Corporate report

HMPPS Annual report and accounts 2024-25: Performance Report (HTML)

Published 30 October 2025

Applies to England and Wales

Presented to the House of Commons pursuant to Section 7 of the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000.

Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 30 October 2025.

ISBN 978-1-5286-5556-9

HC 1371

© Crown copyright 2025

Performance report

The performance report provides an understanding of our purpose and aims, with an overview of performance throughout the financial year.

Foreword by the Chief Executive Officer

I am pleased to present HM Prison and Probation Service’s (HMPPS) 2024 to 2025 Annual Report and Accounts.

It is an honour to take on the role of Director General Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at HMPPS. Leading this organisation, and the exceptional people within it, is a tremendous privilege. I would like to begin by expressing my sincere thanks to Amy Rees for her leadership as CEO over the past three years. Amy has now moved on from the Ministry of Justice to take up a new role outside the department. I also extend my gratitude to Phil Copple for his leadership as Director General Operations and, more recently, as interim CEO.

As the newly appointed CEO, I step into this role with deep respect for the progress achieved during 2024 to 2025 – a year marked by significant achievements against a backdrop of complex challenges.

HMPPS has made strong progress in recruiting new probation officers and prison staff, and I am committed to continuing this momentum. Initiatives such as the Enable programme are helping us develop and support our workforce, and we will continue to build on these foundations.

Digital transformation has accelerated, with new technologies improving productivity and collaboration across the agency. These innovations are enabling better outcomes for offenders and strengthening operational effectiveness. Employment outcomes for offenders have improved through strong partnerships – a vital step in reducing reoffending and supporting rehabilitation. HMPPS will continue to deepen these partnerships and explore new opportunities to drive progress.

Across a range of measures, we have acted to address prison capacity pressures. Throughout these changes, we have worked with partners to ensure continuity of support for those leaving custody, including access to health services, substance misuse support, employment, benefits and accommodation.

Such progress is extremely welcome. However, the system remains under pressure, including in probation, where long-term solutions are needed to create a more resilient and balanced service. The ‘Our Future Probation Service’ programme will address these challenges, ensuring a sustainable service that supports staff wellbeing and delivers on our objectives.

Looking ahead, several significant reviews – including the Independent Sentencing Review, the Spending Review, the Review of the Criminal Courts, and the Independent Prison Capacity Review – will help shape our direction. Implementing their recommendations will take time and, in some cases, parliamentary approval. We are preparing HMPPS to be ready to support the department in delivering these changes.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the dedication of HMPPS staff, who carry out critical work every day to protect the public and to reduce reoffending. Their efforts change lives – not just of those we work with, but of their families and communities. I extend my sincere thanks to our exceptional staff for their unwavering commitment to our mission and their vital contribution to the wider criminal justice system.

James McEwen
Chief Executive Officer
21 October 2025

Performance summary

Overview

This section sets out the agency’s purpose, vision, principles and outcomes and provides an understanding of our purpose and aims, with an overview of our structure and factors affecting performance throughout the financial year.

Statement of purpose

HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The role of HMPPS is to carry out sentences given by the courts, in custody and the community, and to rehabilitate people in our care by addressing education, employment, accommodation, and health and substance misuse needs.

Responsibilities

The agency is made up of HM Prison Service, Probation Service, Youth Custody Service and headquarters.

Within England and Wales, we manage probation delivery,  public sector prisons and the contracts for private prisons.

Our priority outcomes

As part of the criminal justice system, HMPPS plays a crucial role in society. HMPPS protects the public, maintains safe and secure prisons and reduces the risk that people will reoffend. We work together to help people to live law-abiding and positive lives. We continue to improve the quality of frontline delivery, investing in and enhancing the offer to our workforce.

In 2024 to 2025 we delivered against ‘Punishment that cuts crime’, our strategic outcome that contributes to the government’s key objectives through the mission outcomes.^{[footnote 1]} These aim to rebuild confidence in the criminal justice system by protecting the public and reducing reoffending with a sustainable and effective prison and probation service.

How our services were structured in 2024 to 2025 (as at 31 March 2025)

Number of prisons and young offender institutions (YOIs)

Prisons and young offender institutions	Public	Private	Total
Number	109	16	125

125 (total) – Peterborough and Parc each contain two sites that are counted separately for reporting purposes, but each is covered by one private prison contract. The Peterborough contract covers an adult male and female prison, and the Parc contract covers an adult male prison and an under 18 site. Therefore, the number of private prison contracts in operation is two fewer than the number of private prison sites listed.

Prisons and young offender institutions	Male	Female	Under 18s	Total
Number	109	12	4	125

125 (total) – Changes to the published counting method during 2025 mean that numbers here will not be consistent with previous reports. This number includes HMP Dartmoor. Further information available at: https://data.justice.gov.uk/prisons

Number of Children and Young People Secure Estate sites

Children and Young People Secure Estate sites	Under 18 YOIs (private)	Under 18 YOIs (public)	Secure training centre	Secure children’s homes with justice placements	Secure schools	Total
Number	1	3	1	8	1	14

Prison and probation area map

Map showing the prison and probation areas are: HMPPS North-West, HMPPS North-East, HMPPS Midlands, HMPPS Wales, HMPPS London, HMPPS South-East and East, and HMPPS South-West and South Central.

Community Accommodation Service (CAS)

Number of CAS1 Approved Premises in operation

CAS1 Approved Premises in operation	Public	Private	Total
Number	89	15	104

5,308
Number of referrals to CAS2 accommodation

10,020
Offenders placed in CAS3 accommodation

How our services were structured in 2024 to 2025 (as at 31 March 2025)

Prison population (including the under 18 YOI population)

Prison population	Male	Female	Total
Number	84,351	3,568	87,919

528
Total average Children and Young People Secure Estate population

People on probation

People on probation	Male	Female	Total
Number	219,396	22,144	241,540

Cases by supervision type

Each person is counted once only in each total or sub-total even if they are subject to several types of probation supervision on the date shown.

76,241 Pre-release

62,409 Post-release

107,640 All court orders

2,544 Prisoners serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences

10,838 Foreign national population

Children and Young People Secure Estate population by age

aged 10-14	18
aged 15	43
aged 16	119
aged 17	222
aged 18+	100

Capacity

Prison capacity

The adult male prison estate has been under acute pressure since September 2022. Since then, managing prison and probation capacity has been an ongoing top priority for the department. From January 2023 to July 2024, the adult male prison estate routinely operated at over 99% of capacity.

Through 2024 to 2025, we have taken the following measures to manage prison capacity pressures.

Contingency measures:

• Operation Safeguard – A temporary measure used to hold adult male prisoners in police custody suites as needed to provide extra short-term resilience. This was in use from February to April and May to October in 2024 and from March to June 2025.
• Crowding – A measure in place to hold two prisoners in a cell designed for one. This is never desirable and is only implemented when deemed safe to do. We continually monitor and take places online and offline depending on prison safety, stability, staffing levels and maintenance needs.
• Operation Early Dawn – Involves an operational assessment being made each morning regarding which prisoners can be transferred from police cells and taken to courts to ensure there is a safe and secure location if remanded to custody.

Demand reduction measures:

• Temporary Presumptive Recategorisation Scheme (TPRS) – Introduced in March 2023 allowing for the transfer of prisoners to open conditions, subject to risk assessment, up to 12 weeks before release. This was extended to 52 weeks in June 2024, and then to 24 months in March 2025 and further extended to 36 months in June 2025. From April 2025, changes to the Security Categorisation Policy will mean some eligible prisoners who are serving a standard determinate sentence will be considered for a move to an open prison up to five years ahead of their earliest release date instead of three years.
• Home detention curfew (HDC) – In June 2023, the maximum period an offender could be on HDC increased from 4.5 months to 6 months. The amended Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 extended the HDC eligibility to risk-assessed offenders serving standard determinate sentences of over four years. This government extended the maximum period that offenders can spend on HDC from 6 to 12 months from June 2025.
• Standard determinate sentences 40% (SDS40) – Implemented from September 2024 to temporarily change the automatic release point for eligible standard determinate sentences from 50% to 40%. This will remain subject to review.
• End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) – Introduced in October 2023 by the previous government as an emergency lever allowing prisoner release up to 18 days before their automatic release date. This was extended to 35 days in March 2024 and then 70 days in May 2024, before deactivation in September 2024 when SDS40 was implemented.
• Foreign national offenders – The Early Removal Scheme (ERS) was expanded in January 2024 to allow for removal of foreign national offenders up to 18 months before the end of their sentence, subject to serving a minimum of half the custodial term.
• Fixed-term recall (FTR) – In April 2024, the previous government introduced legislation that mandates shorter fixed 14-day recall periods for eligible offenders serving sentences of less than 12 months. From September 2025 28-day fixed‑term recalls will be mandated for eligible offenders serving sentences of between one and four years.
• Presumptive Risk-Assessed Recall Review (P-RARR) – We made changes to reform recall practice to target the unsustainable growth in the recall population. This was launched in February 2025 to safely release people on a standard recall back into the community when risk assessment deemed it suitable.
• Bail as an alternative to custodial remand – We are taking steps to raise awareness of and remove barriers to the use of bail as an alternative to custodial remand, where appropriate, including rolling out a dedicated Bail Information Service and expanding the community accommodation offer.

Preventing future capacity challenges

While the measures have helped to alleviate the pressure on demand in the short term, we must ensure that longer-term solutions will help to maintain a sustainable system for the future.

• In October 2024, the Lord Chancellor launched an Independent Sentencing Review chaired by former Lord Chancellor David Gauke. This will deliver on the government’s manifesto commitment to bring sentencing up-to-date and ensure the justice system is placed on a more sustainable footing. The Independent Sentencing Review: Final report from this review was published in May 2025.^{[footnote 2]} It sets out proposals to address prison and probation challenges and support victims and this government accepted, in principle, David Gauke’s recommendations.
• A long-term approach to prison builds will create more certainty in our prison pipeline, delivering value and significantly increasing our resilience and ability to plan for long‑term population growth (see prison builds). In December 2024, the government published a 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy setting out plans to deliver an additional 14,000 prison places, maintain our estate and explore the acquisition of land to build more prison places.^{[footnote 3]} The Annual Statement on Prison Capacity was published at the same time and sets out population and supply projections and information on Probation Service staffing.^{[footnote 4]}
• The National Audit Office’s December 2024 report on increasing the capacity of the prison estate to meet demand considered progress in the expansion and maintenance of the prison estate, as well as the management of recent capacity pressures and the impact of measures used to alleviate pressures.^{[footnote 5]} We are committed to implementing findings and recommendations of the report into delivery of the remaining 14,000 places and future prison builds.
• A review into handling of prison capacity, led by Dame Anne Owers, was published in August 2025. The review considered prison supply and demand and sets out recommendations to help future governments avoid the cycle of repeated prison capacity crises.^{[footnote 6]}

	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Prison supply / demand gap	2,788	2,008	1,131	1,236	1,006

Notes: The difference between the number of useable places (supply) and population (demand).
www.gov.uk/government/collections/prison-population-statistics

	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Prison population	78,081	79,744	84,372	87,699	87,919

Notes: Prison population statistics, available at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/prison-population-statistics. Data from 2019 to 2021 includes the population and capacity in HMPPS-operated immigration removal centres. After this period HMPPS no longer operated any immigration removal centres. Figures include the under 18 YOIs.

Probation capacity

Some of the prison capacity measures announced by the Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood in July 2024 and by her predecessor Alex Chalk have meant there is additional demand on probation services. SDS40 changes had a considerable impact on resource and staff during the initial surge period. We managed this by introducing temporary mitigations to reduce the workload pressure on staff during this period.

The Probation Service has risen to recent challenges, responding to the measures that have been put in place to manage prison capacity, but there is more to do to support a sustainable system for the future. We are continuously monitoring workloads and performance and are taking further steps to support delivery, including exploring how technology can be used to improve efficiency.

In July 2024, operational changes were implemented as part of ‘Probation Reset’ to help mitigate pressures on the service by empowering practitioners to prioritise early engagement with people on probation.

