Official Statistics

Deaths of offenders in the community, annual update to March 2024

Published 31 October 2024

Applies to England and Wales

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1. Main points

The headline points on deaths of offenders supervised in the community by the Probation Service in England and Wales from April 2023 to March 2024 are:

From April 2023 to March 2024, there were 1,404 deaths of offenders in the community This represents a decrease of 10% from 1,558 deaths in the financial year ending 2023
756 deaths (54% of total) in the community were offenders serving court orders in the financial year ending 2024 This represents a decrease of 12% from 862 deaths (55% of total) in the financial year ending 2023
608 deaths (43% of total) from April 2023 to March 2024 were offenders on post-release supervision This represents a decrease of 4% from 636 deaths (41% of total) in the previous year
Natural causes was the most common cause of death, accounting for 622 deaths, or 44% of all deaths in the community between April 2023 and March 2024 This represents a decrease of 11% from 697 deaths (45%) in the previous year
There were 392 self-inflicted deaths between April 2023 and March 2024, accounting for 28% of all deaths in the community This represents a decrease of 13% from 453 deaths (29%) in the previous year
There were 32 deaths awaiting further information required for a classification between April 2023 and March 2024, accounting for 2% of all deaths in the community This represents an increase of 12 deaths from 20 (1%) in the previous year

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2. Statistician’s comment

The total number of deaths of offenders supervised in the community in England and Wales decreased by 10% in the financial year ending 2024, to 1,404 deaths, compared to the previous year. There were 1,228 male and 176 female deaths, representing decreases of 9% and 13% respectively over the same period. This decrease deviates from the broad upward trend in number of deaths in the community since the introduction of the Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA) in 2014, which increased the number of offenders supervised by probation services. 

The number of offenders who died while serving court orders in the community decreased by 12% to 756 in the financial year ending 2024 (54% of total deaths) compared to that ending 2023, whilst those which occurred under post-release supervision decreased by 4% to 608 (43% of total deaths) over the same period.

The total number of deaths in 2023 to 2024, while lower than that reported in the previous financial year, is higher than that reported in all years prior to the financial year 2020 to 2021. The decrease in total number of deaths of offenders supervised in the community between the financial years ending 2023 and 2024 is mainly driven by decreases in the deaths of those under court order supervision, which also saw an overall reduction in caseload supervision over the same period.

Deaths by natural causes represented the largest proportion of all deaths in the community between April 2023 and March 2024, accounting for 622 deaths, or 44% of all deaths in the community. This represents a decrease of 11% from 697 deaths (45%) in the previous year.

The second largest cause of death, with 392 recorded in the same period, was self-inflicted, which represented 28% of all deaths in the community. This represents a decrease of 13% from 453 deaths (29%) in the previous year.

There were 32 deaths awaiting further information required for a classification between April 2023 and March 2024, accounting for 2% of all deaths in the community. This represents an increase of 12 deaths from 20 (1%) in the previous year.

In June 2022, a new framework for reporting and reviewing deaths under probation supervision in the community was implemented. The framework for reporting deaths improved guidance for probation staff to provide more detailed information about the deaths of people under probation supervision and increase the accuracy and quality of this information. 

As part of this, the framework introduced a new set of classifications to report the apparent cause of death effective from 1 April 2022. The new categories provide a more accurate definition of self-inflicted deaths by distinguishing between intentional and unintentional drug poisonings and falls from height. It is important to note, therefore, that the figures from April 2022 presented in this report are based on the new classification, making direct comparisons with previous years not possible. 

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 their 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 this bulletin; caution should be taken where interpreting these figures however, as like-for-like comparisons by area are limited. 

Prior to the 2023 to 2024 financial year, with the exception of April 2019 to March 2020, there was 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 10% decrease from 1,558 deaths in the financial year ending 2023 to 1,404 deaths of offenders in the financial year ending 2024. This represents the biggest year-on-year decrease since the financial year ending 2014. Since April 2014 to March 2015, the separate figures for male and female deaths had been on a broadly upward trend. However, in April 2023 to March 2024, there were 1,228 male and 176 female deaths, representing decreases of 9% and 13%, 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. 

