Offender management statistics quarterly: April to June 2025
Published 30 October 2025
Applies to England and Wales
Quarterly: April to June 2025
Prison population: 30 September 2025
Main Points
| 87,465 prisoners in England and Wales as at 30 September 2025 | The total prison population represented a 1% increase compared to the same point in 2024. |
| 18,912 first receptions into prison between April and June 2025 | The number of first receptions represented a 2% increase compared to the same period in 2024. |
| 14,946 releases from sentences between April and June 2025 | The number of releases represented a 12% increase compared to the same period in 2024. |
| 68,407 adjudication outcomes between April and June 2025 | This was a rise of 6% compared to the same period in 2024. Additional days were awarded as punishment on 1,674 occasions. |
| 11,041 licence recalls between April and June 2025 | This was a 13% increase on the same quarter in 2024. |
| 244,209 offenders under probation supervision as at 30 June 2025 | This is a 2% increase compared to 30 June 2024. |
This publication provides offender management quarterly statistics for the latest date available and provides comparisons to the previous year.
For technical detail please refer to the accompanying guide, ‘Guide to offender management statistics’.
Points to note
Contact
Users are encouraged to contact OMSQ-SiC-publications@justice.gov.uk with any comments relating to any of the below points / changes.
Standard Determinate Sentence 40% (SDS40) data
Updated transparency data on early releases under SDS40 has been published in parallel with this release:
‘https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/standard-determinate-sentence-sds40-release-data’
This includes monthly SDS40 releases from 10 September 2024 to 30 June 2025 with demographic and offence characteristics breakdowns.
Changes to the prison population data tool
In response to user feedback, we have expanded the establishment by custody type breakdown presented in the prison population data tool. This breakdown now splits out the ‘remand’ and ‘sentenced’ custody type groups into individual custody types (with a quarterly back series to September 2015). It shows, for example, the number of prisoners serving an extended determinate sentence (EDS) at HMP Altcourse, or the number of untried prisoners remanded at HMP Bristol.
To reduce the duplication of information across the publication, the establishment by nationality group breakdown has been removed from the prison population data tool for this release (and all subsequent releases). This information (prison population by prison and nationality group) remains available in the quarterly ‘prison population’ tables (Table 1_Q_13).
Changes to the prison adjudications tables
In response to user needs, including those using screen-readers and other accessibility equipment, and to make the data more machine readable, we have reformatted the data tables for the quarterly adjudications tables. Previously, the adjudications tables included 8 stacked tables, which we have now split out into individual tables for each characteristic (sex and adjudicator, offence, age band, ethnicity, religion). Because of this, there are now 40 tables included in ‘prison adjudications’.
Additionally, we propose discontinuing the final five new tables (Tables 4_Q_36 to 4_Q_40; relating to the ‘average number of punishments per proven adjudication’) from next quarter onwards. This is in line with our obligations to keep publication content under review as part of the wider Code of Practice for Statistics, to ensure that it continues to best meet user needs. Removing the final five tables will aid readability of the tables, and users will still be able to calculate this rate themselves if desired from published totals (by dividing the number of punishments by the number of proven adjudications).
Changes to underlying prisoner religion codes
As part of wider ongoing data improvement work, following consultation with operational colleagues the prisoner religion / belief codes and associated religion groups have been streamlined to aid more accurate data entry and initial processing.
These changes began in mid-June 2025 and concluded by the end of June 2025. As a result, a number of prisoners have moved between religion / belief groups impacting the 30 June 2025 breakdowns (Population table 1_Q_8 and adjudications tables 4_Q_5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 & 40). New religion / belief groupings have now been defined and will co-exist alongside the previous groupings for the next 4 quarters, after which only the new groupings (from September 2025) will remain. Population data presented in table 1_Q_8 for 30 June 2025 has been revised in this latest publication to reflect the new religion / belief groupings.
It is important to note that the implementation of these changes means that the breakdown of the prison population by religion (Table 1_Q_8) for before and after 30 June 2025 are no longer consistent and, therefore, not compatible. A note has been published alongside this publication which outlines the changes made to each religion group.
Suspension of the HDC eligibility tables
As indicated in the previous two publications, with the removal of the sentence length restriction on HDC eligibility the previously published HDC ‘eligible’ cohort (based on sentence length) is no longer a sufficiently close representation. Quarterly publication of tables relating to HDC eligibility has therefore been suspended; we will keep the availability of suitable data under review.
