Official Statistics

Identified needs of offenders, custody and community, 31 October 2024

Published 12 June 2025

Applies to England and Wales

1. Rationale

To better understand the needs of offenders who receive custody and community disposals, this ad hoc statistical release provides information primarily derived from the Offender Assessment System (OASys).

This release (except for Section 3.2 – identified needs over time) sets out identified needs of offenders serving both custodial sentences and community orders on 31 October 2024, with analysis structured by gender, age and sentence type. Further breakdowns are included, examining:

• Changes in identified needs over time

• Identified needs by ethnic background

• Common combinations of identified needs

• Number of identified needs per offender

This release updates and adapts a 2022 ad hoc report on identified needs of offenders in custody and the community. It includes data on only the sentenced population (see Section 2.2 – OASys assessments and needs).

The information will be valuable for the development of policies around managing offenders, serving both custodial and community sentences.

2. Background, Methodology and Coverage

This publication (except for Section 3.2) presents information on needs identified at assessment of offenders on the His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) caseload on a given date: 31 October 2024. In Section 3.2, data is presented at multiple points in time; 30 June 2019, 31 March 2020, 31 March 2021, 30 June 2022, 30 June 2023 and 30 April 2024, to compare identified needs over time. Data on needs are recorded in OASys, an operational database used to assess the risks and needs of eligible offenders in prisons and the probation service across England and Wales, as discussed in more detail in Section 4 of the publication.

2.1 Combined prison and probation caseload data

Information provided in this release is derived from an analytical dataset that combines three data sources extracted from Ministry of Justice (MoJ) operational databases: the probation case management system (National Delius or Delius), the prison case management system (P-NOMIS) and OASys.

To create the underlying dataset, caseload listings from Delius and P-NOMIS, as they appear on 31 October 2024, are combined (see Section 4.2 - matching of offender records). Where individuals have concurrent sentences listed on Delius, the sentence with the latest expected termination date is retained.

2.2 OASys assessments and needs

OASys assessments are conducted on individuals under HMPPS statutory supervision to better understand the needs of and risks posed by them.

The assessment shows actuarial estimates of an individual offender’s proven reoffending risk for several types of offending, together with the assessor’s rating of the likelihood of them causing serious harm to others, and from that an appropriate Sentence Plan is prepared considering these issues

There are two types of OASys assessments: a basic assessment (Layer 1), or a full assessment (Layer 3). In the community, most offenders with community orders or release on licence are required to have a layer 3 assessment. Over the time period covered by this report, only those with a single requirement of unpaid work (UPW) or curfew will usually have a Layer 1 assessment. OASys completed in custody is dependent upon a variety of risk factors and length of custodial sentence. A combination of Layer 3 and Layer 1 OASys are completed dependent upon those factors.

A basic Layer 1 assessment is a reduced assessment. It does not include criminogenic needs sections and contains a basic sentence plan. Please see Section 4 - Notes and Glossary for an explanation of criminogenic need.

A Layer 3 assessment contains all sections of OASys including the actuarial risk predictor tools, criminogenic needs sections, risk analysis sections, risk management plan and sentence plan.

There are eight criminogenic needs measuring factors linked to offending behaviour which are assessed using OASys; accommodation, employability[1], relationships, lifestyle and associates, drug misuse, alcohol misuse, thinking & behaviour, and attitudes.

This release presents information in relation to the eight criminogenic needs, mental health needs, and those identified as victims of domestic abuse (see Section 3.8 – Domestic Abuse). Herein all these areas will be referred to as needs.  Further descriptions of these needs can be found in Section 4.1 – Needs.

2.2.1 Custody sentence types not included in this publication

The remand population has not been included in this publication. Individuals on remand are not convicted and therefore do not receive an OASys assessment.

A small proportion (1%) of prison records are classified as “unknown” and “non-criminal” sentence type. These two groups have not been included in this publication.

Consequently, for this reason as well as ongoing changes in the nature of the HMPPS caseload and the wider prevalence of criminogenic issues such as substance misuse, identified needs may differ from previous publications.

2.3 Coverage of OASys assessments

After combining the prison and probation caseload, further matching is carried out to identify OASys assessments for individuals in the caseload. The most recent Layer 3 assessment is retained if it was completed during the current sentence and / or within the past two years. OASys coverage is defined as the proportion of all offenders with a complete Layer 3.