Actions to address capacity include:

• taking steps to bolster probation’s capacity through recruitment (see probation staffing)
• using electronic monitoring services more than ever before
• continuing to monitor caseloads closely and deploy the Prioritisation Framework, enabling areas with reduced staffing capacity to reprioritise areas of delivery to focus on offenders with the highest risk of harm

We will be working to understand the impact of Probation Reset once sufficient time to observe the offending cycle has passed. We will look at several key factors including workload capacity, time saved and contact with high-risk offenders. In addition, the Impact programme, launched April 2025, introduces a new, proportionate model for managing individuals assessed as posing a lower risk of reoffending. Grounded in desistance theory and the Risk‑Need‑Responsivity Framework, ‘Impact’ is a low-intensity approach designed to free up practitioner capacity to focus on individuals with higher levels of risk and need and enables probation practitioners to deliver a small number of structured, desistance-based sessions focused on early engagement, relationship-building, and timely Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) referrals.

While Probation Reset has provided some relief, we are focusing on sustainable, long-term solutions. In February 2025 the Lord Chancellor set the direction of change by refocusing efforts and resources on work that is most effective at reducing reoffending and supervising higher-risk offenders, and announced additional measures to:

• free up more staff time to prioritise work with highest risk cases
• recruit more probation practitioners
• introduce greater use of technology to support workload reduction
• address a backlog in accredited programmes

To reduce the administrative burden on probation officers, we will also introduce new technology including:

• a digital tool that will bring all the information a probation officer might need on an offender into one place
• trialling a new system for risk assessing offenders, to support probation officers in making robust decisions
• exploring the potential use of labour saving technologies powered by AI

We will deliver this through the ‘Our Future Probation Service’ programme which has been established to develop a single, cohesive strategy that improves the Probation Service as a place to work and as a service for those we support, and will put operational input at the centre of its design. We recognise that recruitment alone cannot drive us forwards. The programme will look at what probation is asked to deliver and how it is being delivered, with the aim to reduce probation workload by 25%. We aim to commence implementation by December 2025.

	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
People on probation	224,174	240,992	239,518	238,993	241,540

Notes: Data is based on the probation caseload as at 31 March each year.
www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly

	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Proportion of cases where requirements are delivered by probation before sentence expires	N/A	N/A	75.8%	78.7%	76.3%

Notes: Percentage of completions of community orders and suspended sentence orders including any combination of an Accredited Programme Requirement, Rehabilitation Activity Requirement or an Unpaid Work Requirement, where those requirements completed successfully.
Further data is available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-annual-update-to-march-2025

Capacity challenge timeline

Data shows the occupancy level (%) of the HMPPS adult male estate. Published data is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-population-weekly-estate-figures-2025.

	Occupancy (%)	Event
2022-23
Sep	Sep-Dec 2022 data is not available in the same format	Capacity pressures rose, concerns of critical capacity leading to formation of custodial options taskforce.
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan	98.68
Feb	99.20	Operation Safeguard activated.
Mar	99.27	TPRS implemented at 12 weeks.
2023-24
Apr	99.29
May	99.40	First prisoners at HMP Fosse Way.
Jun	99.23	HDC period increased to 6 months.
Jul	99.30
Aug	99.51
Sep	99.68
Oct	99.00	Capacity measures announced including ECSL(18) and ERS changes.
Nov	99.13	Operation Safeguard deactivated.
Dec	99.03	The Victims and Prisoners Bill amended reducing licence period for IPP sentences.
Jan	99.09	ERS expanded up to 18 months.
Feb	99.43	Operation Safeguard activated.
Mar	99.28	ECSL extended to 35 days and investment in the Bail Information Service announced.
2024-25
Apr	99.24	Fixed-term recall Statutory Instrument implemented. Operation Safeguard deactivated. Probation Reset implementation began.
May	99.66	ECSL extended to 70 days, Operation Safeguard activated.
Jun	99.17	HDC eligibility extended (HDC4) to sentences over four years. TPRS extended to 12 months.
Jul	99.13	Change in government. Probation Reset fully implemented. Changes to standard determinate sentences announced (SDS40).
Aug	99.42
Sep	97.70	Adult male prison population peaked following summer public disorder. ECSL70 deactivated. First tranche of SDS40 releases.
Oct	96.78	Second tranche of SDS40 releases. Operation Safeguard deactivated. Sentencing Review launched. Further bridging measures announced.
Nov	97.12
Dec	96.97	10-year Prison Capacity Strategy and annual statement published.
Jan	97.92
Feb	98.85	Lord Chancellor sets out vision for future of Probation Service. P-RARR launched.
Mar	99.26	Operation Safeguard activated. Extension of TPRS to 24 months implemented.
2025-26
Apr	99.14	First prisoner at HMP Millsike. Impact programme launched.
May	98.75	Changes to FTR announced. Change to open estate eligibility implemented. Sentencing Review recommendations published.
Jun	97.86	HDC 12 implemented. Operation Safeguard deactivated. TPRS extended to 36 months. FTR Statutory Instrument laid. Extension of the ERS up to 48 months announced.
Jul	98.83
Aug		Prison Capacity Review published. Announcement of law change for immediate deportation of convicted foreign national offenders.
Sep		Foreign national offender extension of ERS implemented. FTR reform implemented.

Children and Young People Secure Estate capacity

Custody should always be a last resort for children. The population of children in custody has fallen drastically in the last decade. A smaller population means that the children in our care typically have more complex needs and are in custody for more serious and violent crimes.

In 2022, the previous government decided that children who turn 18 years old should be retained in the youth estate as a temporary measure to support wider adult prison capacity. Following a review, the current government decided to end the interim policy, with a phased reversal commencing from October 2024.

There are a very small number of girls in custody (less than 3.5% of all children in custody), who are often highly vulnerable with complex needs which can make placing them in the youth estate challenging. In November 2024, the Minister for Youth Justice Sir Nic Dakin commissioned Susannah Hancock to lead an independent review into the placement of girls. The Delivering the best for girls in custody report, issued in March 2025, highlighted the complexity of girls’ needs, with self-harm at a concerning level.^{[footnote 7]} In response to the recommendations, ministers acted immediately to end the placement of girls in YOIs. The Youth Custody Service (YCS) can still place girls in different settings, including secure children’s homes, the new secure school and secure training centres.

In 2024 to 2025 we developed the Children and Young People Strategy which was published internally in May 2025. It articulates a clear ambition and priorities for the future Children and Young People Secure Estate, aligning with the wider departmental plans for youth justice reform and setting a strategic direction for services and our future estate.

Oasis Restore Secure School opened in August 2024, with a core focus on integrating education and healthcare to support rehabilitation and reduce reoffending. Due to infrastructure concerns, a decision was taken to temporarily suspend operations in August 2025. The school will reopen once the necessary refurbishments have been completed. An evaluation of the secure school model, commissioned by the Youth Custody Service (YCS) and NHS England is underway to assess its implementation and overall effectiveness.

We have completed negotiations for new secure children’s homes contracts, aiming to maximise provision without diminishing geographic spread or resilience of the sector and supporting service continuity. Contracts will be awarded to commence later in 2025 to 2026.

	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Children and Young People Secure Estate population (2024-25 average)
Under 18s	560	454	441	430	418
Including over 18 year‑olds	643	522	504	580	528

Notes: HM Prison and Probation Service (2013), Youth custody data, available at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/youth-custody-data.
Average data for each year is based on 12 snapshot dates.

Staff in probation, prisons and the Children and Young People Secure Estate

The staff and remuneration report from “Staff diversity” within the accountability report, outlines our focus on professional standards and behaviours, how we are developing our staff, and initiatives in place to support the wellbeing of our staff.

Further information on the workforce statistics covered below are available at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/hm-prison-probation-service-workforce-statistics

Probation staffing

At 31 March 2025, there were 21,396 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in Probation Service grades – an increase of 637 (3.1%) FTE since 31 March 2024.

Significant progress has been made but the need for more probation officers remains a priority to ensure sufficient resource to manage changes in demand for probation services. To better deliver robust supervision, we continued national recruitment to maintain a pipeline of qualified officers, onboarding 1,057 trainee probation officers against our commitment to onboard at least 1,000 new trainees in 2024 to 2025. In 2025 to 2026 we aim to onboard 1,300 new trainee probation officers.

We have diversified entry pathways into the Probation Service, including a non-graduate route for new probation officers, and are supporting targeted recruitment campaigns to boost applications and reduce hiring time.

We know that recruitment and training of staff is complex, challenging and takes time, so we need to be clear about the prioritisation of the work they do and how they do it. We are planning for what the service needs to be in the future, aligning what we ask staff to deliver against our staffing levels in a sustainable way.

Retention

A 2025 HMI Probation report on staff recruitment and retention notes high numbers of experienced staff leaving the service.^{[footnote 8]} Published statistics show that the resignation rate for Probation Service staff, as at 31 March 2025, was 6.0% (including probation officers 3.9%, and probation service officers 7.2%) compared to the previous year at 6.9%.

The HMPPS retention strategy continues to focus on employee experience and engagement. Efforts continue in strengthening probation by building a supported, skilled and resilient workforce that can deliver high-quality supervision, focused on the areas of highest risk and delivered within manageable caseloads.

A new national framework for newly qualified officers was rolled out in July 2024, building on already established processes to provide support in the first year post-qualification, setting out the expectations and enablers to provide consistency and support development.

Pay

The Probation Service reached the end of a three‑year multi-year pay deal in March 2025. Salary values of all pay bands increased each year, targeted at key operational grades. In addition, a range of supplementary payments were agreed including temporary enhanced overtime and a temporary overtime bonus scheme in direct response to the demands arising from SDS40. Planned pay point increases were brought forward, enabling access to improved pay earlier than planned. Discussions are ongoing to consider future pay awards.

Professional registration

HMPPS introduced mandatory professional registration in September 2024. This acknowledges the competence and commitment of qualified staff, emphasising the skills and experience that binds the service together, and provides assurance that staff have the right qualifications, knowledge and skills to manage the risk of people on probation.

Prison staffing

Having skilled, confident and experienced prison officers is fundamental to delivering safe, secure and rehabilitative prisons. We are upskilling our hardworking staff, but we know it takes time and training to build confidence, capability and essential jailcraft skills.

Staffing numbers

Our national staffing levels have greatly improved. By 31 March 2025, we were at 96% of our target staffing figure (hours adjusted FTE) for Band 3-5 prison officers. Published workforce statistics show that as of March 2025 there were 22,716 Band 3-5 prison officers in post (a decrease of 875 FTE or 3.7% since March 2024).^{[footnote 9]} Although the total number has decreased nationally, this change was expected as we look to re-balance our staffing across the estate, with recruitment continuing at all sites with a current or future need, and targeted interventions available for prisons with the greatest need.

Retention

As of March 2025, the resignation rate for Band 3‑5 prison officers was 8.3%, a slight decrease compared to 2023 to 2024 (8.5%). Due to the significant recruitment activity in recent years, a significant proportion of Band 3-5 prison officers have less than three years’ experience. We are focused on retaining our dedicated staff and supporting their development.

Our retention initiatives include:

• offering operational support grades (Band 2) the chance to use their experience to become prison officers through a streamlined recruitment process
• providing targeted support to prisons with the highest attrition rates through a retention oversight process – undertaking deep dives at sites with low attrition to support learning and future interventions
• monitoring exit interview data on the main drivers of attrition
• acting on the findings of the independent review of prison officer foundation training which was commissioned to Lord Timpson by the previous government before commencing his ministerial post
• new workforce approaches for staff through the ‘Enable’ programme, ensuring staff feel safe, supported, valued and confident in their skills and their ability to make a difference – among the first initiatives being tested are learning packages for custodial managers who play an important role in setting a prison’s culture

Pay

Following the 2024 to 2025 Prison Service pay award, the national starting salary for an entry level prison officer rose from £32,851 to £34,494. Written evidence for the 2025 to 2026 pay was published which paved the way for a more timely pay award, meaning we concluded the process earlier than in previous years.

Modelling

• The workforce delivery project is making sure that prison costs are efficient and provide good value for money, to support any case for future investment. It also ensures that staffing budgets are aligned to agreed delivery priorities and supports the management of key operational risks.
• A prison staffing resource model has been developed which will improve our view of what resource is required to safely and securely run the prison system.
• Impact assessments in adult prisons are supporting a system-wide assessment and review of future staffing models.

YCS staffing

In 2024 we undertook a resource review across all YOIs, focusing on optimising staff deployment, enhancing wellbeing support, and informing the YOI Roadmap to Effective Practice. This seeks to ensure that sites have the right staff in the right locations with the necessary capability and wellbeing support.

We continue to advance the qualification process for youth justice workers, ensuring it aligns with the needs of the custodial environment. This was reviewed in 2024 to 2025 and will provide a structured qualification pathway, support staff development and ensure new staff are prepared for their roles, enhancing the overall quality of care and support provided to children.

