Guidance

Home Office statistical work programme 2026 to 2027

Updated 27 August 2026

Foreword

The Home Office is the lead government department for immigration and passports, drugs policy, crime, counter-terrorism and police. The work of the Home Office covers some of the most high-profile areas of government policy and there is significant public interest in our statistics.

Our statistics continue to help inform public discourse on a wide range of areas including borders and the immigration system, the work of the police crime, alcohol and drugs, as well as broader issues of public concern such as counter-terrorism and licensing of shotguns and firearms.

There is an important onus on Home Office statisticians to ensure our statistics remain relevant and address key areas of public concern. There is huge demand on the statistics teams across the Home Office and this continues to grow, illustrating the strong appetite for evidence to support the work of the department and inform parliamentary and public debate.

Statisticians in the Home Office are committed to delivering high quality statistics for the public good in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. We are striving for continual improvement of our outputs and processes and are committed to responding to user needs to make our statistics accessible, open, and transparent. With finite resources available it is also important that we can utilise the most modern and efficient techniques to maximise our impact.

This workplan outlines our organisational structure, regular statistical outputs and key priorities, as well as provides links to more detailed information on individual work areas.

All users of our outputs are invited to comment on the extent to which this workplan meets their needs and to engage with us to provide statistics of the highest quality and value.

John Wilkins

Home Office Head of Profession for Statistics GSGTeam@homeoffice.gov.uk

Statistics in the Home Office

Home Office Statisticians are responsible for providing statistical evidence and analysis to government, parliament, academics and the wider public. We aim to provide robust evidence and advice to inform government policy development and operational decision-making. We also help to inform public debate by making a wide range of data available for public use and to aid the accountability of the Home Office to parliament and the public.

We produce Official Statistics, including Accredited Official Statistics and Official Statistics in development, on a range of topics including:

• crime
• migration
• policing
• counter-terrorism
• asset recovery
• alcohol and drugs
• licensing
• animals in science

We also provide support to key partners in the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Ministry of Justice (MoJ), including input to some joint outputs. We provide statistical advice, guidance and support to Home Office’s Arm’s Length Bodies (for example, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS), National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)).

The Home Office produces over 30 Official and Accredited Official Statistics releases each year, as well as collaborating to support several cross-government publications. As we analyse new data sources or tackle emerging issues, we also produce statistics in development, to meet user needs and seek user engagement. A full list of our statistical publications can be found in Annex A.

Who we are

Since April 2017, our core statistical resource has sat in the Home Office Analysis and Insight Directorate (HOAI). This Directorate, led by Simon Palmer, brings together economists, statisticians, operational and social researchers, intelligence analysts and others to provide analysis and insight throughout the development and implementation of policy, as well as supporting operational decision making.

The statistical teams sit within larger organisational units, again, grouped by broad policy areas. Information about these policy areas and the work of the statistical teams in each of these units is given below.

1. Migration and borders

Statistics on migration and borders are covered by the following units:

• Managed migration analysis
• Immigration system statistics and refugees analysis and insight
• Protection and enforcement analysis and insight
• Borders analysis
• Performance reporting and analysis unit

These teams publish a range of statistics on different aspects of the immigration system. They ensure that the migration statistics are kept under review, and that they are continually improved to enhance both the statistics themselves and users’ understanding of the data.

They work in partnership with the Office for National Statistics (ONS), devolved administrations and other government departments to develop understanding of the migration statistics and improve the migration evidence base, including as part of the cross-government work to put administrative data at the core of migration statistics.

1.1 Useful links

Links to all published Home Office migration data and analysis are available at: Migration analysis at the Home Office.

The Office for National Statistics also publish migration statistics, including net migration estimates, at: Population and migration.

Further information on developments in migration statistics over the years can be found at: Developments in migration statistics.

2. Public safety

Statistics covering public safety (which includes crime, policing, and drugs and alcohol) are covered by the following units:

• Crime analysis unit
• Police analysis unit
• Drugs, exploitation and abuse analysis unit

These teams analyse and publish a wide range of statistics, including those on police recorded crime and the outcomes of related police investigations, hate crime, crime against businesses, the police workforce, police powers and procedures, police misconduct, drug seizures, and licensing statistics.

