Official Statistics

Deaths of offenders in the community, annual update to March 2023

Published 26 October 2023

Applies to England and Wales

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1. Main points

The headline points on deaths of offenders supervised in the community, England and Wales, April 2022 to March 2023 are:

From April 2022 to March 2023, there were 1,520 deaths of offenders in the community This represents an increase of 6% from 1,439 deaths in the financial year ending 2022
847 deaths (56% of total) in the community were offenders serving court orders in the financial year ending 2023 This represents an increase of 12% from 756 deaths (53% of total) in the financial year ending 2022
619 deaths (41% of total) from April 2022 to March 2023 were offenders on post-release supervision This represents a decrease of 3% from 637 deaths (44% of total) in the previous year
Natural causes was the most common cause of death, accounting for 568 deaths Natural causes accounted for 37% of all deaths in the community between April 2022 and March 2023
There were 360 self-inflicted deaths between April 2022 and March 2023 Self-inflicted deaths accounted for 24% of all deaths in the community
There were 314 deaths awaiting further information required for a classification between April 2022 and March 2023 Deaths awaiting further information required for a classification accounted for 21% of all deaths in the community

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2. Statistician’s comment

In June 2022, a new framework (see section 4.4.6) for reporting and reviewing deaths under probation supervision in the community was implemented. As part of this, a new set of classifications to report the apparent cause of death was introduced on 1 April 2022. It is important to note, therefore, that the figures presented in this report for April 2022 to March 2023 are based on the new classification, and, as such, direct comparisons with previous years will not be possible.

The new framework for reporting deaths is intended to improve guidance provided to probation staff, thus refine information about the deaths of people under probation supervision and increase the accuracy and quality of deaths under supervision data. The new categories aim to provide a more accurate definition of self-inflicted deaths by separating drug poisonings and falls from height by whether they were intentional or not.

The total number of deaths of offenders supervised in the community in England and Wales increased by 6% in the financial year ending 2023, to 1,520 deaths, compared to the previous year. There were 1,319 male and 201 female deaths, representing increases of 6% and 5% respectively over the same period. With the exception of the April 2019 to March 2020, these figures follow a broad upward trend since the introduction of the Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA) in 2014, which increased the number of offenders supervised by probation services.

Deaths by natural causes represented the largest proportion of all deaths in the community between April 2022 and March 2023, accounting for 568 deaths, or 37% of all deaths in the community.

The second largest cause of death, with 360 recorded in the same period, was self-inflicted, which represented 24% of all deaths in the community.

The number of offenders who died while serving court orders in the community increased by 12% to 847 in the financial year ending 2023 (56% of total deaths) compared to that ending 2022, whilst those which occurred under post-release supervision decreased by 3% to 619 (41% of total deaths) over the same period.

3. Introduction

The Deaths of offenders supervised in the community statistics bulletin covers the deaths of offenders in England and Wales that occurred while they were under probation supervision because they were:

  • serving their court order sentences in the community (including community orders and suspended sentence orders) or
  • on post-release supervision after completing a custodial sentence.

These figures refer to deaths of offenders occurring outside custody, with the exception of the small number occurring for those residing in Approved Premises, which are also included in this publication.

Offenders under supervision in the community (other than, to an extent, those in Approved Premises) are not in the care of HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) in the way they are when in custody. The main responsibilities of offender managers in the community are to assess, supervise and rehabilitate offenders. While they can encourage offenders to address issues affecting offenders’ health and wellbeing, their ability to manage these issues is limited. As a result, the level of responsibility and accountability of the Probation Service for the health and well-being of offenders is substantially different from that of the Prison Service in relation to deaths in custody.

Statistics on deaths occurring in custody are published separately in the Safety in custody statistics. These two sets of figures cannot be compared meaningfully.

Presented alongside this bulletin are summary tables and a data tool on a financial year basis. The tables, along with previous editions of the publication series, can be found at Deaths of offenders in the community.

4. Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014

The introduction of the Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA) in 2014 increased the number of offenders supervised by probation services as all offenders given custodial sentences became subject to a minimum of 12 months’ supervision in the community upon release from prison. This consists of a period spent on licence, and, depending on the length of custodial sentence, a period on post-sentence supervision. Previously, only adults sentenced to over 12 months in custody and all young offenders were subject to statutory supervision.

In June 2014, as part of the wider Transforming Rehabilitation reforms under which ORA was introduced, the National Probation Service (NPS) was also established to manage the most high-risk offenders across 7 divisions whilst 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) managed medium and low-risk offenders[footnote 1]. They generally dealt with those aged 18 years and over (those under 18 were mostly dealt with by Youth Offending Teams, answering to the Youth Justice Board). They were responsible for supervising offenders who were given community sentences and suspended sentence orders by the courts, as well as offenders given custodial sentences, both pre- and post- their release.

