Offender management statistics quarterly: April to June 2024

Question 1

1.  Population

Accepted Answer

The prison population stood at 86,966 on 30 September 2024.

The sentenced prison population stood at 68,919 (79% of the total); the remand prison population stood at 17,662 (20%) and the non-criminal prison population stood at 385 (less than 0.5%).

Figure 1: Prison population, September 2004 to September 2024 (Source: Table 1_A_1 [2015-2024] and Table 1_Leg_1[2004-2014])

Remand prison population

The 30 September 2024 remand population figure of 17,662 is 9% higher than in September 2023 and (with the exception of the remand population as at 31 August 2024, which was around 50 higher) represents the highest ‘month end’ figure in at least the last fifty years. The untried prison population rose by 8% (to 11,366) when compared to the end of September 2023 whilst the convicted unsentenced population rose by 11% (to 6,296) over the same period.

The two largest offence groups for those held on remand were ‘violence against the person’ (45% of the untried population and 31% of the convicted unsentenced population) and ‘drug offences’ (11% of the untried population and 17% of the convicted unsentenced population).

The largest offence group increase in both untried and convicted unsentenced populations was observed for Public Order Offences with a 66% and 103% increase compared to end of September 2023, respectively. This increase is likely to be driven by the prosecution associated with the public disorder that occurred in late-July / early-August 2024. We have also observed increases in both the untried and convicted unsentenced populations for possession of weapons offences (29% and 60% increase respectively).

While white prisoners make up 73% of the sentenced population, they make up only 66% of the remand population. All other reported ethnic groups have the same, or greater, proportional representation in the remand population than they do in the sentenced population.

Sentenced prison population

The sentenced population was 68,919 which is a 3% decrease from the same point 12 months earlier. This was largely driven by decreases in the population serving sentences shorter than 5 years, resulting from a policy change on Standard Determinate Sentences (SDS) that took effect on 10 September 2024 (resulting in the release of a large number of offenders on that day), together with earlier releases on End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) from October 2023.

Among these shorter sentences the largest decrease, 28%, was seen for those serving sentences of 6 months or less. Meanwhile increases were seen in the population serving longer sentences including Extended Determinate Sentences (EDS) and sentences of 14 years or more, up 9% and 4% respectively, compared to the same point last year.

Around 7 in 10 prisoners serving an immediate custodial sentence have been convicted of a violence against the person offence (33%), sexual offence (21%) or drug offence (15%). While both the violence against the person and sexual offence sentenced population groups have seen increases over the last year, of 1% and 2% respectively, the population serving an immediate custodial sentence for drug offences has decreased by 11% in the same period. The ‘Public order offences’ immediate custodial sentenced population has also increased notably (by 49% compared to Sep 2023), again likely linked to the disorder in Summer 2024.

Extended Determinate Sentences (EDS)

EDS constitute a custodial term, the majority of which is served in prison, followed by an additional extended period of licence in the community. They can be imposed if the offender is found guilty of, or has a previous conviction for, a specific sexual, violent, or terrorist offence. On 30 September 2024, 8,467 prisoners were serving such sentences. Prisoners serving EDS account for 10% of the total prison population.

Indeterminate sentences

On 30 September 2024, there were 8,501 (8,155 male; 346 female) ‘unreleased’ prisoners serving indeterminate sentences (Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) and life sentences). This is virtually unchanged (less than 0.5% decrease) compared to 30 September 2023.

The number of ‘unreleased’ prisoners serving life sentences (7,406) has increased by 2% compared to one year ago whereas the number of ‘unreleased’ IPP prisoners fell by 14% to 1,095. At point of sentencing, offenders are given a minimum time period (“tariff”) that they must serve in prison before they can apply to the Parole Board for release. Around two-thirds of the ‘unreleased’ IPP prisoners who have served their minimum tariff period have been held for at least ten years beyond the end of their tariff.

The number of ‘recalled’ prisoners serving life sentences decreased by 4% to 839 when compared to 30 September 2023, and the number of ‘recalled’ IPP prisoners has decreased by 3% to 1,599 over that same time period.

Recall to custody

The population recalled to custody (12,579 prisoners) has increased by 5% relative to the total a year earlier. The longer-term increases in the recall population are likely driven by a combination of factors such as increases in the average length of determinate sentences and an increase in the number of people serving indeterminate sentences or sentences with an extended licence.

Foreign National Offenders (FNOs)

There were 10,418 (3,626 remand, 6,450 sentenced and 342 non-criminal) foreign nationals held in custody on 30 September 2024; representing 12% of the total prison population. The number of FNOs in the prison population has remained unchanged compared to 30 September 2023. The most common nationalities after British Nationals in prisons are Albanian (10% of the FNO prison population), Polish (8%), Romanian (7%), Irish (6%) and Jamaican (3%).

