The bill for court interpreters has smashed through £28million for the first time – with the surging cost of languages spoken by small boat migrants helping drive the rise. Taxpayers spent a record £28.4million in the 2025/26 financial year on translators to help defendants, witnesses and victims who could not speak English in court. The cost is up nine per cent on the £25.9million spent in 2024/25 and works out at more than £545,000 for every week of the year. TRENDING Stories Videos Your SayBut some of the sharpest rises have been for languages spoken by the nationalities who make up the majority of asylum seekers arriving in Britain on small boats. A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “This is a purposely misleading interpretation of the figures.