A safer recruitment project was commissioned in January 2024 to ensure that all those working with children and young people are appropriately vetted and trained to reduce the risk of harm to children. We delivered changes in policy, training, recruitment and vetting practices to ensure compliance with safer recruitment practices, improving overall recruitment processes and enhancing the quality of care.

Digital and technology

HMPPS is committed to enabling access to the right information, at the right time, bringing prisons and probation closer than ever and supporting a sustainable and resilient system.

We are piloting new technologies to improve probation officer productivity by reducing the administrative burden to increase staff capacity to focus on offender interventions – for example, use of AI to record and transcribe supervision conversations in real time to allow staff to focus on building relationships.

Following recent high-profile serious further offence reviews, work has been undertaken to address recommendations made by HM Inspectorate of Probation regarding shortfalls in intelligence sharing between prisons and probation. Prison offender managers will be able to access the Intelligence Management Service, meaning improved risk management in custody and the community. This was launched in one region but delays to the overall delivery means that rollout has been postponed until autumn 2025.

We are working alongside practitioners and investing in the redesign of our new service for the assessment of risks, needs and strengths for people on probation and in prison. This will combine a new assessment and planning approach supported by a new digital service that will eventually replace the current system. An early version of the digital service is being tested with further releases planned.

Launchpad improves access to digital services for prisoners and young people, providing self‑contained laptops in cells to help with everything from ordering meals to information on education opportunities. This reduces staff time spent on administrative tasks, maximising engagement. Launchpad is currently available within 19 sites (around 12,900 prisoners and young people) and a further 12 sites have access to some services through self-serve kiosks.

A major milestone was reached in April 2024 with the completion of the PIN phone services programme that saw the installation of in-cell telephony in 93 prisons across the estate. Over 2,000 ‘staff to cell’ phones have also been installed, allowing staff to call and speak to a prisoner in their cell to support safety, security and decency. The prisoner telephony re-procurement project has been initiated which will ensure continuity of service while also exploring opportunities to improve affordability for prisoners.

Digital Prison Services (DPS) is a suite of new modern digital services for prison staff to replace NOMIS (our outdated legacy prisoner management system). DPS increases frontline staff productivity by reducing the administrative burden and sets the foundation for new technologies. DPS is now used in all prisons, and we continue to add and roll out new services.

Microsoft Windows 11 is being rolled out across the estate through a phased rollout which started with prisons from September 2024 and moved to probation sites in 2025.

As part of our longer-term commitment to digital and data transformation in the Children and Young People Secure Estate, we continued to advance our infrastructure in 2024 to 2025. The Tableau Data Visualisation Project was initiated in September 2024, leading to a new database approach. We also procured a new YOI digital education management system and conducted business analysis for digital case management and children assessment systems which will drive efficiency, accuracy and strategic decision-making, setting the stage for continued advancements in 2025 to 2026.

External scrutiny

We welcome the findings from the independent scrutiny bodies, and value the transparency and accountability they bring. Scrutiny bodies undertake regular inspections, monitoring visits and investigations, with their resulting reports highlighting key concerns and recommendations for improvement.

HMPPS ensures that within three months of an inspectorate report’s publication, an action plan is put in place that responds to the concerns identified by the inspectorate.

HM Inspectorate of Probation

HM Inspectorate of Probation ratings 2024 to 2025

Action plan	Outstanding	Good	Requires improvement	Inadequate	Total
Overall	0	0	8	11	19
1.1 Leadership	0	4	12	3	19
1.2 Staffing	0	0	15	4	19
1.3 Services	0	0	19	0	19
2.1 Assessment	0	0	1	18	19
2.2 Planning	0	0	5	14	19
2.3 Implementation and delivery	0	0	0	19	19
2.4 Reviewing	0	0	2	17	19

Inspections of the Probation Service have identified ongoing performance issues. In the current cycle, HM Inspectorate of Probation has inspected 19 probation delivery units, with 11 rated ‘inadequate’ and 8 as ‘requiring improvement’. These inspections have routinely identified high workloads, concerns regarding staffing and supervision as well as shortfalls in public protection across the Probation Service. Good practice identified by the inspectorate throughout the year includes local leadership, victims work, strong community partnerships, and some areas of unpaid work delivery.

HMPPS undertakes an internal but independent programme of audits on an annual basis. These audits assess the quality of probation practice drawing on statistically valid samples of casework in each probation region. The results of these audits populate the relevant quality measures in the Probation Scorecard and identify further areas for improvement across the probation system.

In addition, HMPPS supports continuous probation improvement against external scrutiny standards by providing and maintaining guidance, resource packs and evidence-based tools, sharing effective practice and direct support where needed, aligned with Chief Probation Officer priorities. Five probation delivery units per year (based on priority need) with inadequate ratings are provided support via the Probation Place-Based Support programme. Aimed at senior probation officer staff, this 23-week support offer builds resilience and effectiveness in leadership including one-to-one support to improve cohesive probation delivery unit management relationships.

A National Quality Group also provide direct strategic support to senior probation officers, and improvement teams are working alongside the ‘Our Future Probation Service’ programme to ensure insights are captured. Work is being undertaken across all probation regions to share best practice and activities to drive quality outcomes as well as providing support to work through issues blocking delivery.

Inspection of CAS1 approved premises began on a pilot basis, and we worked closely with the probation inspectorate to shape the approach to a regular inspection programme which will commence in 2025 to 2026.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons

HM Inspectorate of Prison ratings 2024 to 2025

Inspection	Good	Reasonably good	Not sufficiently good	Poor	Total
Safety	10	11	14	4	39
Respect	7	15	13	4	39
Purposeful activity	4	6	12	17	39
Preparationfor release	9	21	7	2	39

HM Inspectorate of Prisons published 64 reports on prisons in England and Wales in 2024 to 2025. This includes reports on individual establishments, thematic reports and their annual report.

An Urgent Notification (UN) can be issued by the inspectorate if report findings are particularly concerning. Recurring concerns highlighted through UNs in 2024 to 2025 include rates of self-inflicted deaths, self-harm and assaults, staff capability and confidence, living conditions and physical security, quality of and access to healthcare, increase in illicit items such as drugs, time out of cell, and access to purposeful activity. We take UNs very seriously and publish an action plan within 28 days outlining how improvements will be made in both the immediate and long term. The Lord Chancellor has responded to four UNs in 2024 to 2025 and we are taking steps to improve the situation in each of those prisons. A further eight prisons are currently receiving enhanced supervision and support following UNs.

A number of areas of good practice have been identified by the inspectorate throughout the year, including HMP Hull where the inspectorate commented that the Governor had “maintained an excellent grip of the progress made in many of the areas we were critical about at our last inspection”. At HMP Drake Hall, the inspectorate noted the excellent range of support available to help women cope, and HMP/YOI Hatfield maintained top Healthy Prison Test scores with the inspectorate commenting on the excellent culture in the prison. HM Inspectorate of Prisons also published their thematic report ‘What works to promote positive behaviour in adult prisons’ which includes many examples of positive initiatives that are having a significant impact.

While the operational line continues to lead prison improvement, we are revising our national approach. Firstly by recognising most prisons can improve with information, advice and guidance, and line management support through a foundation offer. Secondly by deploying support to a targeted group with performance concerns, and finally with central support being primarily focused on a small group of prisons where sustained change has proved challenging over time.

In the Children and Young People Secure Estate

Through 2024 to 2025 there were 11 full inspections carried out across the Children and Young People Estate (10 Ofsted and one Care Inspectorate Wales). In addition, HMI Prisons conducted independent reviews of progress at five YOIs (including HMP/YOI Cookham Wood before being re-purposed as an adult male prison).

Key themes from the reports highlight concerns around safety and purposeful activity, in particular across the YOIs, and high levels of violence across YOIs and the secure training centres.

In October 2024, Ofsted and HMI Prisons published a thematic review of the quality of education and purposeful activity in YOIs which was critical of the education delivery in public sector YOIs.^{[footnote 10]}

HMI Prisons published a review of progress against a 2020 report on separation of children in YOIs and highlighted that there was little progress across previous recommendations made and concerns around the oversight of separation.^{[footnote 11]}

While the thematic reports highlighted significant challenges across delivery and quality in education, areas of good practice include:

• evidence of children having positive attitudes within education, attributed to teachers having the necessary training and guidelines to tackle poor behaviour
• positive feedback for the youth workers and how they support children’s behaviours
• good attendance of children within education at a site that prioritised education
• evidence of engagement and links with community employers including opportunities for children to attend job search events and interviews

The Independent Monitoring Board

The Independent Monitoring Board published 119 reports in 2024 to 2025. All reports were responded to, addressing the concerns raised. Recurring concerns highlighted through reports included: conditions of the prison estate, violence and drug use, staff inexperience, and mental health transfers.

However, areas of good practice highlighted include the appointment of a neurodiversity manager at HMP Birmingham, positive staff‑prisoner relationships at HMP Cardiff, and staff within the Care and Separation Unit at HMP Downview, who displayed extraordinary resilience, patience and compassion for the women in their care.

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman

Every death in custody is a tragedy. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman investigations and reports are a vital tool to ensure lessons are learned following deaths. In 2024 to 2025 we received 396 reports. HMPPS continues to accept the vast majority of recommendations made by the ombudsman and share the learning from them across the estate. For further detail on deaths in custody, see Self-harm and self-inflicted deaths in prisons.

Financial performance

Where we spent our money in 2024 to 2025

HMPPS committed gross resource expenditure of £5.9 billion (gross resource expenditure as reported to the Board in 2024 to 2025, see Note 2a within financial statements), which was £400 million more than 2023 to 2024. In addition to this, £1.0 billion of capital spend was incurred. This expenditure represents continued investment in our prison and probation services.

Improving conditions and performance in prisons remains a primary focus, alongside a drive to implement reform across probation. As well as continuing progress on the prison place programme, most notably the completion in-year of HMP Millsike, significant capital expenditure has been invested in prisons under our commitment to build additional prison places across our estates and through local initiatives linked to agreed spending priorities – for example, on safety, decency and security. This includes work on accelerated houseblocks delivery, fire safety improvements and capital refurbishments across the estate.

Within resource expenditure, spend included pay awards for both prisons and probation staff, with increases to national insurance and pensions costs as a result of new rates taking effect during the year. The impact of inflation was still felt as in the prior year, mainly within utilities, food and offender learning costs. There was also significant spend on buildings improvement and maintenance works in line with our priorities as above, which did not qualify as capital expenditure under consolidated budgeting guidance.

We also continued our investment on the wide‑ranging OneHMPPS programme, bringing prisons and probation services together by prioritising frontline staffing and resources, simplifying processes, and allowing regional areas more flexibility in achieving HMPPS objectives.

How we are financed

We are primarily financed by funding from the MoJ as our parent department. We also generated £300 million of operating income in 2024 to 2025 from various initiatives to generate revenue, in addition to recharges of costs incurred.

The retail prison shop income comes from a contract providing offenders with a weekly opportunity to make purchases with their own funds for food, hobby materials and other items. It is a self-funding contract, where offender purchases and the margin made on these are used to offset the total cost of the contract. Regional packing workshops are run by the service provider but are mainly staffed by prisoners. This presents a quality, purposeful activity that allows prisoners to develop transferable skills. We also recover costs from local authorities for children held on remand and from the Home Office for their use of our electronic monitoring contracts for the immigration cohort.

HMPPS receives a financial allocation from the European Union via the European Social Fund Managing Authority (Department for Work and Pensions) for delivery of resettlement services to offenders. The funding is used to support those who may be disengaged from mainstream activity, in both custody and community settings, to increase employability and provide opportunities to access mainstream services.

We also recover costs from funding partners as follows:

• provision of custodial services to foreign national prisoners, providing immigration detention and counter terrorism activities (Home Office)
• provision of healthcare services (NHS England, private sector and Welsh Government)

The operating structure of the MoJ is for key areas which span multiple entities within the department to be managed centrally. These include estates, people and HR, finance, legal and digital. Expenditure in these areas attributable to HMPPS is not included in the agency’s figures for budgetary purposes but is included in the financial reporting figures. The following chart is based on management reporting – this is resource expenditure under the budgeting structure, i.e. excluding those central costs allocated to HMPPS by MoJ. A reconciliation of the management reporting figures to the Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure is provided at Note 2b.

The split of resource departmental expenditure between custodial and community services and support services

A bubble chart showing the split of resource departmental expenditure between custodial and community services, and support services.