Question 2

2.  Prison receptions and admissions

Accepted Answer

There were 18,478 first receptions into custody in the latest quarter.

12,868 were remand first receptions, 5,528 were sentenced first receptions and 82 were civil non-criminal first receptions.

Prisoner first receptions

The total number of first receptions between April and June 2024 was 6% higher than the same quarter in 2023. The number of first receptions are now in line with levels observed pre-pandemic, which were between 17,000 and 18,000 per quarter.

There were 3,359 first receptions of foreign nationals between April and June 2024, which is 6% higher compared to the same period in 2023. The representation of foreign nationals amongst first receptions has remained the same since 2020, at around 18%.

The foreign nationalities with the highest numbers of first receptions in the latest quarter were: Albanian (478), Romanian (356) and Polish (276). When taken together, these three nationalities accounted for around one third of the first receptions of foreign nationals in this quarter (April to June 2024).

Prison admissions

Compared to the same quarter in 2023, both remand and recall admissions increased. Untried remand admissions increased by 8%, while convicted unsentenced remand admissions rose by 13%.

When considering immediate custodial sentenced admissions, violence against the person had the largest number of sentenced admissions overall, accounting for around a quarter of all immediate custodial admissions.

Compared to females, males made up a larger proportion of sentenced admissions across each offence group, but there are certain offences where this difference was more pronounced - sexual offences (for which 99% of the sentenced admissions were for ‘Males’), and in the opposite direction sentenced admissions for fraud offences had the highest ‘female’ proportion (25% of the sentenced admissions were for ‘Females’).

Figure 2: Representation (percentage) of male and female immediate custodial sentenced prisoner admissions in each offence group between April to June 2024 (Source: Table 2_Q_9)

Recalls

The ‘recall prison admissions’ (those returned to prison for breaching their release conditions) was 8,974 between April to June 2024 (41% higher than the same quarter in 2023, and also a ‘record high’). The increasing recall population is likely driven by a combination of factors such as a longer-term increase in the average length of determinate sentences and an increase in the number of people serving indeterminate sentences or sentences with an extended licence.

Former Members of the Armed Forces

When individuals are first received into custody, they complete a Basic Custody Screening (BCS) process. This serves to identify their needs in areas including employment, childcare and healthcare. As part of this process, they are asked whether they had served in the armed services. Between April to June 2024, 191 matched individuals first received into custody answered that they had served in the armed services - this represented around 3% of those who provided a response to the question at the point of their first reception during the latest quarter.

Question 3

3.  Releases

Accepted Answer

13,338 offenders were released from custody in the latest quarter.

13,224 releases from determinate sentences and 114 from indeterminate sentences.

Prison releases from custodial sentences

The number of prisoner releases between April and June 2024 was 10% higher than the same quarter in 2023, with increased releases seen across almost all sentence length bands.

Releases on Home Detention Curfew (HDC)

The number of offenders released on HDC in the latest quarter dropped to 1,715, a decrease of 22% compared to the same period last year. The number of offenders who might have been eligible for HDC (based on sentence length) over the same period was down 6% (10,400) compared to the same quarter in 2023. The decrease in HDC releases is likely due in part to individuals being released under ECSL in the quarter, who may otherwise have been released on HDC.

From 17 June 2024, the Home Detention Curfew scheme was expanded to remove the ‘less than 4 years’ sentence length cap. As such there may be additional HDC releases in the final two weeks of the reporting period (April-June), and that the eligible HDC population we report will not be a close estimate for those two weeks. We are considering options to change our reporting on HDC in future publications to reflect this.

Releases on Temporary Licence (ROTL)

ROTL numbers have continued to increase. There were 106,474 incidences of ROTL during the quarter ending June 2024, which represents a 7% increase compared to the same quarter in 2023. Of the ROTL incidences in the latest quarter, 64% were for ‘Work Related’ reasons.

The number of individuals receiving at least one incidence of ROTL between April and June 2024 also continued to rise, up 5% (to 4,512) compared to the same quarter in 2023.

There were 196 Temporary Release Failures (TRF) per 100,000 ROTL incidences between April and June 2024, which represents a 18% decrease compared to the same quarter in 2023 (during which quarter the equivalent rate was 239 per 100,000).

Prisoner transfers

Between April and June 2024 there were 21,015 incidences of prisoner transfer, with 18,384 prisoners having at least one incidence of transfer. Both figures represent increases since the same period of 2023, with rises of 5% and 7% respectively.