Results are indicative of those with a full OASys Layer 3. The data presented is therefore not representative of the full prison or probation caseload on 31 October 2024. Inferences should not be made about those without an assessment, and caution is needed when interpreting results where OASys assessment coverage (herein referred to as ‘coverage’) is lower or where numbers are small.

2.3.1 Coverage: Custodial caseload

Overall Layer 3 coverage for the custody caseload on 31 October 2024 was 90%. Variation was observed by age, gender and sentence type, detailed in Table 1.

Table 1: Layer 3 coverage by group in custody

Custody group	Coverage
Female	87%
Male	91%
Age Band: 18-25	87%
Age Band: 26-29	89%
Age Band: 30-39	91%
Age Band: 40-49	92%
Age Band: 50-59	93%
Age Band: 60+	94%
Sentence Type: Recall	99%
Sentence Type: <12 months	80%
Sentence Type: 1 to under 4 years	73%
Sentence Type: 4 years + determinate	94%
Sentence Type: Life	98%
Sentence Type: IPP	100%
Sentenced Population	90%

• Coverage increased with age: 87% of the custody caseload aged 18-25 had a full assessment compared to 94% of those aged 60+.

• Males had higher coverage than females across all age bands. 91% of all males had a Layer 3 compared to 87% of females.

• Coverage rates were higher for those serving longer length determinate sentences: 80% of the custody caseload serving a custodial sentence of 12 months or less had a full OASys compared to 94% of those serving a determinate sentence of 4 years or more; and

• Individuals who had been recalled and those serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences had the highest rates of coverage with at least 99% coverage for both.

• Individuals are recorded on HMPPS systems according to their legally recognised gender, as such all individuals are recorded as either male or female. The transgender status of offenders is separately recorded but is not in scope for this publication.

2.3.2 Coverage: Community caseload

Overall OASys Layer 3 coverage for the community caseload on 31 October 2024 was 87%. Coverage rate varied by gender, age and sentence type, detailed in Table 2.

Note that as certain community sentences (e.g. UPW) are usually only assessed at Layer 1, the proportion of community offenders with any OASys assessment will be higher than the figures reported in this section.

Table 2: Layer 3 coverage by group in the community

Community group	Coverage
Female	87%
Male	87%
Age Band: 18-25	84%
Age Band: 26-29	86%
Age Band: 30-39	88%
Age Band: 40-49	88%
Age Band: 50-59	89%
Age Band: 60+	88%
Sentence Type: Community Order / Other	81%
Sentence Type: Suspended Sentence Order	84%
Sentence Type: Licence	94%
All community	87%

• Coverage increased with age: 84% of the caseload aged 18-25 had a full assessment compared to 88% of those 30-49 and 89% of those age 50-59.

• Overall coverage was the same for males and females, at 87%; and

• Coverage for people released on licence (94%) was higher than the coverage of those with either a community order (81%) or suspended sentence (84%).

2.4 Linked Publications

A recent MoJ publication titled “Criminogenic needs of prolific offenders” (May 2025) presents a profile comparing the criminogenic needs of prolific offenders with non-prolific offenders. The publication can be found here.

3. Key Findings

3.1 Identified needs: Custody and community caseload

Figure 1 shows the overall rates of identified needs, for those with an OASys Layer 3 on 31 October 2024 comparing the custody and community[2] caseloads overall.

Figure 1: Needs in the community and custody, 31 October 2024[3]

Of those with a Layer 3, people in custody had higher rates of identified needs across eight out of the nine need areas. The largest difference was seen in those with an identified accommodation need (68% for those in custody, compared to 39% for those in the community).

Lifestyle and associates need was identified most commonly in both custody (89%) and community (71%). This OASys section includes issues such as reckless and risk-taking behaviour, being influenced by criminal peers, and having lifestyle, associates or conducting in activities that encourage offending[4].

For both custody and community, alcohol misuse was the least identified need out of the nine need areas: 22% of people in custody and 24% of people in the community were identified as having an alcohol misuse need. Alcohol misuse was the only need identified more often in the community than in custody.