Suspension of Ex-service personnel tables
Following a data quality investigation into responses to the Basic Custody Screening Tool (BCST) ‘veteran status’ question (the data source for OMSQ Receptions [Table 2_Q_12]‘https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68892fe2a11f8599944091b3/prison-receptions-Jan-to-Mar-2025.ods’: ‘First receptions of former members of the armed services’, as well as the annual ‘Ex-service personnel in the prison population’ ‘https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67218d8d3aa14203d06ef453/Ex-service_personnel_in_the_prison_population_2024.pdf’ and ‘https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67218d3f3758e4604742a8e9/Ex-Armed-Services-Prison-Population-2024.ods’, we have taken the decision to pause both products indefinitely.
This reflects a reduction in the completeness with which veteran status is recorded on admission and the potential for bias resulting from differing levels of completeness by reception prison. We will look to resume the publication if and when we have identified a replacement data source of sufficient quality, or BCST veteran status recording returns to publishable quality.
In the light of these recording limitations, partially noted in recent OMSQs, we would also advise users to exercise caution when using the existing published data as an evidence base, particularly in relation to the COVID period onwards (when our investigation suggests completion rates fell).
Restricted Patients
This can now be found on its own page (to help users searching from the gov.uk home page). Please see the ‘Related content’ link on the right-hand side of the OMSQ publication page.
Statistician’s comment
In this publication we are reporting on the prison population as at 30 September 2025, with comparisons to the same point in 2024. Whilst there has been some fluctuation in the population in over this 12-month period, the prison population as at 30 Sep 2025 was around 500 (1%) higher than the same point in 2024. The ‘month end’ high point during this 12-month period was at the end of August 2025 (with a prison population of 88,423) before falling back by around 1,000 to 87,465 at the end of the following month (Sep 2025). This month-on-month fall is likely to due to the implementation of Fixed-Term Recall changes from early September 2025, with an associated fall of around 1,100 in the recalled prison population between 31 Aug 2025 and 30 Sep 2025 (more information can be found in the ‘Recall to custody’ section of the Population chapter below).
The rising remand population trend that we have seen since early 2020 has flattened over the last 12 months (a 0.2% increase between 30 September 2024 and 30 September 2025). Over the same period, there was a 3% increase in the ‘untried’ population (those held pre-conviction), but the ‘convicted unsentenced’ population (those held after having been convicted but awaiting their sentencing outcome) fell by 4%.
The remand population as at 30 September 2025 was 17,700 (representing 20% of the total prison population). The remand population as at 30 September 2025 represents the highest ‘end of September’ figure in at least the last 50 years (effectively a ‘record high’).
The prisoner flows data in this publication covers the period of April to June 2025 (with the comparison period being April to June 2024). The number of prisoner first receptions was around 18,900 (2% higher than the same period in 2024).
In the latest quarter, remand, sentenced and recall admissions all increased compared to the same quarter in 2024. Recall admissions saw the largest increase (rising by 15% from the same period in 2024), continuing the trend seen over recent quarters. This increase is likely due to the Suitability for Fixed Term Recall Order 2024 (effective from 2 April 2024) which mandated fixed term recalls, rather than standard recalls, for offenders sentenced to less than 12 months in custody, subject to some exceptions. Early release schemes, which have seen more prisoners released on licence earlier in their sentences, may also have impacted the volume of recall admissions.
There were 14,946 prisoner releases in the latest quarter, an increase of 12% compared to the same period in 2024. The number of offenders released on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) increased substantially (3,720 releases), up 114% compared to the same period last year. This is likely due to the most recent expansion of HDC, from 3 June 2025, which doubled the maximum length of time on HDC from 180 to 365 days[footnote 1].
1. Population
The prison population was 87,465 on 30 September 2025.
The sentenced prison population stood at 69,398 (79% of the total); the remand prison population stood at 17,700 (20%) and the non-criminal prison population stood at 367 (less than 0.5%).
Figure 1: Prison population, September 2015 to September 2025

Chart description text
Description of Figure 1: Line chart showing a time series (September 2015 to September 2025) of the total prison population (including non-criminal), and subsets showing the sentenced and remand populations.