Question 4

4.  Adjudications

Accepted Answer

Changes to adjudications data sources and processing

In January 2024 the operational system for recording prisoner adjudications switched from prison-NOMIS to a new Adjudications Digital Prisons Service. This has resulted in a number of changes to data recording and processing, including a large number of historic open cases which were administratively ‘closed’ by prisons when they were migrated across to the new system.

We have sought to exclude these historic cases where they do not represent a substantive outcome in the reporting period (for example, adding a new filter to remove cases with a ‘Not Proceeded With’ outcome where the Incident Date was more than 18 months before the start of the reporting quarter, i.e. prior to 1st July 2022 for the ‘January to March 2024’ reference period, and prior to 1st October 2022 for the ‘April to June 2024’ quarter), to prevent their inflating the latest statistics and giving an inaccurate impression of recent trends in adjudications. However, these changes to data processing rely on proxies to identify which cases to exclude, so users should be aware that there is the potential for adjudications to be under- or over-reported in the latest quarter as a result.

Additionally, under the new system, adjudications covering more than one [alleged] offence are recorded as separate adjudications, whereas previously they were grouped under the same adjudications reference number. This has resulted in an increase in the number of reported adjudication outcomes (as these were previously de-duplicated in our data processing).

The number of ‘punishments’ are likely to have also increased as a result of this change – this is due to the ability to record multiple punishments for linked offences.

Amendment to the Prison Rules 1999 and 2000

On 31st May 2024, amendments to the Prison and Young Offender Institution (Adjudication) Rules were made. These Rules amend the Prison Rules 1999 and the Young Offender Institution Rules 2000, which can be found in the link below: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2024/212/made

The amendments remove offences in Prison Rule 51 and Young Offender Institution Rule 55 concerning “racially aggravated” or “racist” behaviour and substitute new offences concerning behaviour demonstrating or motivated by hostility towards persons sharing any of the protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010, including race.

The amendments also insert three new sexual offences against discipline into Prison Rule 51 and Young Offender Institution Rule 55. A new punishment of payback punishment is also inserted into Prison Rule 55 and Young Offender Institution Rule 60 with a new offence of fails to comply with any payback punishment.

In light of these statutory instruments, this publication release includes an additional offence category “Sexual offences”, and sanction “Payback”, to mean unpaid work served by offenders for the purpose of reparation. Also, all detailed offences that contain the word/phrase “racist” or “racially aggravated” have been revised to reflect the change in language and ethnicity terminology.

There were 64,625 adjudication outcomes between April and June 2024.

This is an increase of 30% on the same quarter in the previous year. Additional days were awarded as punishment on 1,797 occasions in this quarter.

Around 3 in 5 (62%) of adjudications were proven.

There was a 23% increase in the number of proven adjudications (to 40,262) from the same quarter in 2023. This in turn contributed to a 98% rise in the number of punishments (to 115,070).

There were increases in the number of proven adjudications across all major adjudication offence types. The largest percentage rise was for ‘unauthorised transactions’, which rose by 34% (to 13,023) while ‘disobedience or disrespect’ offence increased by 16% (to 12,182). Together these two offences account for 63% of the total and along with ‘violence’ (13% of the total), make up the three biggest offence groups for proven adjudications. The next largest percentage rise was for ‘wilful damage’, which rose by 33% (to 4,788).

The number of proven adjudications for ‘violence’ in the latest quarter increased by 15% (to 5,398) compared to the same period in 2023. This is comparable to pre-pandemic levels (there were on average 5,241 proven adjudications for ‘violence’ per quarter in 2019).

Additional days were awarded as punishment on 1,797 occasions between April and June 2024. A total of 29,223 days were awarded in the latest quarter – this has increased by 89% compared with the same quarter in 2023 (15,474 days between April and June 2023).

More information about the trends in Adjudications between 2011 and 2018 can be found in ‘The Adjudications Story’ publication.

Question 5

5.  Licence recalls

Accepted Answer

The number of licence recalls between April and June 2024 was 9,782, of which 411 were recalls from Home Detention Curfew (HDC).

The total number of recalls increased by 44% compared to the same quarter in 2023.

The total number of quarterly recalls trended upwards between October-December 2016 and July-September 2019. There was a marked increase in the number of quarterly recalls from early 2018 to July-September 2019, mostly due to increases in the number of HDC recalls and recalls of offenders from determinate sentences of 12 months or more. These numbers then began to fall, and the downward shift was accelerated by the introduction of COVID-19 restrictions.