3.2 Identified needs over time

Figure 2: Identified needs over time in custody caseload 2019 to 2024[5]

The level of all needs identified in custody increased between June 2019 and April 2024.

• The largest increase in identified need was in relation to mental health, which had a 10-percentage point increase from 51% (June 2019) to 61% (April 2024).

• The second largest increase in identified need was in accommodation need, with a 9-percentage point increase from 58% (June 2019) to 67% (April 2024).

• The smallest increase was in alcohol misuse need which had a 1-percentage point increase from 20% (June 2019) to 21% (April 2024).

Relationships, thinking and behaviour, attitudes, and lifestyle and associates were consistently the most commonly identified of all nine needs in custody.  Alcohol misuse was consistently the lowest identified need in custody between June 2019 and April 2024.

Figure 3: Identified needs over time in the community caseload 2019 to 2024

The level of all needs identified in the community increased between June 2019 and April 2024.

• The largest increase in identified need was in relation to mental health, which had a 9-percentage point increase from 52% (June 2019) to 61% (April 2024).

• The second highest increase in identified need was in relationships, with a 6-percentage point increase from 61% (June 2019) to 67% (April 2024).

• The smallest increase was in employability which had a 1-percentage point increase from 44% (June 2019) to 45% (April 2024), although employability saw a dip to 43% in June 2022 and June 2023.

Relationships, thinking and behaviour, attitudes, lifestyle and associates and mental health are consistently the most commonly identified of all nine needs in the community.  Alcohol misuse was consistently the lowest identified need in the community between June 2019 and April 2024.

These data are snapshots on a single day in the year, there may be fluctuations in trends within the years which are not captured by this data.

The data sets have changed over the period which our time series data has been used. Prior to June 2021 probation regions were managed differently from now and operated by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs), and Layer 3 completion rates were difference across each CRC. Data sets produced after February 2024 used SPLINK (see Section 4.2 - matching of offender records) to match data instead of a rule based matching process used in earlier data sets. The change made had the dual aim of improving linking whilst allowing meaningful comparisons to be made over time.

3.3 Identified needs: Custody caseload

3.3.1 Sentence type

Figure 4 shows how identified needs for people with a Layer 3 in custody varied by sentence type.

Figure 4: Needs in custody, by sentence type, 31 October 2024

Determinate sentences

People with a Layer 3, serving determinate sentences of less than 12 months, tended to have higher rates of identified needs than people serving longer determinate sentences.  

The most prominent difference, by sentence length, was in drug misuse need where 74% of those serving sentences of less than 12 months had an identified drug misuse need, compared to 42% of those serving a sentence of 4 years or more.

Note that people serving determinate sentences of 12 months or less and 1 to under 4 years had lower rates of coverage at 80% and 73%, respectively.  This is compared to 94% coverage for people serving sentences of 4 years or more and will affect how representative comparisons are.

Life sentences

People serving life sentences, with a Layer 3, had the lowest rates of identified alcohol misuse need; 11% compared to 22% of the custody caseload.

IPP sentences

People serving IPP sentence had the highest rate of identified need in four out of the nine needs areas, when compared to all other custodial sentence types: relationships (96%), thinking and behaviour (94%), accommodation (85%) and employability (83%).

Recall

People on recall, with a Layer 3, had the highest level of identified lifestyle and associates (95%) and attitudes (95%) need. Those on recall had higher identification of all needs than those serving 1 to under 4 years, over 4 years + determinate and life sentences. The identification of accommodation, employability, relationships and attitudes needs in recall prisoners is at least 10 percentage points higher than those with 1 to under 4-year sentences. Only drug misuse, alcohol misuse and mental health needs were identified more often in sentences of less than 12 months than in recall prisoners.

3.3.2 Gender

Figure 5 shows how rates of identified need, for people in custody, varied by gender.

Please note that coverage for females in custody was lower than for males (see 2.3.1 - coverage: custody caseload).

Figure 5: Needs in custody, by gender, 31 October 2024

• Lifestyle and associates need was the need identified most for males (89%) and was the need with the smallest difference in rate between genders (2 percentage points higher for males). The need identified most for females was relationships need (88%).