Crime analysis unit also oversee the annual publication of the Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime, which underpin the police recorded crime statistics, and work closely with Office for National Statistics (ONS) on the production of quarterly crime statistics, and more focused compendium publications.

These teams also engage in more formal mechanisms for managing data collection burdens placed on suppliers. Data collections from police forces are governed by the Annual Data Requirement (ADR), which covers the range of data collections requested from police forces by government and the wider policing family. Every year, data collections are reviewed to ensure their continued relevance. Teams work closely with policy officials, police force analysts and police IT specialists to ensure that the data collections included are proportionate, necessary, of high quality and technically feasible. This assessment is documented for discussion at the Police Data Requirement Group (PDRG) to ensure scrutiny of requests, before providing a decision on the request ahead of submitting the ADR to the Home Secretary and police chiefs.

Furthermore, statisticians in the Police analysis unit also lead on the allocation of around £9 billion to the 43 police forces in England and Wales.

2.1 Useful links

Statistics on crime outcomes, hate crime, so called honour-based abuse, rape incidents and crimes against businesses can be found at: Crime statistics.

The Office for National Statistics also publish crime statistics, including data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), at: Crime and justice - Office for National Statistics.

Statistics on police workforce, police powers, funding and licensing can be found at: Policing statistics - GOV.UK.

3. Homeland Security

Homeland security analysis and insight (HSAI) are the analytical leads for the Homeland Security policy area. The team cover topics including, national security, counter-terrorism, state threats, fraud, and asset recovery. The unit is cross-disciplinary with statisticians producing statistical releases, dashboards, briefings and investigative analysis on emerging issues.

The team produce 2 statistical releases that focus on the government’s counter-terrorism strategy CONTEST, of which the latest version was published in July 2023 (2023 CONTEST strategy).

The operation of police powers under the Terrorism Act (TACT) 2000 statistics provide data on terrorism-related arrests, outcomes, court proceedings, terrorist prisoners and the use of stop and search powers under TACT 2000 in Great Britain. It also covers arrests for terrorist-related activity under other legislation such as the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE).

Statistics on individuals referred to and supported through the Prevent Programme in England and Wales cover an individual’s journey from referral to adoption as a case, broken down by demographic statistics, the type of concern and region. Prevent aims to safeguard people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

Asset recovery statistics are published annually to report on the value and volume of proceeds of crime restrained, seized, frozen (the ‘denial’ phase) and subsequently recovered and receipted (the ‘recovery’ phase). Law enforcement agencies use the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA 2002) to deprive criminals of their money and recover proceeds of crime, which can be returned in compensation to victims or reinvested to tackle crime through the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS). The release covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The team works closely with partners within government and draws expertise from outside government, to provide advice, strengthen the evidence base and fill knowledge gaps. Their analysis informs strategic and operational decisions in the counter-terrorism and counter-extremism spaces, providing a good understanding of the problem and effective interventions, sharing insight across government.

3.1 Useful links

Counter-terrorism statistics can be found at: Counter terrorism statistics - GOV.UK.

Asset recovery statistics can be found at: Asset recovery statistics - GOV.UK

4. Central and cross-cutting

The Central Analytical Services team provide central statistical advice and steer for the statistical community across Home Office. They help transform the way statistics and underlying data are produced across HOAI, and build relationships with colleagues across all work areas, helping them to modernise their processes, while maintaining high quality outputs.

A key aim for this team is to develop tools and systems that reduce the time spent on producing routine outputs, resulting in a better skilled workforce and more robust outputs. This will enable statisticians to deliver improvements and innovative new projects, allowing the Home Office to provide more value and insight to users of its data.

5. Other statistical work and teams

Alongside our statistical data collections and releases, Home Office statisticians play an important role in ensuring the Home Office meets its public and parliamentary obligations. Across all the teams, we provide comprehensive briefing for ministers and policy teams and draft responses to numerous Parliamentary Questions, Freedom of Information requests and ad hoc queries.