From 2021, the number of quarterly recalls has generally gone up, with the latest figure being the highest in the series and an increase of 44% from a year ago. The increase from 2021 has largely come from recalls of offenders released from a sentence of under 12 months (ORA recalls). Relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions in early 2021 and the unification of the probation services in June 2021 (where ORA recalls are now under a set of requirements different from that under the old Community Rehabilitation Companies) contributed to the increase from 2021. The sharp rise in quarterly recalls (in both ORA and non-ORA recalls) in the latest period, Apr-June 2024, is likely to be associated with the increase in releases due to the introduction of End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) in October 2023, allowing some determinate-sentence offenders to be released up to 70 days earlier than they would have been released previously.

Following relative stability up to January-March 2020, the number of quarterly ORA recalls noticeably began to fall, falling below 2,000 for the first time since July-September 2016, partly due to the introduction of COVID-19 restrictions. The relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions, the unification of the probation services in June 2021 (where ORA recalls are now under a set of requirements different from that under the old Community Rehabilitation Companies), and the introduction of ECSL from October 2023 have in turn likely contributed to increases in these numbers, with the latest figure (5,046) representing an increase of 57% from the previous quarter and an increase of 85% from a year ago. Increases in these recalls have mostly driven increases in overall recall numbers since the unification in mid-2021, and the number of ORA recalls surpassed that of non-ORA recalls for the first time in the latest period.

The pattern in quarterly recalls of offenders with a sentence of 12 months or more (including those with indeterminate sentences) used to mirror that of the overall quarterly recalls during relative stability in ORA recalls. In recent quarters, the share of these recalls has dropped from about 2 out of 3 to about 1 out 2 recalls, coinciding with increases in ORA recalls. Between April and June 2024, there were 4,736 recalls of such offenders, representing an increase of 13% from the previous quarter and an increase of 16% from a year ago.

Ethnicity proportions in quarterly recalls have remained relatively stable, with about 8 in 10 recalls being white, 7% being black and 4% being Asian in the latest figures.

There usually is more than one reason for recalling an offender on licence. Of recalls in April-June 2024, about 24% involved a charge of further offending, 77% involved non-compliance, 36% involved failure to keep in touch, and 23% involved failure to reside. These proportions have remained relatively stable.

Between April and June 2024, 175 IPP prisoners and 99 prisoners serving a life sentence were rereleased, having previously been returned to custody for a breach of licence conditions. The total of these releases is an increase of 69% from a year ago, an increase of 68 releases for IPP prisoners and 44 releases for life-sentence prisoners.

Offenders not returned to custody

Of all those released on licence and recalled to custody due to breaching the conditions of their licence between April 1999 and June 2024, there were 2,605 who had not been returned to custody by the end of September 2024.

A further 15 offenders had not been returned to custody as of September 2024 after recall between 1984 and April 1999, meaning the total number of offenders not returned to custody at the end of September 2024 was 2,620. These figures include some offenders believed to be dead or living abroad but who have not been confirmed as dead or deported.

Of the 2,620 not returned to custody by 30 September 2024, 362 had originally been serving a prison sentence for violence against the person offences and a further 74 for sexual offences.

Question 6

6.  Probation

Accepted Answer

The total number of offenders on probation (i.e., court orders and pre/post-release supervision) in England and Wales at the end of June 2024 was 238,646.

With an increase of 0.2%, this remains largely unchanged compared with the end of June 2023, but represents an increase of 10% compared with the end of June 2014.

Probation data process transition update

In the October 2023 edition of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly publication,^{[footnote 1]} the Probation Statistics team announced its intention to transition its legacy systems to more modern data processing methods. Since then, we have provided regular updates on the progress of this work through our quarterly releases.

The probation statistics in this edition of the bulletin are the first to be based on the new data pipeline. Specifically, the new data pipeline has been used to compile the probation starts, caseload, and terminations figures. While this update was introduced for April to June 2024, previously published figures for January to March 2024 have also been revised to align with the new data pipeline. Data for earlier periods remain unchanged as a comparison between the old and new data pipelines showed minimal differences, making it unnecessary to revise figures for earlier periods.

The ‘Probation data process transition’ section at the end of this chapter provides more detail on this work and continues to present data from both the new and old data pipelines for comparison. This section also outlines next steps for this work.

Overall results

Latest figures show that, following a return to trends observed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,^{[footnote 2]}quarterly probation starts have fluctuated but maintained a slight and steady increase. Meanwhile, the probation caseload has remained relatively stable.

Probation reset

Between 29 April 2024 and 1 July 2024, the Probation Service introduced a change in practice that focuses probation practitioners on engagement at the beginning of orders, where intervention can have the most impact.^{[footnote 3]}Unless offenders meet certain exemption criteria, this will suspend some sentence management contact for offenders on licence, post-sentence supervision, and those with rehabilitation activity requirements under community orders or suspended sentence orders. This edition of the publication reflects the first set of probation caseload figures to be affected by this change.