• Mental health need had the highest difference in identified need between females and males in custody; 86% of females had an identified mental health need, compared to 62% of males.

• Females in custody, with a Layer 3, had higher rates of identified needs in six out of the nine need areas: relationships need (88% compared to 77% of males), mental health need (86% compared to 62% of males), accommodation need (75% compared to 68% of males), employability need (69% compared to 66% of males), drugs misuse need (55% compared to 50% of males) and alcohol misuse need (26% compared to 21% of males).

• Males in custody, with a Layer 3, had higher rates of identified needs in three out of the nine need areas: lifestyle and associates need (89% compared to 87% in females), attitudes need (85% compared to 76% in females) and thinking and behaviour need (83% compared to 78% in females).

3.3.3 Age

Figure 6 shows how rates of identified needs vary by age for people in custody with a Layer 3.  Note that Layer 3 coverage in custody increases with age (see 2.3.1 - coverage: custody caseload).

Figure 6: Needs in custody, by age, 31 October 2024  

For three of the nine need areas, there was a pattern of continued falling rates of identified need as age increases: lifestyle and associates (94% of people aged 18-25 compared to 74% of people aged 60+); employability (79% of people aged 18-25 compared to 31% of those aged 60+); and drug misuse, where the largest difference was observed, (62% of people aged 18-25 compared to 11% of those aged 60+).

• Rates of identified relationship need tended to increase with age (72% of people aged 18-25 compared to 80% of those aged 50-59), this dropped to 79% for those aged 60+.

• Rates of identified alcohol misuse need peaked in the 30-39 age band (26%) with lower rates of alcohol misuse need identified in the 18-25 age band (15%) and 60+ age band (10%).

• Rates of those identified with a mental health need peaked in the 30-39 and 40-49 age bands (67%) with lower rates of those with a mental health need in the 18-25 age band (58%) and 60+ age band (48%).

3.4 Identified needs for people in the community

3.4.1 Sentence type

Figure 7 shows how rates of identified need vary for people in the community with a Layer 3, by sentence type: people released from custody on licence, people with community orders and people with suspended sentence orders.

Figure 7: Needs in the community, by sentence type, 31 October 2024

For six of the nine need areas, for people with a Layer 3, rates of need were higher for people on licence than those on community orders and suspended sentences:

• Lifestyle and associates need was identified in 78% of offenders on licence compared to identification in 68% of offenders on suspended sentence orders

• Attitudes need was identified in 71% of offenders on licence compared to identification in 62% of offenders on community orders

• Employability need was identified in 55% of offenders on licence compared to identification in 39% of offenders on community orders

• Accommodation need was identified in 45% of offenders on licence compared to identification in 36% of offenders on community orders

• Drug Misuse need was identified in 43% of offenders on licence compared to identification in 38% of offenders on community orders

• Thinking and Behaviour need was identified in 66% of offenders on licence compared to identification in 63% of offenders on community orders

The mental health and alcohol misuse needs were more commonly identified in those serving community orders (68% and 32% respectively) or suspended sentence orders (64% and 24% respectively) than those on licence (55% and 18% respectively).  

3.4.2 Gender

Figure 8 shows how rates of identified need vary, by gender, for people in the community with a Layer 3.

Figure 8: Needs in the community, by gender, 31 October 2024

Females in the community, with a Layer 3, were more likely than males to have an identified mental health need (83% compared to 58% of males), relationship need (79% compared to 65% of males), employability need (47% compared to 45% of males), accommodation need (42% compared to 38% of males), and alcohol misuse need (31% compared to 23% of males). 

Conversely, males in the community, with a Layer 3 had higher rates of identified attitudes need than females (66% compared to 55% of females), thinking and behaviour need (65% compared to 57% of females) and lifestyle and associates need (72% compared to 66% of females).

Males and females have similar rates of identified drug misuse need (39% for males compared to 38% for females) and employability need (47% for females compared to 45% for males).

3.4.3 Age

Figure 9 shows how needs vary by age for people in the community with a Layer 3

Figure 9: Needs in the community, by age, 31 October 2024  

For three of the nine need areas there was a pattern of falling rates of identified need as age increased. These are:

• Drug misuse, where 46% of people aged 18-25 had a drug misuse need compared to 10% of those aged 60+ (a difference of 36 percentage points).