The sentenced population trends quite closely follow those of the total population. In September 2015 the total population was around 85,000, with sentenced around 73,000, and remand around 10,000. The total and sentenced populations remained steady until the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, when both briefly dropped. This started to rise in 2022 until 2024 where it has since remained relatively constant at similar levels to that of 2015. By September 2025 the total and sentenced population sit at roughly 87,000 and 69,000.
Between 2015 and 2020, the remand population showed a small negative trend, averaging around 11,000, then increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, to around 12,000 in 2020, and has since continued to trend upwards, reaching around 18,000 in September 2025.
The data in this chart is included in table 1_Q_1 of the Quarterly Prison Population tables of this publication, which covers September 2015 to September 2025.
Remand prison population
The 30 September 2025 remand population figure of 17,700 is relatively unchanged compared with September 2024 (an increase of 0.2%). Whilst there are small variations over the years, the remand population has been overall increasing year on year since 020. The untried prison population rose by 3% (to 11,677) when compared to the end of September 2024 whilst the convicted unsentenced population decreased by 4% (to 6,023) 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’ (9% of the untried population and 17% of the convicted unsentenced population).
While white prisoners make up 73% of the sentenced population, they make up only 65% 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 69,398, which is a 1% increase from the same point 12 months earlier. This was largely driven by increases in the population serving sentences of between 6 months and 12 months which is likely associated with the increase in the maximum custodial sentence that magistrates may issue for a single offence, which was doubled from 6 months to up to 12 months in November 2024. You can find further information about increased sentencing powers for magistrates on GOV.UK [footnote 2].
There are no overall increases in standard determinate sentences greater than 4 years in the past 12 months, with decreases seen from all standard determinate sentences less than 14 years. This is attributed to the continued impact of the early release scheme SDS40, which the first tranche of releases was on the 10 September 2024. For more details on those released under SDS40 please see the transparency data accompanying this publication. This is also likely linked to the expansion of Home Detention Curfew (HDC) in June 2024, to include eligible prisoners serving certain sentences of 4 years or more – and also the expansion of the maximum HDC release period to 365 days from June 2025.
Around 7 in 10 prisoners serving an immediate custodial sentence have been convicted of a violence against the person offence (34%), sexual offence (22%) or drug offence (13%). While both the violence against the person and sexual offence sentenced population groups have seen increases over the last year, of 4% and 8% respectively, the population serving an immediate custodial sentence for drug offences has decreased by 17% in the same period.
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 2025, 9,228 prisoners were serving such sentences. This is a 9% increase since 30 September 2024 and prisoners serving EDS account for around 1 in 10 of the total prison population.
Indeterminate sentences
On 30 September 2025, there were 8,493 (8,135 male; 358 female) ‘unreleased’ prisoners serving indeterminate sentences (Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) and life sentences). This is virtually unchanged compared to 30 September 2024.
The number of ‘unreleased’ prisoners serving life sentences (7,547) has increased by 2% compared to one year ago whereas the number of ‘unreleased’ IPP prisoners fell by 14% to 946. 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. Approximately three-quarters (73%) 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 increased by 9% to 915 when compared to 30 September 2024, and the number of ‘recalled’ IPP prisoners has decreased by 8% to 1,476 over that same time period.
Recall to custody
The population recalled to custody (12,657 prisoners) has increased by 1% relative to the total a year earlier. However, over most of the past year there was a sharp rise in the recall population likely driven by a combination of factors such as previous increases in the number of people serving sentences with an extended licence (and therefore a longer period during which they could be recalled) and the implementation of early release schemes increasing the population available to be recalled.
There were changes to fixed-term recall from 2 September 2025[footnote 3], such that those recalled to prison from certain sentences of less than 4 years being largely mandated to receive a 28-day fixed term recall as opposed to a standard recall. Eligible prisoners who were in prison on recall (and who had been in prison on recall for more than 28 days) would have been released when the policy change was enacted - as can be seen from the corresponding drop (of around 1,100 recalled prisoners) in the month-end recall population from August to September 2025. Following this fall, the recall population returned to similar levels to those seen in 30 September 2024. Further information on recent trends in prison recalls can be found in the “Licence recalls” chapter.
Foreign National Offenders (FNOs)
There were 10,737 (3,719 remand, 6,691 sentenced and 327 non-criminal) foreign nationals held in custody on 30 September 2025; representing 12% of the total prison population. The number of FNOs in the prison population increased by 3% compared to 30 September 2024. The most common nationalities after British Nationals in prisons are Albanian (10% of the FNO prison population), Polish (7%), Irish (6%), Romanian (6%) and Indian (3%).