However, probation has since been reformed under the Probation Reform Programme. As part of these plans, the Probation Service (formerly the NPS) is now responsible for managing all offenders on a community order or licence following their release from prison in England and Wales, with enhanced monitoring of terrorists, serious organised criminals and very high-risk offenders carried out by the new National Security Division (NSD).

In addition, from April 2020, the process of shifting the NPS from its previous formation of 7 divisions to 12 Probation Service regions began; this process was completed by the end of 2020. Contracts for CRCs ended in June 2021 and management of offenders who were previously managed by CRCs transferred to one of the new Probation Service regions on 26 June 2021[footnote 2].

Given this gradual transition in relation to data recording, this bulletin no longer includes commentary on separate figures for CRCs and the NPS. Furthermore, the main tables accompanying this bulletin no longer present a breakdown of figures by CRC and the NPS. Statistics broken down by probation region and, pre-June 2021, by CRC/NPS division are presented in the accompanying data tool, as well as previous releases of these statistics; caution should be taken where interpreting these figures however, as like-for-like comparisons by area are limited.

5. Deaths from COVID-19

HM Prison and Probation Service COVID-19 Official Statistics report the latest information on deaths where probation service users are known to have died having tested positive for COVID-19 or where there was a clinical assessment that COVID-19 was a contributory factor in their death, from March 2020 to February 2023.

With the exception of April 2019 to March 2020, there has been a broad upward trend in the number of total deaths of offenders in the community in England and Wales since 2014 when ORA was introduced.

Latest figures show a 6% increase from 1,439 deaths in the financial year ending 2022 to 1,520 deaths of offenders in  the financial year ending 2023. Since April 2014 to March 2015, the separate figures for male and female deaths have also been on a broadly upward trend. In April 2022 to March 2023, there were 1,319 male and 201 female deaths, representing increases of 6% and 5%, respectively, compared to the previous year. Furthermore, over this period, male deaths accounted for 87% of all deaths whilst female deaths made up 13% of total deaths. The proportion of all deaths based on sex has remained stable over time.

At the time of death, 37% of males were aged 36 to 49, compared to 45% for females in April 2022 to March 2023; this age group continues to have the highest number of deaths for both sexes. The age group of 50 to 65 has the second highest accounting for 28% of males and 24% of females. Males were more likely than females to be in the oldest age group, with 11% of males aged over 65 at the time of death (compared with 2% of females).

The proportions of males in the 50 to 65 and over 65 age categories have been rising since the financial year ending 2018 from 20% to 28% and from 8% to 11% respectively. In contrast, the proportions of males in the 18 to 24 and 25 to 35 age categories have fallen from 8% to 4% and from 24% to 18% respectively over the same period, showing the average age at death for males is shifting towards the older age groups. The proportions of females in these age categories have remained more consistent over recent years.

7. Apparent cause of death[footnote 3]

In June 2022, a new framework (see section 4.4.6) for reporting and reviewing deaths under probation supervision in the community was implemented.  As part of this, a new set of classifications to report the apparent cause of death was introduced on 1 April 2022, and as such, comparing figures by cause of death for April 2022 to March 2023 against previous years will not be possible[footnote 4].

The new framework for reporting deaths is intended to improve guidance provided to probation staff, thus refine information about the deaths of people under probation supervision and increase the accuracy and quality of deaths under supervision data. The new categories aim to provide a more accurate definition of self-inflicted deaths by separating drug poisonings and falls from height by whether they were intentional or not.

In April 2022 to March 2023, the most common cause of death for offenders supervised in the community was natural causes (568 deaths), accounting for 37% of all deaths. This was followed by 360 self-inflicted deaths[footnote 5] (24% of the total); the majority of these were drug poisonings of undetermined intent (43%) and hangings (30%). Of the 244 other: non-natural deaths (16% of total deaths), 32% were unintentional drug poisonings. Homicide was the least common cause, with 34 deaths in April 2022 to March 2023, equivalent to 2% of total deaths.

There were a further 314 deaths (21%) awaiting further information and therefore could not be assigned a known cause of death with current information. This is likely due to the time taken for probation practitioners to receive relevant information and this figure may reduce when revised in future publications.

Figure 1: Deaths of offenders in the community by apparent cause, England and Wales, from the financial year ending 2011 to the financial year ending 2022 (Source: Table 1) [footnote 6]

Figure 2: Deaths of offenders in the community by apparent cause under the new classification system, England and Wales, April 2022 to March 2023 (Source: Table 1)

By sex

In April 2022 to March 2023, female deaths by natural causes made up a larger proportion of deaths in comparison with males; 42% of all female deaths were due to natural causes, equivalent to 84 out of 201 deaths, compared to 37% of all male deaths, equivalent to 484 out of 1,319 deaths. In contrast, the proportions of self-inflicted and other: non-natural deaths were slightly higher for males than females, 24% and 16% respectively for males compared to 23% and 14% respectively for females. Of the 34 homicide deaths in April 2022 to March 2023, only one was female (0.5% of female deaths) and the remaining 33 were male (2.5% of male deaths).