Other policy changes

Changes to the recall process,^{[footnote 4]} effective from 2 April 2024, mandate the use of fixed term recalls rather than standard recalls for offenders sentenced to less than 12 months of custody, subject to certain exceptions. Additionally, the End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) scheme,^{[footnote 5]} which ran from 17 October 2023 to the 9 September 2024, released eligible determinate sentenced prisoners prior to their conditional release date.^{[footnote 6]}These changes are also likely to have had some effect on the probation caseload.

Caseload

Probation caseload is a snapshot of all supervision by the Probation Service which was active on the last day of each reporting period.

As at 30 June 2024, there were 238,646 offenders supervised by the Probation Service in England and Wales (Figure 3). This has remained broadly stable over the last year, increasing by just 0.2% compared to 30 June 2023 and, more recently, decreasing by 0.1% compared to 31 March 2024.

Between the end of June 2023 and the end of June 2024, court order caseload decreased by 2% from 109,133 to 106,422, with the number of offenders on a community order (CO) decreasing by 7% and those on a suspended sentence order with requirements (SSO) increasing by 4%.

The total caseload of offenders supervised before or after release from prison at the end of June 2024 was 136,689, representing an increase of 2% compared to the end of June 2023.

Figure 3: Number of offenders under Probation Service supervision, 30 June 2014 to 2024^{[footnote 7]}

Source: The table of data that this graph is based on is labelled as ‘Table 6.6’ in the quarterly Probation tables from 2023. In Probation tables published between 2018 and 2022, this table is labelled as ‘Table 4.6’. In Probation tables published prior to 2018, this table is labelled as ‘Table 4.7’.

Starts

Probation starts cover all court order or pre-release supervision by the Probation Service which commenced within the reporting period.

Between April and June 2024, 42,062 offenders started court order or pre-release supervision by the Probation Service (Figure 4). This represents a decrease of 0.5% on the previous quarter and an increase of 9% compared to the same quarter a year ago. Of these:^{[footnote 8]}

25,199 offenders started court order supervision – with a small increase of 0.5%, this remains around the same level as the previous quarter, though it represents a larger increase of 10% compared with the same quarter in the previous year
16,883 offenders started pre-release supervision – this decreased by 2% in comparison with the last quarter, but increased by 8% compared with the same quarter last year

Of those under court order supervision:

15,784 offenders started community orders (COs) – this is a decrease of 2% compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 6% compared to the same quarter in 2023
9,306 offenders started suspended sentence orders with requirements (SSOs) – this is an increase of 4% compared to the previous quarter and a much larger increase of 17% compared to the same quarter in the previous year

Figure 4: Number of offenders starting supervision under the Probation Service, July 2021 to June 2024^{[footnote 9]}

Source: Table 6.1 of the quarterly probation tables published from 2023. Table 4.1 in quarterly probation tables published prior to 2023.

Overall, between April and June 2024, 26,067 requirements were started under COs and 17,440 under SSOs, representing an increase of 8% and 21% respectively compared to the same period in the previous year.

In the latest quarter, increases were seen across most requirement types under COs and SSOs. Furthermore, rehabilitation remains the most common requirement included within a CO and SSO. Compared to the same quarter a year ago, the number of rehabilitation requirements started under COs rose by 11% to 11,773 and rose by 21% to 7,894 under SSOs.

Under COs, some of the most notable changes in requirements commenced between April and June 2024 compared to the same quarter in 2023 were:

mental health treatment (MHTR) increasing by 39% to 705
drug rehabilitation (DRR) increasing by 23% to 1,265
alcohol abstinence and monitoring (AAMR) increasing by 14% to 888
electronic monitoring decreasing by 25% to 631

Under SSOs, some of the most notable changes in requirements commenced between April and June 2024 compared to the same quarter in 2023 were:

mental health treatment (MHTR) increasing by 80% to 465
exclusion increasing by 51% to 149
alcohol abstinence and monitoring (AAMR) increasing by 40% to 581
drug rehabilitation (DRR) increasing by 25% to 822

The increase in MHTRs within COs and SSOs since July 2020 is linked to a scaling up of the availability to sentence to this requirement across the criminal courts of England. This follows the introduction of new MHTR services provided by NHS England and is part of an initiative^{[footnote 10]} that aims to reduce reoffending and short custodial sentences by addressing the underlying mental health issues which may be contributing towards offending behaviours.

The decline in electronic monitoring requirements is likely to be associated with the continued mandating of domestic abuse and safeguarding enquiries in all cases where electronically monitored curfews are proposed. This policy mandates that electronically monitored curfews should not be recommended to the courts unless these enquiries have been made first, and this requirement has likely led to the observed decrease in the overall number of electronically monitored curfews issued.