• Employability, where 56% of those aged 18-25 had an employability need compared to 22% of those aged 60+ (a difference of 34 percentage points); and

• Lifestyle and associates, where 78% of those aged 18-25 had a lifestyle and associates need compared to 51% of those aged 60+ (a difference of 27 percentage points).

Alcohol misuse, mental health and accommodation needs did not follow this pattern. The identified need peaked in the 40-49 age band (29%, 66% and 42% respectively) which is higher than those aged 18-25 (15%, 55% and 36% respectively) and 60+ (14%, 49% and 27% respectively).

3.5 Count of Needs

This section counts the overall number of identified needs of offenders on the HMPPS caseload on 31st October 2024, of the following 9 needs: alcohol misuse, drug misuse, accommodation, employability, attitudes, thinking and behaviour, relationships, lifestyle and associates and mental health.

Individuals in custody had a higher number of identified needs than those in the community. In both custody and the community, females had a higher number of identified needs than males.

Figure 10: Proportion of custody caseload with number of identified needs, by gender, 31 October 2024  

• The average (mean) number of needs per offender in custody is 6.4 for females and 6.0 for males.

• 93% of offenders (male and female) in custody had 3 or more identified needs; females had a higher number of identified needs than males.

• 57% of female offenders had at least 7 identified needs; 25% had 8 of the 9 needs considered, and 13% had all 9 needs considered.

• 47% of male offenders had at least 7 identified needs; 19% had 8 needs and 9% had 9 needs.

Figure 11: Proportion of community caseload with number of identified needs, by gender, 31 October 2024  

In the community, females had a higher number of identified needs than males.

• The average (mean) number of needs per offender in the community is 5.0 for females and 4.7 for males.

• 92% of females and 89% of males in the community had 2 or more identified needs.

• The most common number of identified needs for males (14%) and females (13%) was 4, 5 or 6.

• 31% of females and 26% of males in the community had 7 or more identified needs.

• 6% of females and 4% of males had all 9 identified needs.

3.6 Multiple Needs 

In custody, of those with more than 3 identified needs, 69% had lifestyle and associates, attitudes, thinking and behaviour and relationships needs.

In the community, of those with more than 3 identified needs, 53% have lifestyle and associates, attitudes, thinking and behaviour and relationships needs.

As these needs are identified in many cases, other combinations deemed critical to an individual in terms of multi-disadvantage are considered here.

Note that individuals with the identified combinations of needs may also have other needs, not detailed here.

 A full breakdown of multiple needs can be found in table 5. 

Substance misuse includes an identified drugs or alcohol misuse need; drugs misuse is in reference to a drug need only.

Figure 12: Proportion of all individuals with the identified combination of needs, by custody and community, 31st October 2024.

 

51% of those in custody had identified accommodation and employability needs, note that this includes individuals who had other identified needs.  Combinations of identified needs including accommodation were notably more common in custody than the community:

• 38% of those in custody had identified accommodation, employability and mental health needs, compared to 20% in the community.

• 34% of those in custody had identified accommodation, employability and drugs misuse needs, compared to 16% in the community.

• 37% of those in custody had identified accommodation, employability and substance misuse needs, compared to 19% in community.

• 49% of those in custody had identified accommodation and mental health needs, compared to 29% in the community.

The combination of mental health and substance misuse needs was identified more in the community (20%) than in custody (18%).

3.7 Identified needs by ethnic background

This section looks at identified needs, broken down by ethnic background; understanding disparities is key to providing appropriate support to all groups of offenders. 

Figure 13: Identified needs in all individuals (community and custody), by ethnic background, 31 October 2024

Thinking and behaviour needs and attitudes needs both had the smallest range in identified needs between ethnic backgrounds.

The largest range was in relationships needs, with a 24-percentage point difference between identified needs in people of Asian background (49%), and people of White background (73%).

The lowest rates of identified needs were in those of Asian or Other ethnic backgrounds with each ethnic group having the lowest level of identified needs in 4 of the 9 needs considered:

• Offenders of Asian background had the lowest level of identified accommodation (37%), employability (49%), relationships (49%) and mental health (43%) needs.