By duration from release

For deaths of offenders under post-release supervision in April 2022 to March 2023, a higher number of deaths were self-inflicted when the death was closer to the date of release from custody, and a higher number of deaths were from natural causes when the date of death was further away. For all deaths where the duration between release and death was up to 14 days (61 deaths from April 2022 to March 2023), 21 were self-inflicted (34%) and 9 were from natural causes (15%), whereas when the duration was over 365 days (228 deaths from April 2022 to March 2023), 25 were self-inflicted (11%) and 141 were from natural causes (62%).

Deaths from COVID-19

The statistics for the latest financial year (April 2022 to March 2023) are the first since March 2020 to not include any deaths confirmed or suspected to be due to COVID-19. From the start of the pandemic in March 2020 to February 2023, 83 deaths were confirmed or suspected to be due to COVID-19[footnote 7], and comparisons of these statistics with earlier periods will reflect the impact of COVID-19 as well as underlying trends.

The monthly HM Prison and Probation Service COVID-19 statistics release reported deaths suspected to be due to COVID-19 from March 2020 to February 2023, however, this is no longer updated and the latest reported death confirmed or suspected to be due to COVID-19 for offenders supervised in the community was in January 2022.

8. Type of supervision

The number of offenders who died while serving court orders in the community increased by 12%, from 756 in the financial year ending 2022 (53% of total deaths) to 847 in the financial year ending  2023 (56% of total deaths) (Figure 3). This follows a broad upward trend in more recent years.

The number of deaths of offenders under post-release supervision in the community decreased by 3% from 637 in the financial year ending 2022 (44% of total deaths) to 619 in the financial year ending 2023 (41% of total deaths) (Figure 3). This follows a volatile upward trend in deaths of offenders under post-release supervision, with the number of deaths increasing overall since the financial year ending March 2015 (when there were 171 deaths, accounting for 31% of all deaths), which corresponds with the introduction of increased supervision under ORA[footnote 8], however this has fluctuated between 458 and 788 deaths in the last 4 years.

In the previous 2 financial years, deaths under court order supervision have followed a trend similar to that of total deaths, increasing steadily from 541 deaths in the financial year ending 2020, to 645, 756, and 846 deaths in the years ending 2021, 2022, and 2023 respectively. Comparatively, deaths under post-release supervision have followed a more volatile trend, increasing from 458 deaths in the year ending 2020, to 788 deaths in the year ending 2021, before decreasing to 637 and 619 deaths in the years ending 2022 and 2023.

The proportion of deaths under each type of supervision has remained relatively constant, on average, since the financial year ending 2016. Deaths under court order supervision fluctuated between 45% and 57% of total deaths, whereas deaths under post-release supervision were slightly more volatile, fluctuating between 39% and 55% of all deaths.

Figure 3: Total deaths of offenders in the community, by type of supervision, England and Wales, from the financial year ending 2011 to the financial year ending 2023 (Source: Tables 2 and 3) [footnote 6]

Post-release supervision deaths by duration from release

Among deaths under post-release supervision from April 2022 to March 2023, at 37% (228 deaths), most offenders died over 365 days from the date of release (a 5 percentage point increase since the financial year ending 2022) and 32% (196 offenders) died between 101 and 365 days from the date of release (a decrease of 3 percentage points since the financial year ending 2022).

The financial year ending 2023 is the first year since the financial year ending 2015 in which more offenders died over 365 days from the date of release than those who died between 101 and 365 days from the date of release. Between the financial year ending 2018 and the financial year ending 2023, the proportion of deaths occurring over 365 days has increased from 19% to 37%, meanwhile the proportion of deaths occurring between 101 and 365 days has decreased from 40% to 32% over the same time period.

10% of deaths occurred up to 14 days from their release and a further 4% of deaths occurred between 15 and 28 days from their release, representing decreases of 0.5 and 2 percentage points, respectively, since the financial year ending 2022.

Figure 4: Deaths of offenders in the community under post-release supervision, by duration from date of release to date of death, England and Wales, from the financial year ending 2011 to the financial year ending 2023 (Source: Table 2) [footnote 6]

9. Approved Premises

Approved Premises, formerly known as probation/bail hostels, provide accommodation for offenders on post-release supervision (released from prison on licence) and those directed by the courts to live there as a condition of their court order. Staff provide supervision, support, and ensure that residents comply with conditions of their licence or court order. Some of the deaths, while resident in Approved Premises, occurred away from the premises. Offenders in in Approved Premises can either be on post-release supervision or on a court order.

