Official Statistics

Offender accommodation outcomes - statistical summary

Published 30 July 2026

Applies to England and Wales

Change to publication data tables: Housed on release from custody (MI014)

The data tables for the metric ‘Housed on release from custody’ (MI014), currently include breakdowns of accommodation outcomes, by quarter. Following this release of this year’s publication, we intend to report annual figures only.

This change is intended to keep the data tables proportionate and easier to navigate as the time series grows, while continuing to provide the annual figures which are the main figures of interest and are more widely used.

There are no planned changes to the structure or content of the data tables for ‘Settled accommodation at 3 months post-release from custody or post disposal’ (MI015Sa and MI015Sb).

If these proposed changes are likely to cause significant inconvenience or impact your use of the data, please contact the production team at crosscuttingperformanceenquiries@justice.gov.uk.

1. Introduction

This summary presents the main findings from the most recent ‘Offender accommodation outcomes’ publication.

The Probation Service in England and Wales is responsible for supervising offenders serving community sentences, or those released on licence from prison.

There are 12 probation regions across England and Wales: 11 probation regions in England and one in Wales.

2. Housed on release from custody

Housed means the prison leaver is in any settled or temporary accommodation. Housed does not include shelters, emergency hostels, campsites, squatting or rough sleeping. See statistical guidance for further definitions.

• In the year to March 2026, 83.3% of offenders in England and Wales were housed on the night following release from custody (excluding cases out of scope or where the status was unknown).^{Note 1}
• This is a decrease of 0.7 percentage points from 84.0% in the previous performance year.
• Accommodation outcomes on the night of release from custody have declined since the 2021/22 performance year.
• The volume of cases in scope has risen by 29.1% from 73,975 at the beginning of the time series in 2019/20, to 95,490 in the 2025/26 performance year.

Figure 1: Housed on release from custody, by performance year, April 2019 to March 2026, England and Wales

(Source: 2025/26 Housed on release from custody data tables, Table 2)

2.1 Outcomes by region

• Of the 12 probation regions across England and Wales, the North West saw the largest increase in performance with 87.9% of offenders housed on the night following release, an increase of 3.7 percentage points from 84.2% in the previous performance year.
• Of the 12 probation regions across England and Wales, the East Midlands saw the largest decrease in performance with 80.7% of offenders housed on the night following release, a decrease of 3.7 percentage points from 84.4% in the previous performance year.
• In December 2025, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) published a ‘National Plan to End Homelessness’, which includes a joint commitment with the Ministry of Justice to halve the proportion of prison leavers under probation supervision who are homeless on their first night after release by the end of this Parliament.^{Note 2}
  To monitor progress toward this commitment, an England-only aggregate has been included in this release to align with the geographical coverage of related MHCLG reporting, which does not include Wales.
• In the year to March 2026, 82.9% of offenders in England were housed on the night following release from custody, a decrease of 0.6 percentage points from 83.5% in the previous performance year.

Figure 2: Housed on release from custody, by country and probation region, April 2025 to March 2026 compared to April 2024 to March 2025

(Source: 2025/26 Housed on release from custody data tables, Table 3)

2.2 Outcomes by age band

• Between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026, prison leavers aged 18 to 24 were more likely to be housed at release from custody compared with other age groups.
• Between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026, prison leavers aged between 40 and 59 were more likely to be homeless or rough sleeping (no fixed abode) at release from custody compared with other age groups.

Figure 3: Offenders housed at release from custody compared with offenders released homeless or rough sleeping (no fixed abode) at release from custody, by age band, April 2025 to March 2026

(Source: 2025/26 Housed on release from custody data tables, Table 5)

3. Settled accommodation at 3 months post release from custody for supervised cases

Settled accommodation is any accommodation that provides a permanent housing solution. See statistical guidance for further definitions.

• In the year to March 2026, 81.0% of offenders were in settled accommodation at 3 months post release from custody in England and Wales (excluding cases out of scope, eligible for Probation Reset, or where the status was unknown).^{Note 1}
• From May 2024 to March 2025, 80.6% of offenders were in settled accommodation at 3 months post release from custody (excluding cases out of scope, eligible for Probation Reset, or where the status was unknown).
• Caution should be exercised when comparing accommodation figures across previous years. The 2025 release of ‘Offender accommodation outcomes’ was based on 11 months of performance data from May 2024 to March 2025. Figures in the 2026 publication are derived from data over a complete performance year from April 2025 to March 2026.

Figure 4: Settled accommodation at 3 months post release from custody, by performance year, April 2020 to March 2026, England and Wales

(Source: 2023/24 Settled accommodation at 3 months post release from custody data tables, Table 2; 2025/26 Settled accommodation at 3 months post release from custody data tables, Table 2)

3.1 Outcomes by region

• Of the 12 probation regions across England and Wales, Greater Manchester saw the highest performance with 90.1% of offenders in settled accommodation 3 months post release.
• Of the 12 probation regions across England and Wales, the North East saw the lowest performance with 69.9% of offenders in settled accommodation 3 months post release.
• In December 2025, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) published a ‘National Plan to End Homelessness’, which includes a joint commitment with the Ministry of Justice to an increase in the number of prison leavers in settled accommodation at 3 months following release by the end of this Parliament.^{Note 2}
  To monitor progress toward this commitment, an England-only aggregate has been included in this release to align with the geographical coverage of related MHCLG reporting, which does not include Wales.
• In the year to March 2026, 80.7% of offenders in England were in settled accommodation 3 months post release.