This was introduced in April 2022 and the decline was initially observed in curfew figures only. However, reforms to recording practices from October 2022, to more accurately record curfew requirements with and without electronic monitoring, mean this decline has now switched to being observed in electronic monitoring figures instead.

In terms of the most frequently used combinations of requirements commenced between April and June 2024, rehabilitation was the most common requirement to be combined with other requirements.

Compared to the same quarter in 2023, under COs, rehabilitation requirements combined separately with:

MHTR increased by 24% to 291
DRR increased by 21% to 834
AAMR increased by 17% to 403
alcohol treatment (ATR) increased by 9% to 684

In contrast, rehabilitation requirements combined with accredited programmes and unpaid work under COs decreased by 11% over the same period.

Compared to the same quarter in 2023, under SSOs, rehabilitation requirements combined separately with:

MHTR increased by 45% to 165
AAMR increased by 30% to 208
DRR increased by 26% to 486
unpaid work increased by 23% to 2,360

Terminations

Probation terminations cover all community order (CO) and suspended sentence order (SSO) supervision by the Probation Service which terminated within the reporting period.

Of the 15,070 COs and 7,714 SSOs terminated between April and June 2024, 71% and 77% respectively were terminated successfully, i.e., ran their full course, or were terminated early for good progress.

Pre-sentence reports

Pre-sentence reports (PSRs) cover all Standard Delivery, Fast Delivery written, and Fast Delivery oral reports prepared by Probation Service staff for Magistrates’ and Crown Courts. They contain information on the offender and offence(s) committed to assist sentencing.

In the quarter April to June 2024, at 24,685, the total number of PSRs prepared by the Probation Service remained at similar levels to those seen in the last quarter, and increased by 11% compared to the same quarter in 2023.

The number of SSOs proposed in PSRs declined steeply from 12,762 in the year ending December 2018 to only 2 in the year ending June 2024. This decline is associated with a change in 2018 of the guidelines to probation staff on recommending suspended sentence orders in PSRs.^{[footnote 11]} As a result, concordance rates for SSOs should be interpreted with caution.

In the year ending June 2024, 88% of immediate custodial sentences proposed in PSRs resulted in that sentence being given, representing the highest concordance between sentence proposed and sentence given, excluding SSOs. Furthermore, immediate custody represented 8% of all sentences proposed in PSRs over the same period.

Probation data process transition

In the October 2023 edition of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly publication,^{[footnote 12]} the Probation Statistics team announced its intention to transition its legacy systems to more modern data processing methods to enable greater functionality that, in turn, will present further opportunities for more thorough, accurate and timely analysis, and insight.

Since the October 2023 release, this section of the Probation chapter has provided updates on the progress of this work. In this edition of the bulletin, the probation statistics are the first to be based on the new data pipeline. To allow for comparisons between new and old systems, this section will continue to include data from both data pipelines until the end of the reporting year.

Explanations of some of the more apparent differences that have arisen using the new process can be found at the end of each table.

Starts

Table 1: Offenders starting court order and pre-release supervision by the Probation Service, by sentence type, April to June 2024, England and Wales, sourced using the new and old data process (published data source: Table 6.1)

Sentence type	Old	New (Published)	Difference
All court orders and pre-release supervision	42,291	42,062	-0.5% (-229)
All court orders	25,203	25,199	<-0.1% (-4)
All community sentences	15,903	15,900	<-0.1% (-3)
Community orders	15,787	15,784	<-0.1% (-3)
Other sentences	9,308	9,307	<-0.1% (-1)
Suspended sentence orders with requirements	9,307	9,306	<-0.1% (-1)
Pre-release supervision	17,108	16,883	-1.3% (-225)

While most of the differences under the new data process are minimal, the most apparent variance arises when comparing pre-release supervision starts figures. Most of the difference between the new and old data process for pre-release supervision starts can be attributed to duplicate records of offenders within the old data. While these records are not filtered out using the old process, due to limitations of the data extraction process, the slightly lower figure of pre-release supervision starts produced by the new process is more reflective of the actual number of offenders that began pre-release supervision in this period.

The remaining difference can be attributed to discrepancies in the timing of data extraction between the new and old data process.

Caseload

Table 2: Offenders supervised by the Probation Service by sentence type, at end of 30 June 2024, England and Wales, sourced using the new and old data process (published data source: Table 6.6)

Sentence type	Old	New (Published)	Difference
All supervision	238,670	238,646	<-0.1% (-24)
All supervision in the community	164,198	164,070	<-0.1% (-128)
All court orders	106,418	106,422	<0.1% (4)
All community sentences	62,893	62,906	<0.1% (13)
Community orders	62,313	62,316	<0.1% (3)
Other sentences	45,394	45,393	<-0.1% (-1)
Suspended sentence orders with requirements	45,388	45,387	<-0.1% (-1)
All pre- and post-release supervision	136,709	136,689	<-0.1% (-20)
Pre-release supervision	75,912	76,027	0.2% (115)
Post-release supervision	60,903	60,772	-0.2% (-131)

Again, while most of the differences are minimal, we have found that the majority, particularly in relation to the pre- and post-release supervision split, can be attributed to variations in the timing of data extraction from the data source between the new and old data process.