As well as the teams described above, there are also a number of professional statistical staff who work within other areas of the Home Office, or in the Arm’s Length Bodies. A selection of these teams is summarised below.

5.1 Performance reporting and analysis unit (PRAU)

PRAU produce management information and analysis to support the department in managing performance and risk effectively. The unit’s work is wide ranging from providing strategic analysis to the Department’s senior boards to implementing Vantage - the new Borders, Immigration and Citizenship System’s (BICS) management information system.

Each quarter, PRAU publish the Migration Transparency publication, comprising of statistics which illustrate the performance of the BICS. The publication currently consists of more than 80 data tables with new tables being considered for inclusion (and existing ones for removal) each quarter through a well-established governance process.

5.2 Migration Advisory Committee (MAC)

The MAC is an advisory non-departmental public body consisting of labour market and migration experts supported by a secretariat of economists, statisticians, social researchers, operational researchers and policy officials.

The team respond to commissions from the Home Secretary, and in addition carry out analysis using linked data sets from across government to evaluate the immigration system.

5.3 HM Inspectorate of the Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS)

HMICFRS assesses the effectiveness and efficiency of police forces and fire and rescue services. The ‘Better Inspections Portfolio’ (BIP) within HMICFRS is a multi-disciplinary analytical team responsible for using data, analysis, knowledge and digital skills to inform and improve inspections through insight and evaluation.

HMICFRS uses data it collects directly from forces and services, as well as information provided to the Home Office and other government departments, to produce analysis via Power BI dashboards. These dashboards present the data in an accessible format to inspection staff, forces and services; allowing them to drill-down into data of interest.

More information on HMICFRS is available here: His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services

6. Priorities for Home Office statistics

The Home Office maintains a broad portfolio of statistics, supporting departmental policy and public accountability.

Our statistical work programme is focused on 4 priorities:

1. Maintaining high-quality core statistical outputs

We will continue to produce and publish Home Office’s regular statistical outputs in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics, pre-announced release dates, published methodologies and established quality assurance processes.

This includes maintaining clear release schedules, publishing supporting data where appropriate, and ensuring users have access to relevant metadata, quality information and contact details. We’ll ensure our outputs are accessible, publishing open and reusable formats, where appropriate.

We will improve the consistency and accessibility of our outputs, to maximise their Trustworthiness, Quality and Value.

2. Improve development of Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAPs)

We will continue to improve and develop our RAPs for statistical products, to maximise their consistency and efficiency in production, ensuring quality assurance is embedded through validation and verification checks. We’ll use Analysis Function best practice guidance and standards as a framework, and collaborate across the department to share knowledge.

We will improve the commentary and narrative included in releases to explain trends and focus on emerging themes. By focusing on the insight of the statistics, we aim to maximise the value to users in interpreting the findings.

3. Refresh our approach to user engagement

We will review and refresh our approach to user engagement, supporting teams to implement Code 3.0 in a proportionate and meaningful way. Using OSR’s user engagement strategy - Public involvement and engagement in official statistics: A toolkit for statistics producers - we will continue to seek feedback from the public and other users of our statistics, to support the continuous improvement of our products.

When we run surveys for feedback, we will collate and summarise the findings, to plan next steps. Our releases will highlight how users can provide feedback, but also highlight changes to the releases to support users to find the information that they need.

4. Strengthen statistical governance

We will support statisticians and other analysts across the department in using the Code of Practice for Statistics. This will include the application of the Code of Practice for Statistics, release planning, and handling changes to releases.

We will continue to set out clear expectations on quality assurance, and work with data providers to improve data quality.

We will continue to support and advise on the use of statistics, and analysis, by Ministers, Officials and communications teams. To support staff with any concerns or breaches in the use of statistics, clear escalation routes will be established, including ensuring strong links between our statistical management team and OSR.

7. Additional links and information

Upcoming Home Office statistics are pre-announced on the GOV.UK website at: Research and statistics - GOV.UK.