• Offenders of Other ethnic backgrounds had the lowest identified level of drug misuse (31%), thinking and behaviour (62%), attitudes (67%) and lifestyle and associates (71%) needs.

• Offenders from a Black ethnic background had the lowest identified level of alcohol misuse need (10%).

Individuals with a Mixed background and individuals of White background had the highest level of needs, with each ethnic group having the highest level of identified needs in 4 needs of the 9 needs considered:

• Offenders with a Mixed ethnic background had the highest level of identified, drug misuse (50%), lifestyle and associates (81%) and thinking and behaviour (70%) needs.

• Offenders from a White background had the highest level of identified relationships (73%), alcohol misuse (27%), thinking and behaviour (70%) and mental health (66%) needs.

• Offenders with Black and Mixed ethnic background both share the highest accommodation need with 49% identified with that need.

Lifestyle and associates need was the most identified need across all the ethnic backgrounds. The Black ethnic group and offenders with a Mixed ethnic background had the highest rate of identified lifestyle and associates need (81%). 

3.8 Experience of Domestic Abuse

This section of the report presents trends among individuals in custody and the community who have reported ever being a victim of domestic abuse, as recorded in their Layer 3 assessments.  

Of all offenders with a Layer 3, 12% of people in custody and 16% of people within the community were recorded as having been a victim of domestic abuse. A greater percentage of females were recorded as having experienced domestic abuse as a victim than males.

The data tables published alongside this report include detailed data on those identified as victims of domestic abuse by gender, age, sentence type and ethnic background.

Figure 14: Experience of domestic abuse as a victim identified in all individuals (community and custody), 31 October 2024   

3.8.1 Offenders with a custodial sentence who were victims of domestic abuse  

In custody, 68% of females were identified as victims of domestic abuse, compared with 10% of males.

The proportion of males and females in custody identified as victims of domestic abuse varies by sentence type:

• Females on recall and those on determinate sentences of less than 12 months were identified most often as having experienced domestic abuse as a victim (78%), compared to 56% of females with life sentences.

• Males on recall and determinate sentences of less than 12 months were identified most often as having experienced domestic abuse as a victim (13% and 14% respectively), compared to 7% of males sentenced to determinate sentences over 4 years.

Females aged 30-39 were most identified as having experienced domestic abuse as a victim (76%), and those age 60+ least identified (43%). This differs from males, where those aged 40-49 are most identified as having experienced domestic abuse as a victim (12%) and age 18-25 and 60+ were least identified (6%).

3.8.2 Offenders who were victims of domestic abuse with a community sentence.

In the community 67% of females were identified as victims of domestic abuse, compared to 10% of males. There is little variation in rate of domestic abuse victims identified between types of community sentence for males or females.

Females in the community aged 30-39 are most identified as having experienced domestic abuse as a victim, with 74% of offenders in this age group identified as domestic abuse victims, compared to 44% of those aged 60+. The highest prevalence identified for males in the community is in the 30-39 and 40-49 age groups, with rates of 12%.

3.8.3 Experience of domestic abuse as a victim and ethnic background of offenders.

Offenders of Other ethnic backgrounds were most identified as domestic abuse victims (17%), those from Asian and White ethnic backgrounds were least identified as domestic abuse victims (6%).

Experience of domestic abuse is not presented as time series data due to concerns about the reliability of earlier records. It has been recorded more consistently in recent years.

4. Notes and Glossary

Criminogenic needs are dynamic risk factors that are directly linked to criminal behaviour. Eight criminogenic needs are measured in OASys: accommodation, employability, relationships, lifestyle and associates, drug misuse, alcohol misuse, thinking & behaviour and attitudes. Three responsivity measures are also derived from OASys variables (Learning Disability and Challenges, low psychosocial maturity and mental health issues): these factors which may affect how an offender responds to support provided to address their criminogenic needs. For example, somebody with a learning disability may require support materials to be provided in a different format to benefit from them.

4.1 Needs

All needs were derived from numbered questions in the OASys Assessment. Each question is scored on a scale from 0 to 2 (some being score 0 or 2, and others 0, 1 or 2) with 0 denoting ‘no need’, 1 ‘some need’ and 2 ‘severe need’. Each set of needs questions has a maximum score, and a need is identified when the score equals or exceeds a cut-off (see table below).