HMPPS net expenditure is £5.6 billion, which is a £0.4 billion increase.

Prisons account for £3,861 million. Within this, £2,587 million is for public sector prisons, £955 million is for contracted operational delivery, £89 million is for security, £21 million is for prison operations, £182 million is for youth custody services and £27 million is for the prison supply programme.

Probation accounts for £1,299 million. Within this, £29 million is for probation operations, £1,152 million is for the Probation Service and £118 million is for electronic monitoring.

National operations account for £350 million. Within this, £255 million is for national services and £95 million is for rehabilitation.

The Chief Executive Office accounts for £127 million. £48 million is for transforming delivery, £20 million is for the HMPPS change portfolio, £33 million is for central, and £26 million is for strategy, performance and corporate delivery.

Financial management

The MoJ receives authority to incur expenditure via the supply estimates process. The estimate is published twice in each financial year. The main estimate is published at the beginning of the financial year and the supplementary estimate is published towards the end of the third quarter of the financial year. The supplementary estimate provides an opportunity for the MoJ to reflect changes in the budgets internally and any movements of funding with other government departments.

At the start of the financial year, budgets are delegated from the MoJ Permanent Secretary as Principal Accounting Officer to the HMPPS Chief Executive Officer. The Chief Executive Officer may then make sub-delegations to other budget holders within HMPPS directorates. Budget holders are required to meet the conditions of their delegation letters and the requirements of the MoJ’s Financial Control Framework.

Finance function

2024 to 2025 was the sixth full year where the agency’s financial management was provided through the MoJ functional leadership model. This model brings together specialists into a single, unified team across the department with the vision of putting finance at the heart of decision-making, with finance business partners working alongside operational colleagues and centres of excellence established to support the production of financial and management accounts.

Risk analysis

Significant risks and issues

HMPPS continues to operate with a number of risks near critical thresholds. Work is underway to clearly define acceptable tolerance levels across key risk areas. We’re focused on bringing these risks back to acceptable levels by implementing both targeted interventions and using a coordinated, system-wide approach to risk management.

The following significant risks and issues have been identified using enterprise risk management methodology, in consultation with the HMPPS corporate risk register and directors general annual assurance statements. Significant key risks and issues are managed within scope of each principal risk, allowing for greater risk ownership, focus and deployment of controls. Several interventions are already in progress and are demonstrating early positive impact.

Risk description	Examples of main controls and activities to manage risks
R1: Prison capacity Failure to ensure adequate, safe and decent capacity in our systems Movement since previous year Level of risk remains unchanged	HMPPS continues to co-ordinate the strategic response to the prison capacity crisis, overseeing and advising ministers on the range of measures needed to manage capacity in the adult male estate. The change to the standard determinate sentence release point from 50% to 40% is fully implemented and there are further capacity measures, which include an extension to HDC to 12 months, and policy changes to the Presumptive Risk-Assessed Recall Review. Progress has been made in the expansion of the estate. We have secured full planning permission for a new prison near the existing HMP Gartree in Leicestershire. Outline planning permission has been achieved for the new prisons adjacent to the existing prisons at HMP Grendon in Buckinghamshire and HMP Garth in Lancashire. Our new prison in Yorkshire, HMP Millsike, received prisoners from April 2025.
R2: Probation delivery Unacceptable gaps in capacity lead to ineffective delivery of probation services Movement since previous year Level of risk remains unchanged	We have revised our approach to strategic risk management and are continually strengthening and monitoring preventative and mitigating controls such as recruitment and retention, strengthening support to middle managers and addressing probation demand. While the Probation Service continues to experience significant challenges in relation to capacity, current controls have supported reductions in staffing gaps and increases in trainee probation officers. The burden on middle managers has reduced with increased administrative support and reduced management oversight activity, alongside improving learning and development. Operational changes implemented as part of Probation Reset continue to provide capacity in the system and more long-term solutions are being developed.
R3: Safety in prisons High levels of assaults, self‑harm and self-inflicted deaths impact adversely on the safety and wellbeing of staff and prisoners Movement since previous year Level of risk remains unchanged	HMPPS has a revised safety plan for 2025 to 2026 in place to deliver a range of activities to address key areas of risk, including the management of violence and self-harm and the reduction of self‑inflicted deaths. Additionally, there is ongoing action to address self-harm in the women’s estate, including supporting those women who prolifically self-harm. The Prison Safety Policy Framework came into effect in January 2025 and sets out the requirements for staff on identifying and managing risks of violence, self-harm and self‑inflicted deaths in prison, and a review of protective body armour has led to a targeted rollout to the highest risk areas in the Long-Term High Security Estate. The revised key work model will help improve staff-prisoner relationships, which are essential to improving safety outcomes. Regime delivery plans are in place to help control the risks of violence and self-harm linked to inconsistent regime delivery, which drives prisoner frustration.
R4: Security (ingress) Failure to effectively respond to ingress, including via drones, across the custodial estate Movement since previous year Risk has worsened	HMPPS continues to adapt its counter-drone security measures to ensure we manage and mitigate the threat as far as possible within existing capabilities. We are conducting assessments across the estate to understand the risk and develop and implement mitigations. We work collaboratively with law enforcement partners and across government to respond to illegal drone incursions. Investigations into this unlawful activity regularly result in arrests, seizures and criminal justice outcomes. We are committed to actively exploring technological and intelligence tools available to assess the threat and prevent drones delivering contraband such as drugs, mobile phones and weapons, alongside effective target hardening solutions. Increased drone incursions across the estate with the presence of commercial weapons in some sites presents an increasing risk and considerable actions are being taken to address this. We have established a Drones Governance Board to support the development of a long-term drone strategy for the prison estate. We have established a taskforce to direct and prioritise resources and explore specific additional action we can take to mitigate identified risks to safety and security in the Long-Term High Security Estate. The new National Security Framework (launched July 2024) supports sites in creating their own local security framework, which supports activity to strengthen security processes that are unique to each prison and relevant to local security risks and threats.
R5: Estates Poor standards of accommodation and maintenance impact on the health and safety of service users and place additional demands on capacity Movement since previous year Level of risk remains unchanged	HMPPS continues to carry significant infrastructure and compliance-related risks which may lead to further loss of capacity. The greatest of these is fire safety compliance in the wake of primary constructor ISG’s administration. Following the insolvency event, we proactively engaged with the market as part of our recovery plans to ensure we minimise delays to delivery as far as possible. While general maintenance pressures continue to affect the estate’s resilience, this is being addressed through phased programmes and prioritised investment. We are also supporting counter ingress activity and are maintaining operational continuity through an improved prioritisation of works, enhanced governance, and the development of tools to better target investment. These steps aim to maintain safety, resilience, and operational continuity while longer-term solutions are explored.
R6: Funding Failure to secure and manage sufficient funding to deliver core services Movement since previous year Level of risk remains unchanged	HMPPS continues to deploy effective financial management controls. We report regularly on management accounting, and quarterly reviews monitor the overall risks and opportunities in‑year and offer forecasting, including including overprogramming pressures. HMPPS has successfully engaged with the MoJ on the Spending Review and allocation processes, using up-to-date financial management information to obtain appropriate monitoring and corrective action in-year to ensure a balanced position.
R7: People (retain) Failure to retain people Movement since previous year Level of risk remains unchanged	Leaving and resignation rates have stabilised. We have introduced significant controls such as the embedding of the retention oversight process, improvements to our total benefits package and bringing forward pay awards to adapt to business need. The publication of the review undertaken by Jennifer Rademaker to look at HMPPS’ organisational culture will enable us to understand how to apply the recommended policies and procedures in practice. Increased awareness and support through the development of robust and fair professional standards are in place to help alleviate staff attrition and enhance our ability to control risks in this area through our Professional Standards and Behaviours Group, including a dedicated Tackling Unacceptable Behaviours Unit.
R8: People (train) Failure to have a trained, skilled and developed workforce at all levels Movement since previous year Level of risk remains unchanged	HMPPS continues to strengthen its commitment to how we train and develop our people. A new national framework for newly qualified officers in probation was rolled out in July 2024 to provide support in the first year post-qualification. We are acting on the findings of the independent review of prison officer foundation training. We continue to make progress through deployment of the Enable programme and probation capability and transformation teams. A Prison National Training Committee acts as a prioritisation gateway for the rollout of critical safety training.
R9: People (attract) Failure to attract, recruit and mobilise people Movement since previous year Level of risk remains unchanged	Our dedicated resourcing team continues to make good progress with recruiting prison operational staff and probation staff, and our national recruitment campaign ‘An extraordinary job done by someone like you’ will give greater emphasis to probation. Our mandatory online webinar for all new joiners to prison roles aims to ensure the realities of the role are clear before onboarding. We have launched new initiatives which will improve the onboarding of our new joiners and increase levels of experience on our prison landings.
R10: YCS delivery The YCS fails to provide a safe environment that enables effective transition, resettlement and rehabilitation of children and young people in custody Movement since previous year Risk has worsened	Alongside the Children and Young People Strategy which focuses on estate and digital transformation in the YCS, we are actively working to improve outcomes in YOIs by collaborating with NHS England, education providers and psychology services to deliver a Roadmap to Effective Practice. This roadmap, which aligns with the principles of the Framework for Integrated Care, focuses on the highest likelihood and impact risk areas and aims to achieve long-term sustainable risk reduction and improved outcomes in a challenging operational environment.
R11: Security (order) Failure to maintain order and control Movement since previous year Level of risk remains unchanged	HMPPS has increased the resilience and training capacity to maximise the number of advanced trained staff for regaining control should they be needed. Comprehensive guidance has been developed for prisons and upskilling has been undertaken to improve staff capability, comprehension of the threat and the response to drone activity. Controls have been further strengthened by introducing proactive drone usage for incident management and evidence gathering with associated deterrent value in loss of order or control scenarios. New ways of working have been established to improve support for our most in-need sites. This includes piloting additional workshops regarding incident management and co-ordinating additional action through a prisons performance support programme for those prisons facing challenges with use of force assurance.
R12: Rehabilitation Current agency resources are insufficient to deliver rehabilitation to all those who need it Movement since previous year Risk has worsened	HMPPS continues to develop its approach to rehabilitation, with investment focused on areas such as education, employment, and post-release accommodation – key factors in supporting people to move away from offending – cutting crime and protecting the public. While the environment remains complex and pressures arising from capacity challenges remain, work is underway to better align services with evidence and need. These complexities and capacity pressures impact delivery, and risk exposure has increased as a result. However, positive progress is being made in assigning clear ownership for key activities, refining investment decisions, and strengthening cross‑agency collaboration to support a more coherent and sustainable range of interventions.
R13: Sustainability transition Failure to tackle climate change and deliver sustainability transition requirements leads to service disruption, capacity loss and cost Movement since previous year Level of risk remains unchanged	We have developed a climate change mitigation and adaptation investment tool to cost, benefit and prioritise net zero decarbonisation and climate adaptation projects, which is being used to inform Spending Review discussions. We are reviewing the Greening Government Commitment targets for 2025 to 2030 with the intention of developing new target flight paths. There is ongoing action to address overheating and flood prevention measures, including engaging high flood risk sites on the need for flood plans and researching sites for overheating intervention costs. We are driving activity aimed at targeting inefficiencies in relation to gas and water consumption. Our smart metering programme will improve coverage of automated meter reading for electric, gas and water consumption and will target inefficiencies.
R14: Information assurance Failure to protect the confidentiality of HMPPS information Movement since previous year New risk added post year-end	The risk of unauthorised disclosure of information and data, either maliciously or by accident has increased. Key areas of vulnerability include the use of unofficial or unsupported IT systems at local level, inconsistent access controls, and gaps in staff awareness of information security practices. Consideration must be given to managing data exposures and system recovery preparedness, and ability to identify and report insider threats. Mitigations will include clearer role definitions, enhanced training programmes, and targeted communication initiatives and strengthened collaboration across HMPPS to ensure continued progress in managing and reducing information security risks.
R15: Security (serious and organised crime) Ineffective management of high-harm serious and organised crime offenders Movement since previous year New risk added post year-end	HMPPS continues to strengthen its approach to managing serious and organised crime (SOC) within prisons. While some offenders maintain criminal networks from within custody, a multi‑agency strategy is in place to disrupt these activities and protect public safety. Enhanced intelligence sharing, upgraded security technologies, and targeted staff training are helping to reduce the influence of SOC offenders. Though challenges remain, ongoing investment and collaboration with law enforcement are driving improvements to ensure SOC activity, both within prisons and that which extends out into local and national communities, is identified and disrupted as effectively as possible with serious prosecution penalties sought for those driving this criminal activity. HMPPS is committed to evolving its response, ensuring prisons remain secure and rehabilitation-focused environments.