The links provided under the individual policy areas above contain the most recent Home Office statistics. However, Home Office statistics from before May 2010 can be found on the National Archive Research Development and Statistics website.

Other useful documents include:

• Home Office statement of compliance with the code of practice for statistics
• Home Office statistical release practice
• Home Office revisions and corrections policy
• Home Office use of administrative sources for statistical purposes
• Home Office Data Protection and Privacy Notices

Please contact the responsible statistician named in each publication for further information on the statistics:

• migration statistics: MigrationStatsEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk
• crime statistics: CrimeandPoliceStats@homeoffice.gov.uk
• policing statistics: policingstatistics@homeoffice.gov.uk
• alcohol and drug statistics: drugseizures.datacollection@homeoffice.gov.uk
• animals in science statistics: HOAIStatisticalTransformation@homeoffice.gov.uk
• counter terror statistics: HSAI_Statistics@homeoffice.gov.uk

Alternatively, the Chief Statistician for the Home Office can be contacted at:

2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

Email: GSGTeam@homeoffice.gov.uk

Annex A: List of regular Home Office statistical releases

HO Theme	Release title	Frequency	Designation	Summary
Migration and borders	Immigration system statistics	Quarterly	Accredited Official Statistics	Quarterly statistics on people coming to the UK (including via illegal routes), extensions of stay, EUSS, citizenship, asylum, detentions, returns and stopping immigration crime.
Migration and borders	Monthly entry clearance visa applications	Monthly	Official Statistics	Statistics on visa applications for people coming to the UK for work, study and family reasons.
Migration and borders	Migrant Journey	Annually	Official Statistics	Evidence on the behaviour of migrants entering the UK immigration system for the main routes of entry to the UK and the common pathways through the immigration system that result in settlement.
Migration and borders	Reports on statistics relating to exit checks	Annually	Official Statistics	Data collected on travellers departing and arriving in the UK as part of the Home Office exit checks programme; statistics relating to the compliance of those passengers required to obtain a visa.
Public safety	Alcohol and late night refreshment licensing, England and Wales	Biennially	Accredited Official Statistics	Statistics on authorisations and licensing authority powers under the Licensing Act 2003. Includes premises licences, club premises certificates, personal licences, late night refreshment and 24-hour alcohol licences.
Public safety	Annual statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain	Annually	Accredited Official Statistics	Statistics relating to scientific procedures performed on living animals in accordance with Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. Includes the number of procedures, types of animals used, and purpose and severity of procedures.
Public safety	Crime in England and Wales (published by ONS)	Quarterly	Official Statistics	Crime against households and adults using data from police recorded crime and the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
Public safety	Crime outcomes in England and Wales	Annually	Official Statistics	Details on crime outcomes assigned by the police, the timeliness of assigning outcomes and transferred/cancelled records.
Public safety	Crime outcomes in England and Wales: data tables	Quarterly	Official Statistics	Details on crime outcomes assigned by the police and transferred/cancelled records.
Public safety	Drug Seizures in England and Wales	Annually	Accredited Official Statistics	Covers number of seizures covered by the Misuse of Drugs Act, by police forces and Border Force in England and Wales.
Public safety	Drug misuse in England and Wales (published by ONS)	Annually	Accredited Official Statistics	Details on the extent and trends of illicit drug use. Data are from the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
Public safety	Firearm and shotgun certificates in England and Wales	Annually	Accredited Official Statistics	Statistics on the number of firearm and shotgun certificates issued by police forces in England and Wales (under the Firearms Acts 1968 to 1997).
Public safety	Football-related arrests and banning orders, England and Wales	Annually (with an update following International fixtures)	Official Statistics	Football-related arrests statistics by club, offence type, location and arrest rate per competition and banning orders statistics by club.
Public safety	Forced Marriage statistics (Published with Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)	Annually	Official Statistics	Statistics on the cases reported to the Forced Marriage Unit through its public helpline and email inbox.
Public safety	Hate crime in England and Wales	Annually	Official Statistics	Number of hate crimes in England and Wales recorded by the police. Also includes Crime Survey England and Wales analysis every third year.