Changes to religion
Due to changes to underlying religion codes, there are new religion groupings from 30 June 2025 with some of the old groups no longer being used. Please see the religion changes document published alongside this commentary for more details.
2. Prison receptions and admissions
There were 18,912 first receptions into custody in the latest quarter.
13,360 were remand first receptions, 5,442 were sentenced first receptions and 110 were non-criminal first receptions.
Prisoner first receptions
The total number of first receptions between April and June 2025 was 2% higher than the same quarter in 2024.
There were 3,468 first receptions of foreign nationals between April and June 2025, which is 3% higher compared to the same quarter last year. There was a 2% increase in first receptions for British nationals over the same period. The representation of foreign nationals amongst first receptions has consistently been 18% to 19% since the final quarter of 2022.
The foreign nationalities with the highest numbers of first receptions in the latest quarter were: Albanian (462), Romanian (332) and Polish (256). Compared to the same quarter in 2024 this corresponds to a decrease in first receptions of Albanians by 3%, and of both Romanians and Poles by 7%. When taken together, these three nationalities accounted for just under a third (30%) of the total 3,468 first receptions of foreign nationals in this quarter (April to June 2025).
Among sentenced first receptions in April to June 2025, sentence lengths of greater than 6 months to less than 12 months increased by 57% compared to the same quarter in 2024. This is likely associated with the increase in the maximum custodial sentence that magistrates may issue for a single offence, which was doubled from 6 months to up to 12 months in November 2024. You can find further information about increased sentencing powers for magistrates on GOV.UK (opens in new window).
Prison admissions
Compared to the same quarter in 2024, remand, sentenced, and recall admissions all increased. Untried remand admissions increased by 6%, while convicted unsentenced remand admissions rose by 2%. Sentenced admissions were up 1% and recall admissions were up 15%.
When considering remand admissions, violence against the person had the largest number of remand admissions overall, accounting for 38% of untried remand admissions and 29% of convicted unsentenced remand admissions.
For immediate custodial sentenced (ICS) admissions, violence against the person had the largest number of ICS admissions overall, accounting for almost a quarter (24%). There was a 30% increase in ICS admissions for public order offences, compared to the same period in the previous year. Untried remand and convicted unsentenced remand receptions for public order offences also increased compared to the same quarter in 2024, up 23% and 19%, respectively. These increases in public order offences, both proven and alleged, are likely associated with the violent disorder seen in summer 2024 and other ongoing disorder since then.
For ICS admissions, the most common offence groups for males, comprising 56% of all ICS male admissions, were violence against the person (25%), drug offences (16%), and theft offences (15%). These three offence groups were also the most common for ICS female admissions, accounting for 62% of all female ICS admissions. However, for female ICS admissions the highest proportion was for theft offences (31%), followed by violence against the person (21%), and drug offences (10%).
Recalls
There were 10,311 ‘recall prison admissions’ (those returned to prison for breaching their release conditions) between April to June 2025 (15% higher than the same quarter in 2024, and a ‘record high’). The increase in recall admissions is likely driven by a combination of factors including: previous increases in the number of people serving sentences with an extended licence (and therefore a longer period during which they could be recalled); the implementation of early release schemes, such as SDS40; and the removal of standard recalls for those serving determinate sentences of less than 12 months. For further information, please refer to the licence recalls section of this publication.
Former Members of the Armed Forces
Following a data quality investigation, OMSQ Receptions Table_2_Q_12: ‘https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68892fe2a11f8599944091b3/prison-receptions-Jan-to-Mar-2025.ods’ ‘First receptions of former members of the armed services’ has been paused indefinitely. For further information, please refer to the ‘Points to note’ section of this publication.
3. Releases
14,946 offenders were released from custody in the latest quarter.
14,854 releases from determinate sentences and 92 from indeterminate sentences.
Prison releases from custodial sentences
The number of prisoner releases between April and June 2025 rose 12% compared to the same period in 2024.
Between April and June 2025, there was a large increase in the number of prisoners released from sentences greater than 6 months to less than 12 months, up 48% compared to the same period in 2024. This corresponds with a recent increase in the prison population serving sentences of this length. There was also a large increase, of 47%, of releases from sentences of 7 years to less than 10 years. Increases of at least 20% were also seen for all other determinate sentences of more than 4 years. This is linked to the recent expansion of HDC which has led to an increase in eligibility for HDC among the prison population, particularly those serving longer sentences.