Figure 5: Settled accommodation 3 months post release from custody for supervised cases, by country and probation region, April 2025 to March 2026

(Source: 2025/26 Settled accommodation at 3 months post release from custody for supervised cases data tables, Table 3)

3.2 Outcomes by age band

• Between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026, prison leavers aged between 18 and 24 were more likely to to be in settled accommodation at 3 months post release from custody compared with other age groups.
• Between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026, prison leavers aged between 30 and 49 were more likely to be homeless or rough sleeping (no fixed abode) at 3 months post release from custody compared with other age groups.

Figure 6: Proportion of offenders in settled accommodation and homeless or rough sleeping (no fixed abode) at 3 months post release from custody for supervised cases, by age band, April 2025 to March 2026

(Source: 2025/26 Settled accommodation at 3 months post release from custody for supervised cases data tables, Table 5)

4. Settled accommodation at 3 months post community disposal for supervised cases

Settled accommodation is any accommodation that provides a permanent housing solution. See statistical guidance for further definitions.

• In the year to March 2026, 85.8% of offenders were in settled accommodation at 3 months post community disposal in England and Wales (excluding cases out of scope, eligible for Probation Reset, or where the status was unknown).
• From May 2024 to March 2025, 84.9% of offenders were in settled accommodation at 3 months post community disposal (excluding cases out of scope, eligible for Probation Reset, or where the status was unknown).
• Caution should be exercised when comparing accommodation figures across previous years. The 2025 release of ‘Offender accommodation outcomes’ was based on 11 months of performance data from May 2024 to March 2025. Figures in the 2026 publication are derived from data over a complete performance year from April 2025 to March 2026.

Figure 7: Settled accommodation at 3 months post community disposal for supervised cases, by performance year, April 2020 to March 2026, England and Wales

(Source: 2023/24 Settled accommodation at 3 months post community disposal data tables, Table 2; 2025/26 Settled accommodation at 3 months post community disposal for supervised cases data tables, Table 2)

4.1 Outcomes by region

• Of the 12 probation regions across England and Wales, Wales saw the highest performance with 90.6% of offenders in settled accommodation 3 months post community disposal.
• Of the 12 probation regions across England and Wales, the North East probation region saw the lowest performance with 79.7% of offenders in settled accommodation 3 months post community disposal.

Figure 8: Settled accommodation 3 months post community disposal for supervised cases, by country and probation region, April 2025 to March 2026

(Source: 2025/26 Settled accommodation at 3 months post community disposal for supervised cases data tables, Table 3)

4.2 Outcomes by age band

• Between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026, offenders in the age groups 18 and 20 and 60 and over, were more likely to be in settled accommodation 3 months after starting their community sentence compared with other age groups.
• Between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026, offenders aged between 30 and 49 were more likely to be homeless or rough sleeping (no fixed abode) 3 months after starting their community sentence compared with other age groups.

Figure 9: Proportion of offenders in settled accommodation and homeless or rough sleeping (no fixed abode) at 3 months post community disposal for supervised cases, by age band, April 2025 to March 2026

(Source: 2025/26 Settled accommodation at 3 months post community disposal for supervised cases data tables, Table 5)

5. Further insights

5.1 Outcomes by sentence length

Offender accommodation outcomes data suggest there is a relationship between custodial sentence length and accommodation rates. Offenders serving longer custodial sentences generally have better accommodation outcomes both at release, and at 3 months post release.

Figure 10: Offender accommodation outcomes by sentence length for custodial sentences

(Source: 2025/26 Housed on release from custody data tables, Table 8; 2025/26 Settled accommodation at 3 months post release from custody for supervised cases data tables, Table 8)

5.2 Other characteristics

There are differing levels of accommodation outcomes between groups across the characteristics of sex, ethnicity, and offence type, however, differences in cohort sizes should be considered when interpreting potential disproportionality.

Between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026:

• Higher accommodation rates are seen for males on the night of release from custody and at 3 months post release from custody compared with females, while higher accommodation rates are seen for females sentenced to community orders when compared to males.
• Higher accommodation rates are seen for Asian or Asian British offenders across all accommodation measures compared with other ethnicity groups - at release from custody, 3 months post release from custody, and 3 months after starting a community sentence. Asian or Asian British offenders were also least likely ethnicity group to be ‘homeless or rough sleeping (no fixed abode)’ following custodial release or community disposal.
• There is high variation of accommodation rates between different offence types committed. Offenders released following drug offences, fraud offences, summary motoring, and miscellaneous crimes against society experienced higher rates of accommodation overall. By contrast, those with theft offences and summary non-motoring offences were more likely to be of no fixed abode following release.

Note 1: Please refer to the statistical guidance document for full details on the inclusion and exclusion criteria for management information calculations.

Note 2: Detailed information on the national plan to end homelessness can be found here: A National Plan to End Homelessness.

6. Further information

As well as this bulletin, the following products are published as part of this release:

• Offender accommodation outcomes - statistical guidance
• Offender accommodation outcomes - England and Wales data tables
• Offender accommodation outcomes - regional data tables
• Annex 1 - Community Accommodation Service - statistical summary
• Annex 2 - Community Accommodation Service - statistical guidance
• Annex 3 - Community Accommodation Service data tables

Enquiries about these statistics should be directed to:
E Stradling
Email: crosscuttingperformanceenquiries@justice.gov.uk

7. Official statistics

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