Public safety	Homicide in England and Wales (published by ONS)	Annually	Accredited Official Statistics	Detailed information on the nature and circumstances of homicide from the Home Office Homicide Index
Public safety	Police recorded knife-enabled robbery offences	Quarterly	Management information	Management information on knife-enabled robberies (KER) recorded by the 7 KER Group police forces.
Public safety	Modern slavery: National Referral Mechanism and Duty to Notify Statistics UK	Quarterly	Official Statistics	Statistics on potential victims of modern slavery in the UK that come to the attention of authorised organisations.
Public safety	Modern slavery: NRM cases awaiting a conclusive grounds decision	Monthly	Official Statistics	Referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), for potential victims of modern slavery
Public safety	Police funding, England and Wales	Annually	Official Statistics	Provides a single source of statistical information on police funding levels.
Public safety	Police misconduct, England and Wales	Annually	Statistics in Development	Statistics on the number of police complaints, conduct matters and recordable conduct matters finalised.
Public safety	Police custody and pre-charge bail, England and Wales	Annually	Official Statistics in Development	Detentions in police custody, strip searches in custody, police pre-charge bail, and detentions over 24 hours in police custody.
Public safety	Police protest powers, England and Wales	Annually	Official Statistics in Development	Statistics on the use of powers under sections 12, 14 and 14ZA of the Public Order Act 1986 (as amended by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022
Public safety	Police powers and procedures: Roads Policing, England and Wales	Annually	Official Statistics in Development	Statistics on the number of fixed penalty notices (and other outcomes) for motoring offences and roadside alcohol breath tests conducted.
Public safety	Stop and search, arrests and Mental Health Detentions, England and Wales	Annually	Accredited Official Statistics	Statistics on stop and search, arrests for notifiable offences and detentions under Section 135 and Section 136 of the Mental Health Act.
Public safety	Police use of firearms, England and Wales	Annually	Official Statistics	Statistics on the number of firearms operations, incidents in which a firearm was discharged, and armed officers.
Public safety	Police use of force, England and Wales	Annually	Statistics in Development	Statistics covering incidents where police officers have used force. Includes: the tactics used, the reason for force, the outcome, any injuries (to the officers and or the subject) and subject information (age, gender, ethnicity and disability, as perceived by the reporting officer). Also includes statistics on police use of TASER®, which were previously published separately.
Public safety	Police workforce (as at Sept/March), England and Wales	Biannually	Accredited Official Statistics	Covers the size of the workforce as well as information on: joiners, leavers, diversity, age, sickness, misconduct, for example.
Public safety	Same-sex sexual conviction disregards, England and Wales	Annually	Official Statistics	Statistics on The Disregards and Pardons Scheme, which was established to redress the historical discrimination faced by individuals criminalised for same-sex sexual activity.
Public safety	Statistics on so called ‘honour-based’ abuse offences, England and Wales	Annually	Official Statistics	Police recorded crime data on so called honour based-abuse offences recorded by the police, including female genital mutilation and forced marriage offences.
Homeland Security	Individuals referred to and supported through the Prevent Programme	Annually	Statistics in Development	This release contains statistics on the number of individuals referred to and supported through the Prevent Programme in England and Wales.
Homeland Security	Operations of police powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 and subsequent legislation, Great Britain	Quarterly	Accredited Official Statistics	This release reports statistics on the use of police powers under terrorism related and subsequent legislation. Key sections cover arrests and outcomes, court proceedings, terrorist prisoners, and other police powers.
Homeland Security	Asset recovery statistics	Annually	Official Statistics	This bulletin presents a 6-year data snapshot on asset recovery, using Proceeds of Crime Act Powers (POCA), from the Joint Asset Recovery Database (JARD), as well as data collected by the Home Office on the use of Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS). It also contains recent data provided by the National Crime Agency (NCA), relating to progress against priority orders.
Home Office	Home Office workforce diversity	Annually	Official Statistics in development	Diversity of the Home Office workforce, examining representation by grade, and by different areas within the Home Office.