Performance report

The following sections will provide a further overview of activity against each of HMPPS’ areas of delivery focus for 2024 to 2025.

Prison supply

In the recently published 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy, the Lord Chancellor confirmed the government’s commitment to deliver the remaining 14,000 of the 20,000 prison places, with an aim to complete delivery by the end of 2031. Alongside places already delivered, these places will be delivered through the construction of four new prisons, as well as the expansion and refurbishment of the existing estate and through temporary accommodation.

By March 2025, around 6,500 places had been delivered including:^{[footnote 12]}

• around 3,400 places in total at our two new prisons: HMP Five Wells (2022) and HMP Fosse Way (2023)
• around 770 places through rapid deployment cells delivered across 14 sites
• houseblock expansions and refurbishments
• re-roles of HMP Cookham Wood and HMP Morton Hall

Delivering prison places has faced challenges due to:

• affordability and funding
• commercial and market volatility
• delays to decisions
• unforeseen site and infrastructure conditions
• planning permission delays

However, as of April 2025 around 95% of target places have now either secured planning permission, can proceed under Permitted Development Rights, are not subject to planning requirements or have been delivered. Progress has been made in the expansion of the estate. We have secured full planning permission for a new prison near the existing HMP Gartree in Leicestershire. Outline planning permission has been achieved for the new prisons adjacent to the existing prisons at HMP Grendon in Buckinghamshire and HMP Garth in Lancashire.

Our new all-electric prison in Yorkshire, HMP Millsike, was officially opened on 27 March 2025 and will deliver around 1,500 modern prison places. Going forwards, establishing a pipeline of new sites will allow us to start engagement and planning early, well ahead of planned construction.

ISG entered into administration in September 2024 which directly impacted projects expected to deliver around 3,600 places across 13 sites. This included projects where ISG were actively undertaking physical works on-site, such as the major refurbishments at HMP Birmingham and HMP Liverpool. Following the insolvency event, we proactively engaged with the market as part of our recovery plans to ensure we minimise delays to delivery as far as possible.

Privately operated prisons

Work continues on the procurement and award of the tranche 2 and 3 prison operator competitions, and also in supporting the commercial contract management of the existing privately operated prisons.

In December 2023, the public sector initiated ‘step-in’ to HMP Lowdham Grange to improve stability, security and safety. In May 2024, it was agreed in principle between HMPPS and the provider, Sodexo, that the prison would be brought permanently into public sector control, which was completed in August 2024. Lessons learned are now being used to improve competitions, transition between providers and contract management.

HMI Prisons reports on contracted prisons in 2024 to 2025 were relatively positive. An independent review of progress at HMP Five Wells found ‘some commendable progress, and firm foundations being set for a safer and more purposeful prison’, while HMP/YOI Peterborough was described as being “much more settled”.

HMP Forest Bank was noted as having “made progress under an experienced and capable Director”. HMP Oakwood was described as “a benchmark for what a category C training prison should and can be”.

Prison maintenance and fire safety

Maintaining the prison estate against a backdrop of capacity and funding pressures provides challenges. This is compounded by shock events such as a primary contractor entering administration, mitigations for losses as a result of the discovery of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) and high radon readings. Shrinking supply in the construction market means that costs continue to increase, and less work can be completed for the same price.

HMP Dartmoor (640 places) has been closed temporarily since August 2024 following the detection of elevated radon readings. We are working with specialist radon experts to investigate and assess options to allow us to re-open the prison safely.

We have worked at pace to identify RAAC across the estate. As of April 2025, eight sites were confirmed as containing RAAC and we have implemented temporary mitigations while remedial works take place. This has affected 183 prison places.

The previous government committed to ensuring all prison accommodation meets fire safety compliance by the end of 2027 – a commitment that has since been endorsed by the current government. Capacity pressures have increased the risk of this work needing to be paused or delayed to free up headroom. However, we remain committed to keeping at least 1,500 places out of use at any one time to support this work. Due to the administration of the primary contractor ISG, some remedial work will likely continue beyond 2027, but this does not affect the overall delivery set out in the 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy.

Phase 1 of the safer vape pen trial which aims to decrease the occurrence of fire setting in prisons launched at two prisons in January 2025. Further phases will launch in 2025 to 2026 before wider rollout across the estate.

We are investing in maintenance to keep prisons safe and secure, and the Prison Estate Condition Survey Programme (completed in 2023) provides us with a better understanding of the quality of our current estate which will support us with allocating future maintenance spend.

Ongoing capacity challenges can restrict our ability to decant prisoners to deliver work, meaning delaying some priority infrastructure works which impacts the rate of dilapidation. However, the outcomes of the Sentencing Review are expected to alleviate pressure in the future.

Security

Effective security is fundamental to a safe and stable rehabilitative prison environment and ensuring public confidence in the criminal justice system. Prisons have a range of equipment to stop the smuggling of illicit contraband such as mobile phones, drugs and weapons that undermine security and rehabilitation.

In order to address the illicit economy, we are driving improvement to support effective use of security processes and equipment. Across 2024 to 2025 we delivered the Security Development Programme for heads of security and security custodial managers, alongside implementing 19 digital security products and a state‑of‑the‑art learning hub (with approximately 29,000 visits a month), upskilling all staff working in operational settings.

Drone sightings around prisons in England and Wales pose a major threat to prison security. In 2024 to 2025, the number of drone incidents in prisons increased to 1,712 from 1,196 in the previous 12-month period, an increase of 43%.^{[footnote 13]}

HMPPS is working hard to deter, detect and disrupt the illegal use of drones around prisons. Our approach is multi-faceted and includes introducing physical security countermeasures, exploring technological developments, exploiting operational activity, strengthening legislation, and working across government and with international partners on this global issue.

Of the 13 recommendations accepted from Jonathan Hall’s 2022 review on terrorism in prisons, eight have been delivered, with four more expected to be completed by summer 2025. Notably, the recommendation concerning legislative changes (Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006 and Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000) has been incorporated into the Crime and Policing Bill. Due to their complexity, delivery by the MoJ, HMPPS and other operational partners of the remaining recommendations will be integrated into broader, ongoing initiatives.

Following a pilot, delivery of a new training package commenced in April 2025 to equip prison and probation staff to identify and report signs of radicalisation and changes in behaviours, and to manage terrorist and terrorist risk offenders more effectively.

A new state-of-the-art digital forensics laboratory will enable us to gather intelligence and evidence on security threats to prisons and probation. We have created a large-scale data feed into the Police National Database that enables HMPPS to have access to this system for the first time.

We have worked with youth justice colleagues to design and review the Minimising and Managing Physical Restraint syllabus as a result of the HMI Prisons review into the use of pain-inducing techniques on children in custody. This syllabus reflects all other trauma-informed approaches, recognising adverse childhood experiences and attachment theories and equipping staff to manage conflict situations appropriately to minimise the need to use force.

Drugs and alcohol

Drug testing in prisons and probation

In February 2025 we completed the re-competition process for drug testing services contracts across HMPPS and contracted sites. Delivery commenced with a pilot in April 2025 ahead of launch of the full service in July 2025.

The number of random mandatory drug tests undertaken in prisons increased by 3.7% from 51,452 in 2023 to 2024 to 53,341 in 2024 to 2025, remaining below pre-COVID-19 levels due to operational and staffing pressures.^{[footnote 14]} We have been working to understand some of the barriers to testing and other forms of testing have continued to operate alongside random mandatory drug tests.

The wastewater-based surveillance testing pilot ended in April 2025. It demonstrated potential as a monitoring tool in detecting substances at a whole prison population level, but the technology is not yet deemed fully scalable. Further planned investment and research is required before it can be confidently applied in operational settings.

The Justice Select Committee’s inquiry into drugs in prisons launched in December 2024 to examine the scale and impact and effect of drugs in prisons and the primary factors driving demand.^{[footnote 15]} We will reflect on the findings in 2025 to 2026 to identify further improvements.

Due to the increased threat posed by new potent synthetic opioids as they become more common in the UK illicit drug market, we expanded testing capabilities to include them from August 2024.

Work across HMPPS around synthetic opioids is closely aligned with the cross-government synthetic opioid taskforce and National Crime Agency-led project to co-ordinate the law enforcement and public health response to the increased threat they pose.

Drug and alcohol treatment

We know that supporting prisoners and people on probation to tackle drug and alcohol use is vital to reduce reoffending. In January 2025, HMPPS introduced a new drug and alcohol operational framework which sets strategic organisational direction and signifies a positive shift towards a recovery-focused approach.

In March 2025 HMPPS reached the target of opening 85 incentivised substance-free living units alongside six drug recovery wings to create environments that promote recovery and stability. More widely, our work on the prison regime and purposeful activity has been crucial to reduce demand for drugs. A network of over 100 drug strategy leads and health and justice partnership managers and co-ordinators provide support to improve treatment and recovery opportunities for prisoners and people on probation. Our drug strategy leads also play a vital role in joining up treatment and security activity in prisons, as it is essential we underpin activity promoting recovery with investment to tackle the supply of drugs into prisons.

Many people drop out of treatment on leaving prison, risking relapse and reoffending, so sustained engagement in treatment is important. We are focused on improving information sharing, ensuring improved transition and continuity of care is provided on release so that prison leavers have swift access to treatment in the community. By September 2024 the Probation Notification Actioning Project was mobilised across all prisons in England and Wales, enabling probation practitioners to encourage and support engagement in treatment.

We want to make the best use of alternatives to custody where appropriate, to ensure that more people on probation with vulnerabilities are diverted to treatment in the community rather than custody. We are working with health partners to improve the use and quality of Community Sentence Treatment Requirements which aim to tackle offending behaviour through structured treatment and regular testing to monitor recovery.

We are providing support to probation areas where Alcohol Treatment Requirements and Drug Rehabilitation Requirement numbers are low. We are also improving the volume, quality and consistency of pre-sentence reports and the use of a screening tool to increase the identification of individuals who would benefit from treatment.

Intensive supervision courts divert offenders with complex needs away from short custodial sentences and into enhanced community-based sentences, which aim to target the root-cause of their offending behaviour. We are considering the early findings from the substance misuse intensive supervision court pilot which published an interim process evaluation report in January 2025.

	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Percentage of adults with a need for substance use treatment who successfully engage in community-based structured treatment within three weeks of release from prison	38.1%	37.4%	42.6%	53.3%	–

Notes: The proportion of adults successfully engaging in community treatment within three weeks of release in 2023 to 2024 was 53.3%. This is 10.7% percentage points higher than in 2022 to 2023 but there is still more work to do.
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/substance-misuse-treatment-in-secure-settings-2023-to-2024

Safety

Making prisons safer for staff and prisoners remains a key priority for HMPPS. There are multiple interacting factors that contribute to changes in safety outcomes including: staffing levels, staff experience, prison regimes, purposeful activity, remand and recall population, the illicit economy, and resultant prisoner debt. Poor safety outcomes negatively impact prisoner health, progression and rehabilitation as well as stability and order and staff wellbeing and retention.

We recognise the challenges that capacity pressures and crowded prisons have on providing a safe environment for prisoners and how they can make it harder to manage prisons effectively as resources are more stretched. This can impact on staff and prisoner interactions which could otherwise be a protective factor in reducing harm.

We continue to increase staff numbers and improve staff capability to improve safety outcomes, help reduce prisoners’ frustration by delivering consistent prison regimes, allow staff more time to meaningfully engage with prisoners, and support positive staff and prisoner relationships.

The Prison Safety Policy Framework came into effect in January 2025 and sets out the requirements for staff on identifying and managing risks of violence, self-harm and self-inflicted deaths in prison, and managing and supporting those at risk.^{[footnote 16]} Alongside this we published the Follow Up to Deaths in Custody Policy Framework which sets out the processes that staff must follow in the period following a death, including facilitating independent investigations into the death and notifying and liaising with the family of the deceased.^{[footnote 17]}

Assaults

HMPPS is committed to supporting prisons to address the levels of assaults on staff and prisoners. We have undertaken focused work on the levels of violence, including targeted work with a number of prisons with the highest rate of violence in the adult male estate. We have identified key themes and learning from this work which has been shared more widely across the estate.