Terminations

Table 3: Percentage of terminations of community orders and suspended sentence orders, by reason, April to June 2024, England and Wales, sourced using the new and old data process (published data source: Table 6.10)

Reason	Old	New (Published)	Difference
Community orders
Ran their full course	64%	64%	..
Terminated early for good progress	7%	7%	..
Terminated early for failure to comply with requirements	10%	10%	..
Terminated early for conviction of offence	13%	13%	..
Terminated early for other reasons	6%	6%	..
Total community order terminations	15,072	15,070	<-0.1% (-2)
Suspended sentence orders with requirements
Ran their full course	77%	77%	..
Terminated early for good progress	0%	0%	..
Terminated early for failure to comply with requirements	8%	8%	..
Terminated early for conviction of offence	14%	14%	..
Terminated early for other reasons	1%	1%	..
Total suspended sentence orders with requirements terminations	7,715	7,714	<-0.1% (-1)

”..” denotes not available.

As seen in previous editions of this bulletin, the differences observed in both community order and suspended sentence order terminations between the new and old process are negligible.

Requirements

Table 4: Most frequently used combinations of requirements for starts of community orders and suspended sentence orders, April to June 2024, England and Wales, sourced using the new and old data process (published data source: Table 6.3)

Reason	Old	New (Published)	Difference
Community orders
Rehabilitation	3,847	3,847	0
Unpaid work	3,240	3,238	<-0.1% (-2)
Rehabilitation and unpaid work	3,134	3,134	0
Rehabilitation and drug treatment	834	834	0
Rehabilitation and alcohol treatment	684	684	0
Rehabilitation and alcohol abstinence and monitoring	403	403	0
All other requirements	3,645	3,644	<-0.1% (-1)
Suspended sentence orders with requirements
Rehabilitation and unpaid work	2,360	2,360	0
Rehabilitation	2,012	2,012	0
Unpaid work	937	937	0
Rehabilitation and drug treatment	486	486	0
Accredited programme, rehabilitation and unpaid work	443	443	0
Accredited programme and rehabilitation	438	438	0
All other requirements	2,631	2,630	<-0.1% (-1)

Table 5: Number of requirements commenced under community orders and suspended sentence orders, by type of requirement, April to June 2024, England and Wales, sourced using the new and old data process (published data source: Table 6.4)

Reason	Old	New (Published)	Difference
Community orders
Rehabilitation	11,774	11,773	<-0.1% (-1)
Unpaid work	7,715	7,712	<-0.1% (-3)
Accredited programme	1,591	1,590	<-0.1% (-1)
Drug treatment	1,265	1,265	0
Alcohol treatment	1,140	1,140	0
Alcohol abstinence and monitoring	888	888	0
All other requirements	1,699	1,699	0
Total community order requirements	26,072	26,067	<-0.1% (-5)
Suspended sentence orders with requirements
Rehabilitation	7,895	7,894	<-0.1% (-1)
Unpaid work	4,586	4,586	0
Accredited programme	1,754	1,752	-0.1% (-2)
Drug treatment	822	822	0
Alcohol abstinence and monitoring	581	581	0
Electronic monitoring	553	553	0
All other requirements	1,252	1,252	0
Total suspended sentence order requirements	17,443	17,440	<-0.1% (-3)

Similarly, as seen in previous editions of this bulletin, the differences observed in the number of requirements started under community orders and suspended sentence orders between the new and old process are minimal.

Next steps

While we continue to monitor the new process for sourcing the probation statistics, we will also look to begin the process of sourcing the court reports data from the new data pipeline. Further updates on this will be presented in future editions of this publication.

Further information

This publication presents quarterly data trends as well as annual prison population trends.

Our statisticians regularly review the content of publications. Development of new and improved statistical outputs is usually dependent on reallocating existing resources. As part of our continual review and prioritisation, we welcome user feedback on existing outputs including content, breadth, frequency, and methodology. Please send any comments you have on this publication including suggestions for further developments or reductions in content.

Accompanying files

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

A ‘Guide to Offender Management Statistics’, which provides comprehensive information about data sources and quality, as well as key legislative changes.
A document outlining the ‘Users of Offender Management Statistics’
A set of data tables, covering each section of this bulletin, including a prison population data tool.