Age at death 

In terms of age at death, in April 2023 to March 2024: 

  • the highest proportion of deaths were offenders in the 36 to 49 age group, comprising 36% of all males and 49% of all females 

  • the second highest proportion of deaths were offenders in the 50 to 65 age group, comprising 27% of all males and 26% of all females 

  • males were more likely to be in the oldest age group (over 65), representing 13% of males compared to 2% of females 

The proportions of males in the 50 to 65 and over 65 age categories have risen between the financial years ending 2018 and 2024 from 20% to 27% and from 8% to 13% respectively. In contrast, the proportions of males in the 18 to 24 and 25 to 35 age categories have fallen from 8% to 5% and from 24% to 17% 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 followed a more volatile trend over the same period, likely due to the lower overall number of deaths of female offenders in the community. 

Figure 1: Deaths of offenders in the community, by age at death, England and Wales, from the financial year ending 2014 to the financial year ending 2024 (Source: Table 5) [footnote 3]

6. Apparent cause of death [footnote 4]

In June 2022, a new framework 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 periods after April 2022 to March 2023 against previous years will not be possible.[footnote 5]

In April 2023 to March 2024, the most common cause of death for offenders supervised in the community was natural causes (622 deaths), accounting for 44% of all deaths. This was followed by 392 self-inflicted deaths [footnote 6] (28% of the total); the majority of these were drug poisonings of undetermined intent (49%) and hangings (24%). Of the 301 other: non-natural deaths (21% of total deaths), 38% were unintentional drug poisonings. Homicide was the least common cause, with 57 deaths in April 2023 to March 2024, equivalent to 4% of total deaths. 

There were a further 32 deaths (2%) 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. 

The proportion of deaths in each apparent cause of death category is similar to that in the financial year April 2022 to March 2023: 

  • 44% of all deaths in the 2023 to 2024 financial year were by natural causes, compared to 45% in the prior financial year 

  • 28% of all deaths in the 2023 to 2024 financial year were self-inflicted, compared to 29% in the prior financial year 

  • 21% of all deaths in the 2023 to 2024 financial were by other: non-natural causes, compared to 22% in the prior financial year 

  • 4% of all deaths in the 2023 to 2024 financial year were homicide, compared to 3% in the prior financial year 

  • 2% of all deaths in the 2023 to 2024 financial year were awaiting further information, compared to 1% in the prior financial year 

There were only 20 deaths (1%) and 32 deaths (2%) awaiting further information in the financial years ending 2023 and 2024, respectively, the lowest numbers of deaths awaiting further information since at least the financial year ending 2011. These recent lower numbers of deaths awaiting further information and the corresponding increase in reported deaths across other cause of death categories is likely due to the new framework of reporting cause of death as well as efforts taken by probation practitioners and data managers to improve data quality. 

Figure 2: Deaths of offenders in the community, England and Wales, from the financial year ending 2014 to the financial year ending 2024 (Source: Table 1) [footnote 3]

Figure 3: Deaths of offenders in the community, by apparent cause under the new classification system, England and Wales, in the financial years ending 2023 and 2024 (Source: Table 1)

By sex

In April 2023 to March 2024, male deaths by natural causes made up a larger proportion of deaths in comparison with females; 46% of all male deaths were due to natural causes, equivalent to 565 out of 1,228 deaths, compared to 32% of all female deaths, equivalent to 57 out of 176 deaths. 

In contrast, the proportions of self-inflicted and other: non-natural deaths were higher for females than males, 38% and 27% respectively for females compared to 27% and 21% respectively for males. Of the 57 homicide deaths in April 2023 to March 2024, 3 were female (2% of female deaths) and the remaining 54 were male (4% of male deaths).