Releases on Home Detention Curfew (HDC)
The number of offenders released on HDC in the latest quarter rose to 3,720, up 114% compared to the same period last year. The overall increase in HDC releases is due to the expansion of HDC, effective from 3 June 2025, which doubled the maximum length of time on HDC from 180 to 365 days. This led to an increase in eligibility for HDC among the prison population, particularly in those serving longer sentences. Of HDC releases between April and June 2025, 42% were of prisoners serving sentences of 4 years or more, up from 2% in the same period in 2024.
Releases on Temporary Licence (ROTL)
There were 93,624 incidences of ROTL during the quarter ending June 2025, a decrease of 12% compared to the same quarter in 2024. Of the ROTL incidences in the latest quarter, 65% were for ‘Work Related’ reasons.
The number of individuals receiving at least one incidence of ROTL between April and June 2025 fell, down 12% (to 3,970) compared to the same quarter in 2024.
There were 222 Temporary Release Failures (TRF) between April and June 2025, however this still indicates more than 99.5% of ROTL incidences in the latest quarter did not result in a failure.
Prisoner transfers
Between April and June 2025 there were 24,356 incidences of prisoner transfer, with 20,814 prisoners having at least one incidence of transfer. Both figures represent increases, of 16% and 13%, respectively, since the same period of 2024.
4. Adjudications
There were 68,407 adjudication outcomes between April and June 2025.
This is an increase of 6% on the same quarter in the previous year. Additional days were awarded as punishment on 1,674 occasions in this quarter.
Around three in five (62%) adjudications were proven.
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 new 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 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 offence”. It also includes a new 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.
Changes to underlying prisoner religion codes
As part of wider ongoing data improvement work, following consultation with operational colleagues the prisoner religion / belief codes and associated religion groups have been streamlined to aid more accurate data entry and initial processing.
This has affected a number of the prisoner adjudications tables. For more information, please refer to the relevant section of the ‘Points to note’ text on page 3 of this document.
There was a 6% increase in the number of proven adjudications (to 42,591) from the same quarter in 2024. This, in turn, contributed to an 11% rise in the number of punishments during the same period, reaching 127,324.
Increases in proven adjudications were recorded across all major adjudication offence categories. The largest percentage rise was in ‘Wilful damage, which increased by 11% to 5,299. Offences of ‘Violence’, ‘Unauthorised transactions’ and ‘Disobedience or disrespect’ rose by 6% (to 5,741), 5% (to 13,613), and 2% (to 12,439), respectively. Together ‘Disobedience or disrespect’ and ‘Unauthorised transactions’ accounted for 61% of all proven adjudications. Along with ‘Violence’, which represented 13% of the total, these three categories accounted for around three-quarters of all proven adjudications.
Between April and June 2025, additional days were awarded as punishment on 1,674 occasions. A total of 27,402 days were awarded in this period—a 6% decrease compared to the same quarter in 2024, when 29,223 days were awarded.
Further insights into adjudication trends between 2011 and 2018 can be found in ‘The Adjudications Story’ publication.
5. Recalls
The number of licence recalls between April and June 2025 was 11,041, of which 644 were recalls from Home Detention Curfew (HDC).
The total number of recalls increased by 13% compared to the same quarter in 2024.
Quarterly recall numbers have been historically high in the last five quarters in both recalls of offenders released from a sentence of under 12 months (ORA recalls) and non-ORA recalls. This is likely to be associated with the introduction of (a) Fixed-Term Recall Statutory Instrument (FTR-SI) in April 2024 and (b) Standard Determinate Sentences 40% (SDS40) in September 2024. FTR-SI mandated fixed-term recalls and automatic release after 14 days in prison on recall (retrospectively applied) for most ORA offenders. SDS40 allows certain prisoners serving a standard determinate sentence (with a 50% conditional release point) to be released at the 40% point of their sentence. The combined effect expected from these changes is an increased number of offenders released on licence and therefore more opportunities for offenders to be recalled. The latest overall recall figure (11,041) is an increase of 13% from a year ago and an increase of 9% from the previous quarter.
