Resources for the justice system: Double staffing in the criminal courts

Current law. LOPJ 2023-2027: +10,000 FTEs by 2027, including 1,500 judges and 1,800 court clerks. Justice mission: €13.05bn in payment appropriations, €10.63bn excluding the pensions special account (CAS Pensions) (PLF 2026). 9,007 judges in courts in 2025.

Horizon. full year 2032, €bn/year

Limits. Average cost excluding CAS (special allocation account for pensions) for programme 166: €2.3bn / 39,482 ≈ €58k per ETPT (full-time equivalent worked); brought down to activity pay by the ratio of about 1.15 from the 2024 PAP (measured on teachers, applied for lack of a published ratio for the judicial services; editors' calculation): about €50k, low and central value. A magistrate costs more (high value, full employer cost with the CAS). “Net” convention (R9), the same as for the public sector pay index point and public sector headcount: at the centre, cost excluding all employer contributions paid to other general government bodies (CAS Pensions, employer social contributions); at the upper bound, full employer cost. The published “excluding CAS” cost still includes employer contributions other than the CAS: it is brought down to activity pay alone by the “average loaded cost excluding CAS / activity pay” ratio from the 2024 PAP (Enseignement scolaire, entry-exit costs: 47,634 / 41,610 = 1.145 in primary, 51,198 / 44,265 = 1.157 in secondary, about 1.15 on average; editors' calculation). For a commitment expressed as a budget (“double the justice budget”), take the difference in €bn on the basis of €10.63bn excluding CAS. “Mission budget” parameter: cost equal to the difference between the target amount and €10.63bn (2026 appropriations excluding CAS Pensions, Senate). It covers the whole mission (judicial justice, prison administration, PJJ, access to law): it is not added to a costing of prison places or of closed educational centres for the same candidate. It is used for commitments expressed as a total budget, not for recruitment, which is costed by the jobs parameter.

• AN, rapport spécial PLF 2026, Justice, 2025-10: « Hors contribution au CAS Pensions, les dépenses de personnel s'établiraient à 2,3 milliards d'euros ... pour un plafond d'emplois fixé à 39 482,35 ETPT ; Nombre total de magistrats exerçant en juridictions ... 9 007 ; LOPJ à 10 000 équivalents temps plein (ETP) d'ici à 2027, dont 1 500 magistrats et 1 800 greffiers »
• Sénat, rapport général n° 139 (2025-2026), tome III, annexe 17 « Justice » (A. Lefèvre), 2025-11-24: « « En 2026, le projet de loi de finances prévoit que les crédits, hors contribution au compte d'affectation spéciale « Pensions » et à périmètre constant, s'établirait à un niveau de 10 629 millions d'euros, en hausse de 166 millions d'euros en crédits de paiement ou 1,6 % » »