We have developed a safety support approach for prisons which will come into effect in 2025 to 2026. This work complements the wider HMPPS model of support and builds on the evidence gathered from the focused work on assaults. It will prioritise the delivery of central safety support in establishments across England and Wales.

Staff assault guidance was launched in November 2024 which is designed to support a consistent and professional response when a member of staff is assaulted while on duty.

Other initiatives to reduce violence and improve safety in 2024 to 2025 included:

• removing wet shave razors, which can be used as weapons, from 31 adult male closed prisons
• continuing the study to understand the nature, extent and repercussions of debt and its impact on safety
• undertaking Strategic Enhanced Resourcing panels to consider population reductions or tactical resourcing increases in sites where safety and/or stability is considered to be at serious risk and undertaking Capacity Challenge Panels to assess and agree maximum levels of crowding in each prison
• planning for the trial of Conducted Energy Devices (more commonly known as tasers) in the summer of 2025, as part of our tactical response to serious incidents

Following an incident at HMP Frankland in April 2025, HMPPS commissioned a review into whether protective body armour should be rolled out to staff.

In June 2025 the Lord Chancellor announced that frontline prison officers working in the highest risk areas of the prison estate will be issued protective body armour to improve their safety. Work is taking place to implement the outcomes of this review, and the effectiveness of existing control measures are being kept under continuous review.

	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Prisoner on prisoner assaults (per 1,000 prisoners)	140	163	185	217	237
Assaults on staff (per 1,000 prisoners)	89	97	92	114	122

Notes: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-march-2025
The data does not include the Children and Young People Secure Estate.

Self-harm and self-inflicted deaths in prisons

The overall rate of self-harm increased by 6% in the 12 months to March 2025. In 2024 to 2025 the rate of self-harm has increased in the male estate by 5%, and increased in the female estate by 6%. However, there is a continuing notable difference in self-harm trends by gender, with the rate in female prisons being more than eight times higher than in male prisons. There were 91 self-inflicted deaths in 2024 to 2025 (a rate of 1.0 per 1,000 prisoners), the same rate as seen in 2023 to 2024.

In 2024 to 2025 we:

• piloted an enhanced approach to supporting women in their first weeks in custody, including additional one-to-one psychological support
• completed a pilot to address the disproportionately high levels of self-harm in young adult women in two prisons – a process evaluation will be conducted in 2025 to 2026 but emerging findings show a positive impact
• published our response to HMI Prison’s thematic ‘Time to care: What helps women cope in prison’
• continued to progress the recommendations from the National Women’s Prisons Health and Social Care Review, jointly commissioned by HMPPS and NHS England
• renewed our grant agreement with Samaritans for the provision of the listener scheme, where prisoners are trained to provide emotional support to other prisoners in crisis, and the postvention service, which supports prisoners following a self-inflicted death at a prison
• continued to support prisons who had a cluster of self-inflicted deaths
• completed a pilot project which trialled the provision of emotional resilience training to new prisoners and a peer support scheme, in six adult male prisons – the results will be shared with other reception prisons and will inform the future development of peer support work
• published the Follow Up to Deaths in Custody Policy Framework which sets out processes that staff must follow in the period following a death^{[footnote 18]}

	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Self-harm male (per 1,000 prisoners)	535	550	523	652	684
Self-harm female (per 1,000 prisoners)	3,581	3,846	5,826	5,577	5,906

Notes: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-march-2025
The data does not include the Children and Young People Secure Estate. The self-harm trends vary significantly by gender, with the rate in female prisons being more than eight times higher than in male prisons. The high rate is mainly driven by a small number of women, often with complex needs who account for a high proportion of self-harm incidents.

	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Self-inflicted deaths in custody (adult)	80	79	86	91	91
Rate per 1,000 prisoners	1.0	1.0	1.1	1.0	1.0

Notes: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-december-2024
The data does not include the Children and Young People Secure Estate.

Children and Young People Secure Estate safety

Compared to the previous year, in 2024 to 2025 the rate of assault incidents in the Children and Young People Secure Estate was largely unchanged, with a small increase of 2%. The rate of serious assaults increased by 7%, the rate of assaults on staff decreased by 3% and the rate of self-harm decreased by 10%.^{[footnote 19]}

The operating environment remains challenging. The reduction in the number of children entering custody has resulted in a complex remaining cohort. In 2024 to 2025 the average proportion of children and young people in custody for violence against the person offences was 67%. There are a range of factors both from the community and in the child’s development as well as those in the custodial environment that contribute to violence. These require an individualised approach and effective case management of each child.

Safety improvement work in 2024 to 2025 includes:

• collaboration with partners and other professionals to develop the YCS Roadmap to Effective Practice – a three-year, flexible plan to achieve better outcomes in public YOIs
• developing a new policy framework to ensure separated children receive a fuller regime, which includes reintegration planning and multidisciplinary support

	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Assaults per 100 children and young people	320.9	401.3	385.2	375.6	382.5
Children and Young People Secure Estate serious assaults per 100 children and young people	21.4	25.8	34.6	28.5	30.5
Assaults on staff per 100 children and young people	177.8	213.1	174.9	188.4	182.0

Notes: Further information can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-the-children-and-young-people-secure-estate-update-to-march-2025

	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Self-harm per 100 children and young people	223.8	288.8	383.2	367.0	328.5
Self-harm individuals	249	253	228	241	233

Notes: Further information can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-the-children-and-young-people-secure-estate-update-to-march-2025

	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Self-inflicted deaths in custody (children and young people)	0	0	0	0	0

Notes: Deaths of children and young people are fortunately rare and there were no deaths in 2024 to 2025. Since April 2014 there have been three deaths of children and young people within the Children and Young People Secure Estate but none since 2019. All of these deaths were due to natural causes. Further information can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-the-children-and-young-people-secure-estate-update-to-march-2025

Regimes and purposeful activity

Good regimes support better attendance at education and purposeful activity. The prison regime has inevitably been impacted at those prisons operating at capacity. This means that time to undertake resettlement and keywork activity is reduced as staff are working to maintain safety. While we expect that improved capacity margins will free up staff time to undertake this work, where capacity margins remain high, establishments will monitor and tailor their regime to address local priorities.

While purposeful activity can be critical to rehabilitation, the levels currently being delivered in many prisons are not where we want them to be. This is demonstrated by 74% of prisons inspected by HMI Prisons being assessed as either poor (44%) or not sufficiently good (31%) against the purposeful activity judgement (see HM Inspectorate of Prisons). We are committed to increasing access to purposeful activity, building on HMPPS’ introduction of the National Regime Model in 2024, which created a national infrastructure for planning, reviewing and measuring purposeful activity and setting minimum expectations for the first time.

Prisoner education

Core education services are delivered by four suppliers.

New contracts for core education services start in October 2025, with a clearer specification on high-quality delivery and challenging targets on maths, English and vocational qualifications. We are aware that costs of delivery have increased, and this will impact the amount of education that we can buy with our budget, but we will continue our focus on delivering value for money in our contracts to have the greatest impact on outcomes for prisoners.

New careers information, advice and guidance contracts went live on 1 April 2025. The new service sets consistent high standards for providers, working on a national specification to ensure every prisoner accesses services to support their learning, development and employment.

In preparation for the new contracts, new digital infrastructure has been rolled out to more than 50 sites (with a target of 102 sites by October 2025), introducing Wi-Fi into education areas, allowing greater access to education content, and enabling better sharing of learner data between prisons. This will be supported by new digitalised screening and assessment tools, to assess learner needs and inform their education, skills and work journey.

The Dynamic Purchasing System supports innovative contract delivery of short-term projects commissioned by prison governors to meet the needs of their population. This has led to the investment in education in a wide range of subject areas, including construction.

In 2024 to 2025 there were 35 Ofsted inspections in adult prisons: 10 were ‘good’, 11 were ‘requires improvement’ and 14 were ‘inadequate’. In comparison to the previous period there has been an increase in the number of prisons assessed as good and a reduction in the number of prisons assessed as inadequate.

The new Education, Skills and Work Improvement Framework reflects what those working and living in prisons have told us are important elements for high-quality delivery of prison education, skills and work. Data related to education in prison, covering initial assessments, participation and achievement in courses, is available at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/prison-education-and-accredited-programme-statistics

Helping prisoners to make progress in reading improves their ability to navigate life in prison, engage in purposeful activity and prepare for life on release. The National Reading Framework launched in April 2024 to support the development, implementation and evaluation of an effective prison-wide reading strategy.

Public protection

A Public Protection Task Force was established in 2023 to 2024, aiming to improve risk assessment and management through the public protection action plan. It focuses on accurate information for risk assessments, quality supervision, early detection and response to changing risks, and enhancing staff practice through management oversight. We have developed a public protection intranet page to signpost staff to key policies, guidance and training in areas of public protection practice such as domestic abuse, adult and child safeguarding, and sexual offending.

In 2024 to 2025, around 6,000 staff joined learning events to improve knowledge and understanding of the actuarial risk predictors used in HMPPS, why they are used and how they support risk assessment. These events were followed by a series of online workshops for practitioners to improve knowledge and be able to calculate the risk predictor scores accurately.

The Prison Public Protection Policy Framework was launched in November 2024 to provide clarity, reduce duplication and bring consistency across England and Wales.^{[footnote 20]} It sets out the mandatory actions for prisons in imposing public protection controls and restrictions and provides detailed guidance for practitioners.

Work has been undertaken to support the Home Office‑led transition to the Multi-Agency Public Protection System (MAPPS). MAPPS is being built to replace ViSOR, the multi-agency dangerous person database which is nearing capacity. Originally due in 2025 to 2026, the Home Office is now resetting the programme and approach and HMPPS remains engaged in all aspects of development and governance. MAPPS for counter terrorism is due for delivery in May 2027 and the final product is due to go live in May 2028.

Adult safeguarding

Following extensive stakeholder engagement, the Adult Safeguarding Charter will be published in 2025 to 2026 and will signpost staff to existing relevant policies and guidance that set out safeguarding responsibilities in all adult prison and probation settings. It will cover each stage of an offender’s journey and include considerations for women and specialist cohorts such as young adults and foreign nationals.

We have made significant progress on improving domestic abuse and safeguarding enquires, ensuring that probation delivery units request information from police and children’s services to inform their work to manage risk of harm and keep people safe.

However, internal assurance processes find, as do HMI Probation, that our focus should now be on the quality of the work done once this information is received.

Following success in 2023 to 2024 we hosted our ‘16 Days of Domestic Abuse Activism’ and ‘Think Child’ campaigns providing staff with input from experts, those with lived experience, academics and partner agencies.

Community supervision

Electronic monitoring

Electronic monitoring (EM) provides a robust alternative to custody and evidence suggests that EM has a positive behavioural impact on individuals while they are wearing the device. We continue communications and outreach to the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the judiciary to improve awareness and understanding of EM capabilities for court bail as an alternative to remand. EM will be central to delivering recommendations regarding the reform of short sentences, releases and post‑sentence supervision. A new EM contract in 2024 changed how data is provided to the MoJ and so comparable EM data is not available for the reporting year. Published EM data using June 2025 data is available at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/electronic-monitoring-publication

The HDC scheme has been operating effectively for over 20 years, helping transition suitable prisoners back into the community. The EM provider successfully managed the impact on the EM service of the implementation of HDC12 in June 2025, which extended the maximum period an offender can spend on HDC from 6 to 12 months.

We continue to evaluate the effectiveness of EM through the EM Expansion Programme. This includes the Domestic Abuse Perpetrators on Licence Project (launched in 2023) to test the effectiveness of EM in protecting victims of domestic abuse. The pilot has expanded and is now available in eight probation regions.

A published report, Electronic monitoring of domestic abuse perpetrators on licence, presents findings from a process evaluation conducted during the first few months of delivery which can be used to inform expansion of the scheme, before assessing impacts.^{[footnote 21]}

Serco took over as the new provider for the delivery of EM services from May 2024. Initial performance had been unsatisfactory, with a backlog in visits building through summer 2024. While now resolved, it led to delays in the transition to using new systems and impacted wider contractual performance. We continue to work closely with the provider to monitor performance and resolve issues.

Serious further offences

An offence is classified as a serious further offence (SFO) when an offender is charged and appears in court for a qualifying offence alleged to have been committed within the probation supervision period. Less than 0.5% of offenders are convicted for an SFO, and we ensure that ministers are fully sighted on any high-profile cases that could undermine public confidence. We provide assurance that improvement actions have been identified and actioned where appropriate.