By duration from release

For deaths of offenders under post-release supervision in April 2023 to March 2024: 

  • 61 deaths occurred within 14 days of release from custody. Of these, 24 were self-inflicted (39%) and 16 were from natural causes (26%) 

  • a higher proportion of all deaths were self-inflicted when the death was closer to the date of release from custody 

  • 198 deaths occurred when the duration was over 365 days. Of these, 17 were self-inflicted (9%) and 150 were from natural causes (76%) 

  • a higher proportion of all deaths were from natural causes when the death was further away from the date of release from custody

7. Type of supervision

The number of offenders who died while serving court orders in the community decreased by 12%, from 862 in the financial year ending 2023 (55% of total deaths) to 756 in the financial year ending 2024 (54% of total deaths) (Figure 4). This had followed a broad upward trend in more recent years. 

The number of deaths of offenders under post-release supervision in the community decreased by 4% from 636 in the financial year ending 2023 (41% of total deaths) to 608 in the financial year ending 2024 (43% of total deaths) (Figure 4). Despite the recent decline, the overall trend has been volatile, with the number of deaths generally increasing 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 7] In the last 5 years, the number of deaths of offenders under post-release supervision has fluctuated between 458 and 788. 

In the previous 5 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 862 deaths in the years ending 2021, 2022, and 2023 respectively, before decreasing to 756 deaths in the financial year ending 2024. 

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 4: Total deaths of offenders in the community, by type of supervision, England and Wales, from the financial year ending 2014 to the financial year ending 2024 (Source: Tables 2a and 3) [footnote 3]

Post-release supervision deaths by duration from release

Among deaths under post-release supervision from April 2023 to March 2024, at 35% (215 deaths), most offenders died between 101 and 365 days from the date of release and 33% (198 offenders) died more than 365 days from the date of release. 

Between the financial year ending 2018 and the financial year ending 2024, the proportion of deaths occurring over 365 days has increased from 19% to 33%, meanwhile the proportion of deaths occurring between 101 and 365 days has decreased from 40% to 35% over the same time period. 

10% of deaths occurred up to 14 days from their release and a further 5% of deaths occurred between 15 and 28 days from their release, both similar proportions to those in the financial year ending 2023.

Figure 5: 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 2014 to the financial year ending 2024 (Source: Table 2b) [footnote 3]

8. 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 12 deaths of offenders with residence in Approved Premises in the financial year ending 2024, a decrease of 2 since the financial year ending 2023. Deaths in Approved Premises accounted for 1% of all deaths of offenders in the community from April 2023 to March 2024. Most deaths of offenders residing in Approved Premises across the time series were male, including all Approved Premises deaths from April 2022 to March 2024. However, greater volatility in the time series due to low numbers means that comparisons over time would not be meaningful.

Court order supervision

Following a decrease in the number of offenders on court order supervision between the financial year ending 2022 and the financial year ending 2023, there was a further decrease of 4% from 111,038 as at 31 March 2023 to 106,961 as at 31 March 2024 (Figure 6), and the number of offenders who died while serving court orders in the community decreased, by 12%, from the financial year ending 2023 to the financial year ending 2024.

Post-release supervision

The number of offenders on post-release supervision increased by 1% from 59,772 as at 31 March 2023 to 60,140 as at 31 March 2024. Contrastingly, the number of deaths of offenders under post-release supervision in the community decreased, by 4%, from the financial year ending 2023 to the financial year ending 2024.

Court order and post-release supervision caseload figures broadly 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 9] 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 10]

Figure 6: Number of offenders supervised by the probation service as at 31 March, by sentence type, England Wales, March 2014 to March 2024 [footnote 3][footnote 8]

11. Release schedule

This bulletin was published on 31 October 2024, and includes statistics covering financial year periods from the financial year ending 2011 to the financial year ending 2024. 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 2024 to March 2025, is scheduled for October 2025.

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. 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 ↩5

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

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

  6. 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. ↩

  7. Refer to the Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA) section of this bulletin for further details. ↩

  8. Probation caseload statistics are published in the Offender Management Statistics quarterly publication. ↩ ↩2

  9. 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. ↩

  10. 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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