Ad-Hoc Alcohol Monitoring Statistics Publication, Dec 2025
Published 30 December 2025
Applies to England and Wales
© Crown copyright 2025
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/ad-hoc-alcohol-monitoring-statistics-publication-dec-2025/ad-hoc-alcohol-monitoring-statistics-publication-dec-2025
Main Points
The table below shows a summary of the number of individuals in England and Wales assigned with an alcohol monitoring device monthly from 31 July 2025 to 30 September 2025, and the provisional numbers for 31 October 2025 and 30 November 2025.
| Date | Individuals assigned with an alcohol monitoring device (rounded to nearest 100) |
|---|---|
| 31 July 2025 | 4,000 |
| 31 August 2025 [r] | 3,900 |
| 30 September 2025 [r] | 4,300 |
| 31 October 2025 (Provisional) | 4,500 |
| 30 November 2025 (Provisional) | 4,800 |
Around 4,800 individuals were assigned with an alcohol monitoring device at the end of November 2025. This is around 800 more than the number of individuals who were assigned with an alcohol monitoring device at the end of July 2025.
Background
Alcohol monitoring was introduced to courts in Wales in October 2020 and went live throughout England on 31 March 2021 to support the new community sentencing option, the Alcohol Abstinence and Monitoring Requirement (AAMR). An AAMR may only be used when sentencing for alcohol-related criminal behaviour and it imposes a total ban on drinking alcohol for up to 120 days. Compliance with the ban is monitored electronically using an alcohol device which continuously monitors for the presence of alcohol via an offender’s sweat. A non-compliant event is constituted as either a confirmed alcohol event or a registered tamper with a device.
Alcohol Monitoring can be imposed by the court as part of a Community Order or Suspended Sentence Order where:
- the offence, or associated offence, for which the requirement is being imposed, is alcohol related;
- the individual is not alcohol dependent or has an Alcohol Treatment Requirement (ATR) recommended or in place; and
- the individual is an adult (18 years or over).
For offenders being released from custody whose offending and risk is alcohol related, an Alcohol Monitoring on Licence (AML) additional licence condition was introduced in Wales in November 2021 and rolled out to England in June 2022. There are two conditions available for AML:
- requires total abstinence from alcohol, or
- requires the offender to comply with requirements specified by their supervising officer to address their alcohol needs, this will include limiting alcohol use. Alcohol monitoring cannot be used for those under 18.
Notes
The analysis presented is of unique individuals with at least one live AM order (AAMR or AML) and assigned with an alcohol monitoring device.
The data in this release are compiled from Electronic Monitoring Services (EMS) contractor data, which in turn are derived from a case management system. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent.
The symbol “[r]” is used when data has been revised. The methodology used to identify individuals with alcohol (AM) tags has been updated, and data from August onwards have been revised accordingly. This methodology change is unrelated to the definitional change mentioned below to classify individuals as “tagged”.
New contracts to deliver the Electronic Monitoring service were awarded in October 2023, with Serco taking over the delivery of the service from Capita in May 2024. Details of the contracts can be found here.
Migration of alcohol monitoring orders from Capita to Serco began at the end of July 2025. The caseload statistics for alcohol monitoring presented in this release are not directly comparable to those published prior to July 2025 due to changes in the definition and methodology used to classify individuals as “tagged”. As a result, caseload statistics are provided from July 2025 onwards. The 2024 ad-hoc alcohol publication using the previous methodology can be found here.
Previous definition: An individual was considered tagged if they had any equipment assigned to at least one of their orders.
New definition: An individual is now considered tagged if all of the following conditions are met:
- Equipment is assigned to at least one of the orders, through a successful visit;
- The minimum required components for device monitoring have been input so that at least one monitoring requirement is fully met. Monitoring requirements are created to enable the monitoring of 7 possible enforceable conditions.
- There has been at least one confirmed successful installation of the device.
The numbers included in this release are provisional.
Contact
Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office.
Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to the Youth Justice and Offender Policy Directorate at the Ministry of Justice:
Electronic Monitoring Performance and Statistics,
Youth Justice and Offender Policy,
Ministry of Justice,
10th Floor,
102 Petty France,
London,
SW1H 9AJ
Email: ppas_statistics@justice.gov.uk
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