In January 2025 we published our Serious Further Offence Annual Report: action plan in response to HMI Probation’s 2024 annual report on SFOs which makes a number of recommendations for improving SFO procedures, including the overall quality of SFO reviews and maximising the way learning is shared.^{[footnote 22]}, ^{[footnote 23]}

We continue to keep the policy for producing SFO reports under review to ensure they balance the impact on resources alongside the need to provide learning and relevant information for victims. Published SFO data is available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/proven-reoffending-statistics-october-to-december-2022/serious-further-offences-annual

Commissioned Rehabilitative Services

Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) are a specialist provision working in partnership with probation practitioners and community interventions teams to ensure positive outcomes for people subject to a community order or those on post-sentence supervision. They provide flexible, responsive services across five service areas to help break the cycle of reoffending. Delivered by expert organisations, including many voluntary, community and social enterprises, at both a local and regional level, CRS provide tailored support to address areas of need associated with reoffending. CRS delivery was carried out, across 122 contracts, on four main pathways for men and holistic services for women. During 2024, services were successfully extended to people on remand and the CRS contracted provider capacity fully supported the prison release initiatives.

Unpaid work

Over 4 million hours of unpaid work are credited each year. We are continuously working to improve completions of Unpaid Work Requirements within 12 months which was at 63.1% in 2024 to 2025 – up from 57.0% the previous year.^{[footnote 24]}

As part of the statutory duty to consult with stakeholders on unpaid work delivery, probation regions have engaged with police and crime commissioners, community safety partnerships, victims’ groups and voluntary organisations to ensure that the projects delivered benefit local communities. HMPPS has developed an action plan in response to HMI Probation’s thematic on delivery of unpaid work (February 2025) which includes actions to improve assessment and management of risk, enforcement, employment, training and education, staff training, work with women, and health and safety.^{[footnote 25]}

	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Proportion of cases where unpaid work hours are completed within 12 months	N/A	34.8%	46.3%	57.0%	63.1%

Notes: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-annual-update-to-march-2025
A new performance framework was introduced in July 2021 for the unified Probation Service. Performance figures before this date are not comparable.

Accredited programmes

Accredited programmes are rehabilitative courses handed down by the courts to offenders to address the causes of their criminality. In February 2025, the Lord Chancellor highlighted that in the three years to March 2024, the Probation Service did not deliver almost 13,000 (40%) accredited programmes to offenders before their sentence expired. To address this, HMPPS is applying to vary orders and prioritising delivery to those at greatest risk of reoffending or causing serious harm.

Those who will no longer be required to complete an accredited programme will continue to meet all other requirements.

A new accredited programme ‘Building Choices’ replaced most of the current suite of programmes that the Probation Service delivers in June 2025. This will support quicker access to programmes, reduce wait times, and address complexities in timetabling and training.

Resettlement

Release planning

Our approach to reducing reoffending is guided by the evidence of what works: a job, a place to live, access to treatment for drug and alcohol use, and support to develop personal skills and pro‑social behaviours. We collaborate with partners across government to help offenders in the community get the support they need. Throughout the implementation of SDS40, we took steps to ensure that robust support was in place for those being released, including continuity of health and substance misuse provision and access to employment, benefits, and accommodation.

Individuals’ resettlement needs are assessed on arrival into prison, and in advance of release. Community probation practitioners co‑ordinate the overall rehabilitation, supported by prison‑based pre-release teams to support transition into the community. A collaboration with the Department for Work and Pensions has been enabling some individuals to register for and claim Universal Credit more quickly on release from prison. The work to test the processing of Universal Credit claims at 16 prisons has been completed and will be expanded further during 2025. This initiative has the potential to alleviate some of the financial pressures often felt by prison leavers, enabling them to more swiftly resettle into the community.

Community Accommodation Service

HMPPS offers a three-tier transitional Community Accommodation Service (CAS) which provides a temporary base for specific cohorts of prison leavers needing public protection provision or who are at risk of homelessness. This enables prison leavers to engage with rehabilitative interventions and prepare for longer-term housing provision.

• CAS1 approved premises have a public protection focus, providing a monitored environment for the highest-risk offenders (and medium-risk female offenders).
• CAS2 provides accommodation for low and medium-risk bailees and individuals eligible for HDC. In 2024 to 2025 there were 5,308 referrals to CAS2.
• CAS3 provides up to 12 weeks’ basic accommodation for prison leavers subject to probation supervision who would otherwise be homeless. 10,020 offenders were placed in CAS3 accommodation in 2024 to 2025.
• 50 FTE strategic housing specialists work within prison groups to ensure a strategic focus on accommodation, strengthen partnership working and improve housing pathways for prison leavers, addressing barriers to accommodation. During 2024 to 2025, the strategic housing specialists team designed and implemented a range of training packages to improve staff awareness to support prison leavers with securing accommodation.

There are 102 approved premises in operation in England and Wales in 2024 to 2025, of which 87 were run by HMPPS and 15 were independent approved premises run by the voluntary community and social enterprise sector (during 2024 to 2025 arrangements were made to transfer one independent approved premises to HMPPS, with transfer taking place on 1 April 2025).

The Independent Approved Premises Commissioning Programme is responsible for the re-commissioning of around 226 bed spaces as 10 legacy independent approved premises contracts expire. Procurement was undertaken in 2024, and contract award will take place in 2025 to 2026.

Improving referrals has been a key priority for CAS. In 2024 to 2025, HMPPS replaced the referral process to CAS2 for HDC with a new digital solution that is effective and has been well received. A bespoke CAS1 approved premises central referral unit function for referrals to women’s approved premises has been set up, enabling the specific needs of women to be recognised at the referral stage.

A new rehabilitative activity offer has been rolled out to approved premises, clearly linked to the reducing reoffending pathways and to the individual’s needs. Staff have also piloted a new approach to working with people on Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) licences to reduce their risk of recall.

As SDS40 was activated, work took place across all CAS to maximise the use of existing places. Most prison leavers at risk of homelessness who were subject to probation supervision were offered CAS3 support. However, a small number were provided with alternative arrangements until their CAS3 provision became available.

Prison leaver homelessness is part of a wider national homelessness challenge, exacerbated by lack of affordable housing, high rents in the private rented sector and low housing stock. 14.9% of prison leavers were released homeless or rough sleeping in the year to 2024 to 2025.^{[footnote 26]} Proven reoffending published statistics show that in 2022 to 2023, adult offenders who had no accommodation on release from custody had a reoffending rate almost double of those who had some kind of accommodation (66.7% vs 34.5%).^{[footnote 27]} We work closely with other government departments, local authorities and the voluntary sector to ensure the right support is in place for people leaving prison and on probation.

From May 2024 to March 2025, 80.6% of offenders were in settled accommodation at three months post‑release from custody. This figure is based on a metric which has been adapted for Probation Reset which altered the cohorts, so this data is not directly comparable with previous years.

Release on temporary licence

Release on temporary licence (ROTL) allows for the temporary release of risk-assessed prisoners for resettlement purposes, which helps prevent offenders from returning to crime on release by providing opportunities to work, learn and build family ties.

The implementation of demand reduction measures has significantly impacted ROTL delivery as the open estate population was reduced – primarily due to the SDS40 tranche 2 releases in October 2024, which saw a substantial number of prisoners discharged directly from the open estate. While the overall number of individuals accessing ROTL increased slightly in 2024 (7,675 compared to 7,359 in 2023), operational pressures on offender management units and the reduced open estate capacity led to fewer ROTL instances between October 2024 and March 2025.^{[footnote 28]} The Temporary Presumptive Recategorisation Scheme has allowed more movement into the open estate, but these moves have tended to be for shorter times.

We expect that capacity in the open estate will reduce further following the implementation of HDC12, but volumes will improve once the population stabilises.

The vast majority of offenders abide by their ROTL conditions, with compliance rates above 99%.

We continue to develop relationships with employers to provide sufficient job opportunities to prisoners and to ensure effective join-up to prepare prisoners for employment on release.

In March 2025 we published a Release on Temporary Licence in Youth Custody Policy Framework to provide a single eligibility criterion across the Children and Young People Secure Estate to support resettlement through increased temporary release opportunities.^{[footnote 29]} This framework is being piloted at five sites from May 2025 with an aim to improve resettlement opportunities and outcomes.

Employment

We continue to take steps to support more people into work after prison. Alongside breaking the cycle of crime, getting offenders into work helps employers fill vacancies, builds businesses, plugs skill gaps and boosts the economy. Our work with key partners remains central to driving progress. In the period May 2024 to March 2025, the proportion of prison leavers in employment within six months of their release was 34.5%.^{[footnote 30]} (This figure is based on a metric which has been adapted for Probation Reset, which altered the cohorts, meaning data is not directly comparable with previous years).

New Employment Councils, launched in January 2025, are led by businesses and bring together probation, prisons and local employers. The councils build on the success of prison Employment Advisory Boards, which bring local business leaders into prisons to improve education and prisoners’ chances of securing employment on release. Each council has a representative from the Department for Work and Pensions to improve links with local job centres and to help consider how it can widen its reach and impact for people in the criminal justice system.

Efforts to improve employment opportunities for prisoners has resulted in some significant achievements through the Unlocking Potential campaign led by the New Futures Network. In 2024 to 2025 the campaign focused on four key sectors: manufacturing, construction, hospitality and self-employment. Through engagement with 186 employers and partners, the campaign’s success means that 1,888 prisoners took part in upskilling and recruitment sessions. 129 events resulted in nearly 100 job offers for prisoners on release. In addition, ‘Unlocking Self-Employment’ gave prisoners the opportunity to learn about setting up and running a business through sessions with the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

The Future Skills Programme has delivered sector-specific training courses in prisons. All prisoners who complete a course will receive guaranteed interviews for jobs on release in sectors such as construction, warehousing and the third sector.

We continue to deliver the Creating Future Opportunities service, a specialist offer designed to support prisoners and people on probation with the most complex needs into employment. The MoJ has evaluated the service’s impact and the overall results show that men who took part in their programmes in the community were less likely to reoffend, reoffended less frequently and took longer to reoffend than those who did not take part.^{[footnote 31]}

The service successfully mobilised and transitioned to the new Creating Future Opportunities evolution contracts in August 2024 which will offer a more impactful end-to-end service offer, at reduced cost.

We are developing digital tools, including the Digital Jobs Board, to support people in prison in finding and applying for jobs. Our digital employment systems also include a ‘work readiness assessment’ to prepare prisoners for employment, and a ‘candidate matching tool’ to match prisoners to suitable job opportunities.

A new approach will be taken to source suitable video interview technology where a previously identified solution did not satisfy security concerns around recording. We are now exploring other avenues for sourcing video interviewing technology through existing technology within the department.

Specialist cohorts

Women in prison

Women have comprised around 4% of the prison population since 2019 – down from 5% between 2016 and 2019.

We have made good progress against the custodial-related commitments in the Female Offender Strategy Delivery Plan which ran from 2022 to March 2025 in response to a National Audit Office report. We published a ‘one year on’ progress report in May 2024.^{[footnote 32]} Our commitment to expand the women’s custodial estate to create more open prison places was not met as the decision was taken to pause plans to build owing to high levels of inflation, which had a material impact on estimated costs. Going forwards the new Women’s Justice Board set up by the Lord Chancellor will publish a strategic plan setting out initial priorities to improve outcomes for women.

Activity in 2024 to 2025 has included:

• bringing together prison governors and probation strategic leads on a quarterly basis as part of our ambition to improve connectivity and collaboration and to better align operational delivery across prisons and probation
• holding a National Family Conference in October 2024, bringing together a range of professionals supporting women and their families
• publishing a new Women’s Policy Framework and accompanying internal operational guidance which sets out our expectations for our staff and leaders delivering services for women^{[footnote 33]}

We continue to make improvements to the service by progressing action plans in response to a number of recommendations including:

• completion of outstanding recommendations from the 2019 Farmer Review – of 33 recommendations only six remain outstanding, and we continue to work towards the aims of these recommendations initially through the Female Offender Strategy Delivery Plan and now through the work of the Women’s Justice Board
• continuing to work with stakeholders to progress the recommendations within the joint NHS and HMPPS review of health and social care in women’s prisons

Pregnant women, mothers and babies in prison

HMPPS continues to engage with initiatives, which encompass women’s health, the perinatal pathway and family services. There are currently six mother and baby units across the women’s estate, providing 64 places for mothers and 70 places for babies.