Accredited official statistics status

National Statistics are accredited official statistics. These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in July 2012. They comply with the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’. (Note that accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007).

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: https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/

It is the Ministry of Justice’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected for these accredited official statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the OSR promptly. This accredited status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained and reinstated when standards are restored.

Contact

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

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/media-enquiries

Non-Press enquiries about the Probation chapter of this publication should be sent to: probation-statistics-enquiries@justice.gov.uk

Non-Press enquiries about all other chapters of this publication should be sent to: OMSQ-SiC-publications@justice.gov.uk

Next update: 30 January 2025

URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly

Alternative formats are available on request from OMSQ-SiC-publications@justice.gov.uk

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2023/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2023#probation ↩
Total caseload as at 31 December 2019 (i.e. the last reporting period prior to the pandemic) stood at 247,759. ‘https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/981212/Probation_Q4_2020.ods’. ↩
Further details are available at: Prisons and Probation: Foreign National Offenders - Hansard - UK Parliament‘https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2024-03-13/debates/901D0DE9-45FD-4061-9F4C-FB3A3F66AC1D/PrisonsAndProbationForeignNationalOffenders’ and ‘https://democracy.leics.gov.uk/documents/s183789/Probation%20Reset.pdf’. ↩
Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Suitability for Fixed Term - Hansard - UK Parliament ↩
Figures on the number of prisoners released under the ECSL scheme are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/end-of-custody-supervised-licence-ecsl-data-england-and-wales ↩
Most prisoners sentenced to a standard determinate sentence (SDS) are automatically released at their conditional release date, which is the half-way point of sentence. Prisoners serving an SDS are on licence supervision until the end of sentence. ↩
The number of offenders on the probation caseload in 2020 was substantially reduced as a result of the operational restrictions that were put in place on the 23 March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the impact of these operational restrictions continued into subsequent periods, figures in more recent periods have recovered to pre-pandemic levels. ↩
Each person is counted once only for each type of probation supervision started within the time period. In addition, each person is counted once only in each total or sub-total even if they started several types of probation supervision within the time period. This means that the totals and sub-totals are less than adding the sum of their parts. For example, if a person started a community order and a Supervision Default Order within the time period, then the person would be counted once only within the total of all community sentences. ↩
The number of offenders on the probation caseload in 2020 was substantially reduced as a result of the operational restrictions that were put in place on the 23 March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the impact of these operational restrictions continued into subsequent periods, figures in more recent periods have recovered to pre-pandemic levels. ↩
The initiative started in 2017 in five areas, with a national roll out to be completed by mid-2024. ‘https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/918187/a-smarter-approach-to-sentencing.pdf’. ↩
The Sentencing Council guideline, effective from 1 February 2017, provides guidance for sentencers on the imposition of community and custodial sentences, and is available at: ‘https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/overarching-guides/magistrates-court/item/imposition-of-community-and-custodial-sentences/’. ↩
‘https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2023/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2023#probation’ ↩

Offender management statistics quarterly: April to June 2024

Applies to England and Wales

1. Population

Remand prison population

Sentenced prison population

Extended Determinate Sentences (EDS)

Indeterminate sentences

Recall to custody

Foreign National Offenders (FNOs)

2. Prison receptions and admissions

Prisoner first receptions

Prison admissions

Recalls

Former Members of the Armed Forces

3. Releases

Prison releases from custodial sentences

Releases on Home Detention Curfew (HDC)

Releases on Temporary Licence (ROTL)

Prisoner transfers

4. Adjudications

5. Licence recalls

Offenders not returned to custody

6. Probation

Caseload

Starts

Terminations

Pre-sentence reports

Probation data process transition

Starts

Caseload

Terminations

Requirements

Next steps

Further information

Accompanying files

Accredited official statistics status

Contact

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Applies to England and Wales

1. Population

Remand prison population

Sentenced prison population

Extended Determinate Sentences (EDS)

Indeterminate sentences

Recall to custody

Foreign National Offenders (FNOs)

2. Prison receptions and admissions

Prisoner first receptions

Prison admissions

Recalls

Former Members of the Armed Forces

3. Releases

Prison releases from custodial sentences

Releases on Home Detention Curfew (HDC)

Releases on Temporary Licence (ROTL)

Prisoner transfers

4. Adjudications

5. Licence recalls

Offenders not returned to custody

6. Probation

Caseload

Starts

Terminations

Pre-sentence reports

Probation data process transition

Starts

Caseload

Terminations

Requirements

Next steps

Further information

Accompanying files

Accredited official statistics status

Contact

Is this page useful?

Help us improve GOV.UK

Help us improve GOV.UK