There were 14 deaths of offenders with residence in Approved Premises in the financial year ending 2023, an increase of 1 since the financial year ending 2022. Deaths in Approved Premises accounted for 1% of all deaths of offenders in the community from April 2022 to March 2023. Most deaths of offenders residing in Approved Premises across the time series were male, including all Approved Premises deaths from April 2022 to March 2023. However, greater volatility in the time series due to low numbers means that comparisons over time would not be meaningful.

Court order supervision

Following an increase in the number of offenders on court order supervision between the financial year ending 2021 and the financial year ending 2022, there was a decrease of 2% from 113,378 as at 31 March 2022 to 111,038 as at 31 March 2023 (Figure 5)[footnote 9], whilst the number of offenders who died while serving court orders in the community increased, by 12%, from the financial year ending 2022 to the financial year ending 2023.

Post-release supervision

The number of offenders on post-release supervision decreased by 4% from 62,236 as at 31 March 2022 to 59,772 as at 31 March 2023. The number of deaths of offenders under post-release supervision in the community also decreased, by 3%, from the financial year ending 2022 to the financial year ending 2023.

Court order and post-release supervision caseload figures decreased in the years that followed the peaks of 124,823 as at 31 March 2017 for court orders and 74,043 as at 31 March 2018 for post-release supervision[footnote 10], unlike deaths of offenders in the community, which had been on an upward trend over the same period. Up to 31 March 2017, the court order and post-release supervision caseload figures and the number of deaths followed a similar trend.[footnote 11]

Figure 5: Number of offenders supervised by the probation service as at 31 March, by type, England and Wales, March 2012 to March 2023 [footnote 5] [footnote 6]

11. Release schedule

This bulletin was published on 26 October 2023, and includes statistics covering financial year periods from the financial year ending 2011 to the financial year ending 2023. The earliest period for which data are held across probation is the financial year ending 2011. As such, the data presented in this publication represent the complete available time series.

Financial year figures are collected during August and September of each year and collated for the planned annual publication date in October. The next release of Deaths of offenders supervised in the community statistics, to include figures from April 2023 to March 2024, is scheduled for October 2024.

12. Official statistics

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).

OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards.

Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

13. Contact

Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office:

Tel: 020 3334 3536

Email: newsdesk@justice.gsi.gov.uk

Other enquiries and feedback on these statistics should be directed to probation-statistics-enquiries@justice.gov.uk

General information about the official statistics system of the UK is available from the Statistics Authority.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data relating to offender management in England and Wales. Equivalent statistics can be found for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

  1. These arrangements ended in June 2021. ↩

  2. NPS Wales became responsible for Wales CRC on the 1st December 2019. ↩

  3. Apparent cause of death refers to a provisional classification for administrative and statistical purposes. The official cause of death is determined by the Coroner. ↩

  4. Further information on the new classification of cause of death can be found in the accompanying Guide to deaths of offenders in the community ↩

  5. The category of ‘self-inflicted death’ in these statistics is not used in the same way as in the ‘Safety in Custody’ statistics and is much broader than that of ‘suicide’ in the general population statistics produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In particular, it includes self-inflicted deaths where intent is undetermined (see ‘Categorisation of deaths’ section in the accompanying technical note for full details). This means that caution is advised when attempting any comparisons with these other data sets. ↩ ↩2

  6. The introduction of the Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA) on 1 February 2015 caused an increase in the number of offenders on post-release supervision. Caution should be used when comparing periods prior to and after the introduction of ORA. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  7. Reported deaths include all those where the person tested positive within 60 days of the death or where there was a clinical assessment that COVID-19 was a contributory factor in their death. This number aims to only include service users where COVID-19 contributed or was suspected to contribute to the death. The cause of death is provisional until the official cause of death has been determined by the coroner. ↩

  8. Refer to the Introduction section of this bulletin for further details. ↩

  9. Probation caseload statistics are published in the Offender Management Statistics quarterly publication. ↩

  10. To note, the number of offenders on the probation caseload in June 2020 was substantially reduced as a result of the operational restrictions that were put in place in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of these operational restrictions continued into subsequent periods; however, figures in more recent periods have recovered to pre-pandemic levels. ↩

  11. Some caution should be used when considering caseload figures in conjunction with deaths. Offenders may appear both within the caseload figures of court orders (including community orders and suspended sentence orders) and post-release supervision, resulting in potential double counting. Accordingly, rates of deaths have not been calculated, and comparisons of trends in caseload to trends in deaths of offenders in the community should be seen as indicative. ↩

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