In October 2024, seven new independent chairs were publicly appointed by the MoJ following recommendation in the Chief Social Worker’s review (2022) into applications to mother and baby units in prisons, to increase scrutiny and support consistency of practice and decision‑making of mother and baby unit boards.

Prison-based social worker roles are currently being piloted at four prisons to support and empower women in understanding and exercising their parental rights while in custody. Early evaluations indicate that they are having a positive impact on mothers having appropriate contact with children.

Dedicated pregnancy and mother and baby liaison officers in every women’s prison ensure effective signposting to support services, including health and social care services. We are also piloting a new prison management role in closed women’s prisons, the women’s health and perinatal pathway lead, to improve the management of risks within this complex area.

Transgender prisoners

We remain committed to supporting all transgender prisoners to live in their acquired gender, whichever part of the estate they reside in. In 2024 to 2025 we have continued to deliver Complex Case Boards to ensure the safe and decent management of transgender prisoners. To strengthen our operational resilience and capacity, we have successfully widened the pool of specially trained prison group directors qualified to chair Complex Case Boards. To support operational staff to manage transgender prisoners effectively, the central Transgender Offender Operational Policy team have delivered awareness sessions for key people such as single points of contact and Local Case Board chairs, reaching well over 350 staff. In addition, we have undertaken site visits to provide enhanced and bespoke support on individual cases.

Foreign national offenders

The foreign national offenders prison population has remained between 11% and 13% of the overall prison population for the past decade.^{[footnote 34]} As at 31 March 2025, there were 10,838 foreign nationals held in custody, representing 12% of the total prison population.^{[footnote 35]} 17,378 foreign national offenders were supervised by the Probation Service in the community, representing 10% of the total community supervision caseload.^{[footnote 36]}

HMPPS continues to work closely with the Home Office to maximise the removals of foreign national offenders with no right to stay in the UK. We refer this group to the Home Office within five working days of being sentenced. There were 5,154 foreign national offender returns in 2024 to 2025, an increase of 21% compared to the previous year.

To support ongoing removals, HMPPS has delivered a comprehensive package of activity, through prison radio and hardcopy communications, promoting resettlement and removal schemes in prisons such as the Home Office-run Facilitated Returns Scheme. To support the Home Office to tackle delays to removal, such as absence of travel documents, HMPPS is deploying foreign national offender specialists to prisons to support removals and promote compliance with immigration processes. Longer‑sentenced foreign national offenders in scope for repatriation continue to be transferred to serve their sentences in their home countries, where prisoner transfer agreements are in place, including Albania.

Modern slavery

HMPPS continues to strengthen its operational approach to tackling modern slavery by focusing on raising awareness, improving identification and support for survivors under our care, and robustly managing perpetrators.

We have improved our data collection systems across prisons and probation to help us track and monitor potential victims in our care. We have delivered a comprehensive range of activity to support prisons, through single points of contact in every prison, operational surgeries and hardcopy communications.

A special Prison Service Journal on Modern Slavery was published in autumn 2024.^{[footnote 37]}

In October 2024 we delivered the first HMPPS Modern Slavery Conference, bringing together attendees from statutory and non-statutory partners, law enforcement agencies, third sector and academics to enhance our understanding and inform our approach.

To ensure consistency in our approach we are working closely with the Home Office who lead on this work, as well as a wide range of partners, civil society, academics and law enforcement agencies. New guidance on modern slavery will be released internally in autumn 2025, followed by a policy framework in 2026.

Prisoners serving IPP sentences

On 17 July 2025, HMPPS published the annual report on the IPP sentence, pursuant to Section 67 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024. The report sets out the action taken across HMPPS for 2024 to 2025 to support those serving the IPP sentence in prison to work towards a safe release, and those in the community towards the termination of their licence. The report also contains a refreshed IPP action plan which HMPPS will deliver in 2025 to 2026.

Published figures show that the total IPP prison population decreased from 5,040 on 30 June 2015 to 2,544 as at 31 March 2025. Of those 2,544, 1,012 are unreleased prisoners and 1,532 are recalled IPP prisoners. There were 233 people serving IPP sentences in secure hospitals as at 31 December 2024.^{[footnote 38]}

The number of those serving IPP sentences in the community dropped from 3,246 as at 30 June 2022 to 1,134 as at 31 March 2025.^{[footnote 39]}

This large decrease comes as the government made a number of changes to the licence period for those serving IPP sentences under the Victims and Prisoners Act in May 2024. This reduced the period that individuals serving IPP sentences become eligible for referral to the Parole Board for consideration of licence termination, from 10 years after their initial release from prison to three years. This came into force on 1 February 2025 and meant that around 600 individuals became newly eligible for referral to the Parole Board.

The Act also introduced a new provision to automatically terminate the IPP licence two years after the end of the three-year qualifying period in cases where the Parole Board has not already terminated the licence and where the individual has not been recalled to prison in that subsequent two‑year period. This came into force in November 2024 and resulted in 1,742 individuals having their IPP licence terminated on this date. It is anticipated that these changes will reduce the number of people serving IPP sentences in the community by around two-thirds.

Victims

The Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 provides the provisions for the statutory Probation Service Victim Contact Scheme. Victims of those convicted of a violent or sexual offence and sentenced to 12 months or more imprisonment or a hospital order have a statutory right to be offered contact by the Probation Service.

The Victim Notification Scheme was created to enable eligible victims of stalking and harassment offences, where the current offence or sentence length is not covered by the statutory Probation Service Victim Contact Scheme, to receive information about an offender’s release from custody and are able to request licence conditions.

We have considered the impact of demand reduction measures on victims and where possible have communicated proactively to advise on any changes. In 2024 to 2025, we continued to test the process of victims observing private parole hearings and received positive feedback from those victims engaged in the process. We rolled this out nationally on 1 April 2025.

In 2024, HMI Probation found statutory victim work to be ‘outstanding’ for three regional inspections: Kent, Surrey and Sussex, East of England, and Yorkshire and The Humber. The inspections noted that expectations were clearly communicated to victims, providing sufficient information for them to make informed choices.

Health and social care

We are committed to working in partnership with our health and social care partners to ensure that people in prison can access the equivalent standard and range of health and social care services as they would receive in the community. The National Partnership Agreement on Health and Social Care in England, published in February 2023 and set to run until the end of 2025, sets out our shared objectives with health and justice partners to deliver safe, decent and effective care that improves health outcomes in both custody and for people serving sentences in the community.

This year saw the continued delivery of the refreshed Offender Personality Disorder Strategy, including a review of where two new category C treatment services are to be commissioned, the opening of a supported environment for prisoners with learning disabilities at HMP Highdown, and the development of a suite of new training products for staff in prisons, based on programme learning and evidence-based practice. The Approved Premises Mental Health Project continues to test a collaborative approach with NHS colleagues to increase support for those in approved premises who face mental health challenges. The approach has been rolled out to three clusters of approved premises and will be evaluated in 2025 to 2026.

James McEwen
Chief Executive Officer
21 October 2025

1. References to 2024 to 2025 refer to the reporting year 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 throughout this report. ↩

2. Ministry of Justice (2025), Independent Sentencing Review final report, available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-sentencing-review-final-report ↩

3. Ministry of Justice (2024), 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy, available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-year-prison-capacity-strategy ↩

4. Ministry of Justice (2024), Annual Statement on Prison Capacity: 2024, available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-statement-on-prison-capacity-2024 ↩

5. National Audit Office (2024), Increasing the capacity of the prison estate to meet demand, available at: www.nao.org.uk/reports/increasing-the-capacity-of-the-prison-estate-to-meet-demand ↩

6. Ministry of Justice (2025), Review into handling of prison capacity: terms of reference, available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-prison-capacity-review-final-report ↩

7. Ministry of Justice (2025), Delivering the best for girls in custody, available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/delivering-the-best-for-girls-in-custody ↩

8. HMI Probation (2025), A thematic inspection of the recruitment, training, and retention of frontline probation practitioners, available at: https://hmiprobation.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/document/a-thematic-inspection-of-the-recruitment-training-and-retention-of-frontline-probation-practitioners ↩

9. HM Prison and Probation Service (2025), HM Prison and Probation Service workforce quarterly: March 2025, available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hm-prison-and-probation-service-workforce-quarterly-march-2025 ↩

10. Ofsted and HMI Prisons (2024), Thematic review of the quality of education in young offender institutions, available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/thematic-review-of-the-quality-of-education-in-young-offender-institutions-yois ↩

11. HMI Prisons (2024), Separation of children in young offender institutions – review of progress, available at: https://hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmipris_reports/separation-of-children-in-young-offender-institutions-review-of-progress ↩

12. All figures on prison places delivered are gross. They represent only additions to the prison supply and do not account for loss of places during this time (for example due to prison closures or dilapidations). ↩

13. HM Prison and Probation Service (2025), Official statistics: HMPPS Annual Digest 2024 to 2025, available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmpps-annual-digest-april-2024-to-march-2025/hmpps-annual-digest-2024-to-2025–2#finds-in-prison ↩

14. Ministry of Justice (2013), Prison and probation performance statistics, available at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistic ↩

15. UK Parliament (2024), Justice Committee launches new inquiry into tackling drugs in prisons, available at: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/102/justice-committee/news/204442/justice-committee-launches-new-inquiry-into-tackling-drugs-in-prisons ↩

16. Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service (2024), Prison Safety Policy Framework, available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-safety-policy-framework ↩

17. Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service (2024), Follow Up to Deaths in Custody Policy Framework, available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/follow-up-to-deaths-in-custody-policy-framework ↩

18. Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service (2024), Follow Up to Deaths in Custody Policy Framework, available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/follow-up-to-deaths-in-custody-policy-framework ↩

19. HM Prison and Probation Service and Youth Custody Service (2025), Youth custody data, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/youth-custody-data ↩

20. Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service (2024), Prison Public Protection Policy Framework, available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-public-protection-policy-framework ↩

21. Ministry of Justice (2024), Electronic monitoring of domestic abuse perpetrators on licence: process evaluation, available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/electronic-monitoring-of-domestic-abuse-perpetrators-on-licence-process-evaluation ↩

22. HM Prison and Probation Service (2025), Serious further offence annual report: action plan, available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/serious-further-offence-annual-report-action-plan ↩

23. HMI Probation (2024), Annual report 2024: Serious further offences, available at: https://hmiprobation.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/document/annual-report-2024-serious-further-offences ↩

24. Ministry of Justice (2025), Official statistics: Community Performance Annual, update to March 2025, available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-annual-update-to-march-2025 ↩

25. HMI Probation (2025), A thematic inspection of the delivery of unpaid work, available at: https://hmiprobation.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/document/a-thematic-inspection-of-the-delivery-of-unpaid-work ↩

26. Ministry of Justice (2025), Offender accommodation outcomes, update to March 2025, available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-accommodation-outcomes-update-to-march-2025 ↩

27. Ministry of Justice (2013), Proven reoffending statistics, available at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/proven-reoffending-statistics ↩

28. Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service (2025), Offender accommodation outcomes, update to March 2025, available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2025 ↩

29. HM Prison and Probation Service (2025), Release on Temporary Licence in Youth Custody Policy Framework, available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/release-on-temporary-licence-in-youth-custody-policy-framework–2 ↩

30. Ministry of Justice (2025), Offender employment outcomes, update to March 2025, available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-employment-outcomes-update-to-march-2025 ↩

31. Ministry of Justice (2024), Official statistics: HMPPS Creating Future Opportunities report, available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/justice-data-lab-statistics-april-2024/hmpps-cfo-report-html-version ↩

32. Ministry of Justice (2024), Female Offender Strategy Delivery Plan: ‘one year on’ progress report, available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/female-offender-strategy-delivery-plan-progress-report/female-offender-strategy-delivery-plan-one-year-on-progress-report ↩

33. Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service (2024), Women’s Policy Framework, available at: hwww.gov.uk/government/publications/womens-policy-framework ↩

34. Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service (2025), Offender management statistics quarterly: January to March 2025, available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2025 ↩

35. Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service (2025), Offender management statistics quarterly: October to December 2024, available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2024 ↩

36. Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service (2025), Offender management statistics quarterly: January to March 2025, available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2025 ↩

37. Centre for Crime and Justice Centre (2024), Prison Service Journal 274, available at: www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/prison-service-journal-274 ↩

38. HM Prison and Probation Service and Ministry of Justice (2025), HMPPS annual report on the IPP sentence 2024 to 2025, available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmpps-annual-report-on-the-ipp-sentence-2024-to-25 ↩

39. Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service (2025), Offender management statistics quarterly: January to March 2025, available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2025 ↩