The latest ORA recall figure (5,543) represents an increase of 10% from a year ago and an increase of 12% from the previous quarter. ORA recalls have gone up from before April 2024 mostly as a result of the introduction of FTR-SI in April 2024.
There were 5,498 recalls of offenders with a sentence of 12 months or more (including those with indeterminate sentences) in April-June 2025, representing an increase of 7% from the previous quarter and an increase of 16% from a year ago.
Prior to the introduction of the FTR-SI, fixed-term recalls accounted for about 30% of all recalls, with ORA cases constituting about 70% of all fixed-term recalls. In the latest quarter, fixed-term recalls were about 51% of all recalls, with ORA cases constituting about 76% of fixed-term recalls.
Ethnicity proportions in quarterly recalls have remained relatively stable, with about 8 in 10 recalls being white, 8% 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 2025, about 74% involved non-compliance, 36% involved failure to keep in touch, 23% involved failure to reside, and 22% involved a charge of further offending. These proportions have remained relatively stable in recent quarters.
Between April-June 2025, 133 IPP prisoners and 52 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 a decrease of 32% from a year ago, with IPP releases decreasing by 42 offenders and life-sentence releases decreasing by 47 offenders.
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 2025, there were 2,840 who had not been returned to custody by the end of September 2025.
A further 15 offenders had not been returned to custody as of September 2025 after recall between 1984 and April 1999, meaning the total number of offenders not returned to custody at the end of September 2025 was 2,855. These figures include some offenders believed to be dead or living abroad but who have not been confirmed as dead or deported.
Of the 2,855 not returned to custody by 30 September 2025, 418 had originally been serving a prison sentence for violence against the person offences and a further 83 for sexual offences.
6. Probation
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 2025 was 244,209.
This represents an increase of 2% compared with the end of June 2024 and a larger increase of 7% compared with the end of June 2015.
Overall results
Latest figures show that, following a return to trends observed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic [footnote 4], probation starts have fluctuated and, although there was a slight decrease of 0.8% in the most recent quarter compared to the previous one, the overall trend has been a gradual and steady increase. Meanwhile, the probation caseload has remained relatively stable with slight increases over recent quarters.
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 5]. 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. Although the reset will suspend some contact for eligible offenders, their orders and licences will remain active. Consequently, these offenders will still be accounted for in the probation caseload figures presented in this publication. This edition of the publication is the second to feature figures on the number of individuals on the caseload who have had their contact supervision suspended under Probation Reset and provides data from 30 June 2024 to the latest reporting period. These figures have been presented in Table 6.6 of the publication.
Probation impact
On 28 April 2025, the Probation Service introduced Impact [footnote 6], a new approach for managing low-risk individuals on probation. It applies to eligible individuals starting a community order or released on licence from this date onward and is not retrospective. The new policy focuses on early engagement, supporting access to community services that address offender needs. Contact appointments are completed during the first 16 weeks. After this period, probation practitioner contact is suspended, though orders and licences will remain active. All other requirements and licence conditions remain unchanged and must still be completed. These individuals will continue to be included in published caseload statistics.
Other policy changes
Changes to the recall process [footnote 7] 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 8], which ran from 17 October 2023 to the 9 September 2024, and the introduction of the Standard Determinate Sentences (SDS40) scheme [footnote 9], which came into force on 10 September 2024, both released eligible determinate sentenced prisoners prior to their conditional release date [footnote 10]. These changes are also likely to have had some effect on the probation caseload.
On 1 November 2024, changes to the licence termination criteria for Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) and Detention for Public Protection (DPP) offenders in the community came into force [footnote 11]. Reforms mean IPP offenders who were first released from custody at least five years ago and not recalled to prison in the last two years will have their licences automatically terminated. Those aged under 18 who were sentenced to a DPP can have their licences terminated four years following their first release, with the same provision that they must not have been recalled in the last two years. Further changes, effective from 1 February 2025, cut the eligibility period for the Parole Board to consider ending licences from 10 years after first release to three years for IPP offenders and two years for DPP offenders. Although the changes introduced on 1 November 2024 have now come into effect and the number of IPP offenders on the probation caseload has largely decreased, there are a handful of offenders who, in practice, have had their licences terminated, however, still remain in the probation caseload figures due to the data being drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
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 2025, there were 244,209 offenders supervised by the Probation Service in England and Wales (Figure 2). This has remained broadly stable over recent years, increasing by 2% compared to 30 June 2024 and, more recently, increasing by just 0.7% compared to 31 March 2025.
