27 contribute to these strategies.  

Improve professional excellence and insight

Capacity & Capability

Strategic Workforce Planning supports continually reviewing our resources against the work priorities to assess needs and prioritise critical roles. We are strengthening our capability with professional accreditation and building on professional skills in line with the Government Property Career Framework.

Property Transformation

Our Property Transformation Programme (PTP) will transform facilities management services across the Probation and Prison estate by improving service delivery, data and IT systems. We are currently working on national Workplace Services Management.  The new Facilities Management contracts will be in place by 2027.