Table 3: OASys questions considered in determining identified needs

Needs	Scored questions	Scale range*	Cut-off
Accommodation	3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6	0-8	2+
Employability	4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5	0-8	3+
Relationships	6.1, 6.3, 6.6	0-6	2+
Lifestyle and Associates	7.2, 7.3, 7.5	0-6	2+
Drug Misuse	8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.8, 8.9	0-10	2+
Alcohol Misuse	9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.5	0-8	4+
Thinking & Behaviour	11.5, 11.6, 11.7, 11.9	0-8	4+
Attitudes	12.1, 12.4, 12.5, 12.8	0-8	2+
Mental Health Need	10.2, 10.6	0-4	1+
Domestic Abuse Victim	6.7	Yes/No	Yes

*Domestic abuse as a victim (Question 6.7) is answered as Yes or No.  Offenders are identified as having experience of domestic if there is evidence of abuse by a current or previous partner or a family member.

Accommodation Need

Includes those who are:

• Of No Fixed Abode (NFA) or in transient accommodation

• Experiencing issues with suitability, permanence or location of accommodation

• Currently in accommodation linked to offending behaviour and accommodation linked to risk of serious harm.

Cut off to be identified as having an accommodation need is 2+ and a score of 2 on Question 3.3 of an OASys assessment (relating to No Fixed Abode or Transient accommodation), causes the other questions on Accommodation to be scored 2 as well. This would be an automatic flag of an accommodation need. There is no equivalent to this in any other questions.

Employability Need

Considers:

• Unemployment

• Employment history

• Have problems with work-related skills, problems with reading, writing or numeracy, or attitudes to employment

• Have employment related to their offending behaviour

Relationships Need

Considers:

• Relationships with family

• Childhood experiences

• Relationships with partner

• Previous relationship experience

• Domestic violence – as a perpetrator or victim

• Parental responsibilities

• Relationships related to offending behaviour

Lifestyle and Associates Need

Considers:

• Activities that encourage offending

• Influence by criminal peers

• Recklessness/risk taking behaviour

• Lifestyle and associates linked to offending behaviour

Drugs Need

Considers:

• Current drug misuse

• Level of use of main drug

• Injecting drugs

• Motivation to tackle drugs

• Drugs major part of lifestyle

• Drugs linked to offending behaviour

Alcohol Need

Considers:

• Current alcohol misuse

• Binge drinking

• Previous alcohol use

• Motivation to tackle alcohol use

• Alcohol linked to offending behaviour

Thinking Need

Considers:

• Interpersonal skills

• Impulsivity and temper control

• Problem recognition

• Problem solving

• Awareness of consequences

• Understanding others’ views

• Thinking and behaviour linked to offending behaviour

Attitudes Need

Considers:

• Pro-criminal attitudes

• Attitude to supervisions

• Attitude to community/society

• Motivation to reduce offending

• Attitudes linked to offending behaviour

Mental Health Need

Includes those where medical evidence is available to support psychological or psychiatric problems at any level of severity.

Domestic Abuse

Includes those where indication is provided of the offender having experienced domestic abuse as a victim from a partner or other family member.

4.2 Matching of offender records 

The production of the dataset (see 2.1 - Combined prison and probation caseload data), which underpins this analysis, relies on matching of individuals in the caseload between the prison and probation case management systems OASys, P-NOMIS and Delius, respectively. Most individuals in custody are recorded on the probation caseload (under the status of ‘pre-release’)[6] and so this results in a large overlap between the prison population and probation caseload data. Matching ensures we reduce any duplication, which could be the result of recording issues between the two case management systems.

The matching process uses SPLINK, a linking software developed and provided on an open-source basis by the MoJ.  This software was developed to have as high accuracy as possible given data quality.  See this link for more details.

For Segmentation, SPLINK matching was tuned to select only record matches with the highest confidence level. 

Only OASys reports from the beginning of the current sentence or 2 years from the snapshot date are used. The latest OASys report for an individual is used, with the more detailed Layer 3 favoured over the less detailed Layer 1 assessment.

5. List of Supplementary Products/Appendix

Tables published alongside this bulletin cover needs by age, gender and sentence type across England and Wales.