Between the end of June 2024 and the end of June 2025, court order caseload increased by 2% from 106,422 to 108,681, with the number of offenders on a community order (CO) decreasing by 2% and those on a suspended sentence order with requirements (SSO) increasing by 8%.
The total caseload of offenders supervised before or after release from prison at the end of June 2025 was 140,344, representing an increase of 3% compared to the end of June 2024. This increase is primarily driven by the post-release supervision caseload, which has broadly increased since the end of September 2023, and coincides with the introduction of both the ECSL and SDS40 schemes. Specifically, the number of offenders supervised under post-release supervision rose by 5% to 63,638 between the end of June 2024 and the end of June 2025, whereas the number of offenders supervised under pre-release supervision increased to a lesser extent by 1% to 76,794 over the same period.
Figure 2: Number of offenders under Probation Service supervision, 30 June 2015 to 2025[footnote 12]

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
Between April and June 2025, 43,458 offenders started court order or pre-release supervision by the Probation Service (Figure 3). This represents an increase of 3% on the same quarter a year ago, and a decrease of 0.8% on the previous quarter. Of these:[footnote 13]
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25,544 offenders started court order supervision – this decreased by 0.7% compared with the previous quarter, and increased by 1% compared with the same quarter in the previous year
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17,932 offenders started pre-release supervision – this decreased by 1% in comparison with the last quarter, and increased by 6% compared with the same quarter last year
Of those under court order supervision:
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15,785 offenders started community orders (COs) – this represents a decrease of 3% since the previous quarter, with no change compared with the same quarter in 2024
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9,673 offenders started suspended sentence orders with requirements (SSOs) – this is an increase of 3% compared with the previous quarter, and an increase of 4% compared with the same quarter in the previous year
Of those under pre-release supervision, 223 offenders started a committal for breach of post-sentence supervision. This represents a decrease of 58% compared to the same quarter a year ago. This noticeable change coincides with the implementation of the probation reset.
Figure 3: Number of offenders starting supervision under the Probation Service, July 2022 to June 2025[footnote 14]

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 2025, 25,813 requirements were started under COs and 17,737 under SSOs, representing a decrease of 1% and an increase of 2%, respectively, compared with the same period in the previous year.
In the latest quarter, increases were seen across most requirement types under SSOs, while trends under COs presented a more mixed picture. Rehabilitation remains the most common requirement included within a CO and SSO. Compared with the same quarter a year ago, the number of rehabilitation requirements started under COs fell by 1% to 11,638 and rose by 4% to 8,247 under SSOs.
Under COs, some of the most notable changes in requirements commenced between April and June 2025 compared with the same quarter in 2024 were:
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exclusion increasing by 41% to 338
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alcohol abstinence and monitoring (AAMR) increasing by 12% to 995
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drug rehabilitation (DRR) increasing by 7% to 1,352
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accredited programmes decreasing by 43% to 905
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electronic monitoring decreasing by 10% to 570
Under SSOs, some of the most notable changes in requirements commenced between April and June 2025 compared to the same quarter in 2024 were:
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alcohol abstinence and monitoring (AAMR) increasing by 20% to 697
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exclusion increasing by 19% to 177
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mental health treatment (MHTR) increasing by 12% to 520
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drug rehabilitation (DRR) increasing by 8% to 890
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accredited programmes decreasing by 29% to 1,241
The general 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 15] that aims to reduce reoffending and short custodial sentences by addressing the underlying mental health issues which may be contributing towards offending behaviours.
Since April 2022, there has been a noticeable decline in electronic monitoring requirements. This is likely associated with the 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 has likely led to the observed decrease in the overall number of electronically monitored curfews issued.
This policy 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 that this decline has now shifted from curfew figures to electronic monitoring figures. Recent figures suggest this downward trend has now stabilised, indicating a possible levelling-off in the impact of this policy.
The decline in accredited programme requirements since April 2025 is likely driven by a new prioritisation process (announced in February 2025[footnote 16]), designed to ensure that accredited programmes are handed down by the courts to individuals assessed as having a higher risk of reoffending.
In terms of the most frequently used combinations of requirements commenced between April and June 2025, rehabilitation was the most common requirement to be combined with other requirements.
Compared to the same quarter in 2024, under COs, rehabilitation requirements combined separately with:
- AAMR and unpaid work increased by 45% to 215
- AAMR increased by 18% to 475
- Unpaid work increased by 9% to 3,429
- DRR increased by 7% to 890
In contrast, rehabilitation requirements combined with accredited programmes and unpaid work together decreased by 44% over the same period.
Compared to the same quarter in 2024, under SSOs, rehabilitation requirements combined separately with:
- AAMR increased by 26% to 262
- MHTR increased by 19% to 197
- ATR increased by 10% to 325
- Unpaid work increased by 10% to 2,585
- DRR increased by 8% to 527
In contrast, rehabilitation combined with accredited programmes and unpaid work together decreased by 43% and rehabilitation combined with accredited programmes only decreased by 31% over the same period.
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 14,623 COs and 7,952 SSOs terminated between April and June 2025, 74% and 76% respectively were terminated successfully, i.e., ran their full course, or were terminated early for good progress.
Pre-sentence reports
In the quarter April to June 2025, the total number of PSRs prepared by the Probation Service stood at 25,928, representing a 0.9% increase from the last quarter and a 5% increase from the same quarter in 2024.
The number of SSOs proposed in PSRs declined steeply from 12,762 in the year ending December 2018 to 3 in the year ending June 2025. This decline is associated with a change in 2018 of the guidelines to probation staff on the recommendation of SSOs in PSRs[footnote 17]. As a result, concordance rates[footnote 18] for SSOs should be interpreted with caution.
In the year ending June 2025, 87% 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 9% of all sentences proposed in PSRs over the same period, meanwhile community sentences, which had a concordance rate of 47%, represented 88%.
Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) offenders
Following the reforms to IPP and Detention for Public Protection (DPP) licence termination criteria, which were introduced on 1 November 2024 and 1 February 2025, the number of IPP and DPP offenders on licence in the community as at 30 June 2025 fell to 1,004. This is a decrease of 11% compared to the end of March 2025 and a 66% decrease compared to the end of June 2024.
Further information
This publication presents quarterly and annual data 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:
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A ‘Guide to Offender Management Statistics’, which provides comprehensive information about data sources and quality, as well as key legislative changes.
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A document outlining the ‘Users of Offender Management Statistics’
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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: 29 January 2026
URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly
© Crown copyright Produced by the Ministry of Justice; Alternative formats are available on request from OMSQ-SiC-publications@justice.gov.uk
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Figures on the number of prisoners released under the SDS40 scheme are available here:‘https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2024/1331/article/2/made’ ↩
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‘https://www.gov.uk/government/news/increased-sentencing-powers-for-magistrates-to-address-prisons-crisis’ ↩
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For further information please see the SDS40 release data ad-hoc publication: [‘https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/833/introduction/made’]( https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/833/introduction/made ↩
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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’ ↩
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Further details are available at: ‘Prisons and Probation: Foreign National Offenders - Hansard - UK Parliament’ and ‘https://democracy.leics.gov.uk/documents/s183789/Probation%20Reset.pdf’ ↩
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Further details are available at: ‘https://www.bedfordshire.pcc.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/public-information/meetings/cjb/29.04.2025/beds-pcc.pdf’ ↩
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‘Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Suitability for Fixed Term - Hansard - UK Parliament’ ↩
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Figures on the number of prisoners released under the ECSL scheme are available here: ‘https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6723620e46aa392ce3565530/ECSL_Commentary_Transparency.pdf’ ↩
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Figures on the number of prisoners released under the SDS40 scheme are available here: ‘https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/standard-determinate-sentence-sds40-release-data’ ↩
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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. ↩
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‘htpps://www.gov.uk/government/news/end-of-lifetime-licences-for-rehabilitated-ipp-offenders ↩
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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. ↩
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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. ↩
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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. ↩
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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’ ↩
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‘https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/lord-chancellors-sets-out-her-vision-for-the-probation-service’ and ‘https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/46711/documents/240618/default/’ ↩
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The Sentencing Council guideline, effective from 1 September 2025, provides guidance for sentencers on the imposition of community and custodial sentences, and is available at: ‘https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/guidelines/imposition-of-community-and-custodial-sentences/’ ↩
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Concordance refers to how closely the sentence recommended in a pre-sentence report aligns with the sentence ultimately imposed by the court. ↩