Table 1a:

Identified criminogenic needs by sentence type and age group for those in the community

Table 1b:

Identified criminogenic needs by gender and sentence type for those in the community

Table 1c:

Identified criminogenic needs by gender and age group for those in the community

Table 2a:

Identified criminogenic needs by sentence type and age group for those in custody

Table 2b:

Identified criminogenic needs by gender and sentence type for those in custody

Table 2c:

Identified criminogenic needs by gender and age group for those in custody

Table 3:

Identified multiple needs in the community and custody

Table 4:

Identified needs by ethnic background for those in the community and custody

Table 5:

Identified combined needs in community and custody

Table 6:

Identified needs for those in the community and custody over time

Table 7:

Count of community offenders with each need

Table 8:

Count of custody offenders with each need

5.1 Data on count of offenders with needs (tables 7 and 8)

Within this release, data tables are provided showing number of community and custody offenders split by gender, age group and sentence type.  Further split by probation region for people in the community and by prison group for people serving custodial sentences, on 31 October 2024 (aged 18 and over). 

Any count of 1 and 2 will be represented by ‘c’ to indicate suppression. Any count of 0 will be represented as 0.

6. Statement of Compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics

The Code of Practice for Statistics is built around 3 main concepts, or pillars:

• Trustworthiness – is about having confidence in the people and organisations that publish statistics

• Quality – is about using data and methods that produce statistics

• Value – is about publishing statistics that support society’s needs

The following explains how MoJ have applied the pillars of the Code in a proportionate way.

6.1 Trustworthiness

The figures presented in this ad hoc statistical publication were created to allow for development of policies around managing offenders, both in and out of custody. They are being published now to give equal access to all those with an interest in them.

MoJ analysts work to a professional competency framework and Civil Service core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity, and impartiality. The analysis in this release has been scrutinised and received sign-off by the Senior Responsible Analyst.

We protect the security of our data to maintain the privacy of the citizen, fulfil relevant legal obligations and uphold our obligation that no statistics will be produced that are likely to identify an individual, while at the same time taking account of our obligation to obtain maximum value from the data we hold for statistical purposes. All analysts are given security training and the majority of data accessed by analysts is obfuscated and access is business case controlled based to the minimum data required.

6.2 Quality

The data which underpins this release is extracted solely from departmental operational systems, which are relied upon by MoJ for effective offender management. As with any large-scale recording system the data is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. Quality assurance has taken place in line with the standards usually applied to MoJ ad hoc releases, with an internal check that the results shown are robust, and a true representation of the needs of offenders who receive custody and community disposals.

6.3 Value

Releasing this information serves the increased public interest in the needs of offenders being managed in the justice system. The figures also help reduce the administrative burden of answering Parliamentary Questions, Freedom of Information requests and other forms of ad hoc enquiry.

7. Further information

7.1 Contact

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

Tel: 0300 790 0711

Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to the enquiries team within the Probation and Reoffending Directorate of the Ministry of Justice:

Ministry of Justice Probation and Reoffending Directorate 

10th Floor 

102 Petty France 

London 

SW1H 9AJ

Email: data.access@justice.gov.uk

General enquiries about the statistical work of the Ministry of Justice can be e-mailed to: data.access@justice.gov.uk

General information about the official statistics authority of the UK is available from: UK Statistics Authority – Statistics for the Public Good

© Crown copyright Produced by the Ministry of Justice

Alternative formats are available on request from data.access@justice.gov.uk

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[1] For ‘employability’ need, within this release, we refer to a need for ‘employment, education and training’. See glossary for more details.

[2] Consisting of people released on licence from custody, people who have received suspended sentence and community orders.

[3] Graphs are plotted using unrounded numbers, and text is rounded to the nearest whole number. This may result in slight differences between graphs and commentary.

[4] See glossary for question examples for each criminogenic need.

[5] The data presented above for 2021 is a snapshot from March 2021. MoJ has previously published data on offender needs for June 2021. Therefore, there may be differences between the 2021 data presented in this report and the 2021 data presented in the previous publication.

[6] As opposed to being on probation caseload with a community order (including suspended sentences) or post-release on licence.