Offender management statistics quarterly: January to March 2024

Question 1

1.  Population

Accepted Answer

The prison population stood at 87,726 on 30 June 2024.

The sentenced prison population stood at 70,245 (80% of the total); the remand prison population stood at 17,070 (19%) and the non-criminal prison population stood at 411 (0.5%).

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

Remand prison population

The 30 June 2024 remand population figure of 17,070 is 10% higher than in June 2023 and is the highest June figure in at least the last fifty years (effectively a ‘record high’). The untried prison population rose by 8% (to 11,027) when compared to the end of June 2023 whilst the convicted unsentenced population rose by 13% (to 6,043) over the same period.

Most of those in custody on remand were being held for either violence against the person (44% of the untried population and 31% of the convicted unsentenced population); or drug offences (12% of the untried population and 18% of the convicted unsentenced population). The introduction of new domestic abuse legislation active from June 2022 ^{[footnote 1]} appears to be a contributing factor to a substantial increase in the number of prisoners associated with a violence against the person offence (51% increase in the untried population, 71% increase in the convicted unsentenced population in the last 12 months).

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 70,245 which is a 1% increase from the same point 12 months earlier. Among recorded sentence lengths, the largest percentage increase, 10%, was seen for those serving an Extended Determinate Sentence (see below). Meanwhile decreases were seen in the populations serving shorter sentences of less than or equal to 6 months (down 24%), greater than 6 months to less than 12 months (down 21%) and 12 months to less than 2 years (down 7%).

Around 7 in 10 prisoners serving an immediate custodial sentence have been convicted of a violence against the person offence (32%), sexual offence (21%) or drug offence (17%). Both the violence against the person and sexual offence sentenced population groups have seen increases over the last year, of 4% and 5% respectively in the 12 months to 30 June 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 June 2024, 8,296 prisoners were serving such sentences; a 10% increase compared to the same time last year. Prisoners serving EDS account for 9% of the total prison population.

Indeterminate sentences

On 30 June 2024, there were 8,523 (8,178 male; 345 female) ‘unreleased’ prisoners serving indeterminate sentences (Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) and life sentences). This is largely the same as 30 June 2023 (a 0.1% increase).

The number of ‘unreleased’ prisoners serving life sentences (7,391) has increased by 3% compared to one year ago whereas the number of ‘unreleased’ IPP prisoners fell by 14% to 1,132. 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 (64%) 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 1% to 836 when compared to 30 June 2023, whilst the number of ‘recalled’ IPP prisoners has remained relatively unchanged at 1,602 in that same time period.

Recall to custody

The population recalled to custody (12,199 prisoners) has increased by 3% relative to the total a year earlier. 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.

On a month-to-month basis, the recall prison population fell in April 2024 and May 2024. This is likely to be linked to the impact of the Suitability for Fixed Term Recall Order 2024 which came into effect in early April 2024 which reduced the amount of time that some recalled prisoners would spend in custody on recall.

Foreign National Offenders (FNOs)

There were 10,435 (3,578 remand, 6,486 sentenced and 371 non-criminal) foreign nationals held in custody on 30 June 2024; representing 12% of the total prison population. The number of FNOs in the prison population has increased by 1% compared to 30 June 2023, similar to the percentage growth in the number of British Nationals. This increase was driven by a 7% increase in the FNO remand population and a 1% increase in the sentenced FNO population. The non-criminal Foreign National population fell by 28% over the same period. The most common nationalities after British Nationals in prisons are Albanian (12% of the FNO prison population), Polish (9%), Romanian (7%), Irish (6%) and Jamaican (4%).

Question 2

2.  Prison receptions and admissions

Accepted Answer

18,344 offenders were received into custody as first receptions in the latest quarter.

12,389 were remand first receptions, 5,827 were sentenced first receptions and 128 were civil non-criminal first receptions.

Offender first receptions

The total number of first receptions between January to March 2024 was 7% higher than the same quarter in 2023. The number of first receptions are now in line with levels observed pre-pandemic, which were around 17,000 to 18,000 per quarter.

There were 3,348 first receptions of foreign nationals between January to March 2024, which is 7% 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 five foreign nationalities with the highest numbers of first receptions in the latest quarter were: Albanian (530), Romanian (387), Polish (297), Irish (158), and Lithuanian (115). When taken together, these five nationalities accounted for 44% of the 3,348 first receptions of foreign nationals in this quarter (January to March 2024).

Prison admissions

Compared to the same quarter in 2023, both remand and recall admissions increased. Untried remand admissions increased by 9%, while convicted unsentenced remand admissions rose by 20%, both largely driven by increases in admissions for violence against the person. Recall admissions were up 12%.

When considering immediate custodial sentenced admissions, violence against the person had the largest number of sentenced admissions overall, accounting for 24% of all immediate custodial admissions. Sentenced admissions increased by 2%, driven by increases in admissions for violence against the person and drug offences. The number of immediate custodial sentenced admissions for sexual offences decreased by 4% when compared to the same period last year. The largest proportionate decrease occurred in the criminal damage and arson group, down by 44%.

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, which had the highest ‘female’ proportion (20% 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 January to March 2024 (Source: Table 2_Q_9)

When compared with the same quarter last year, there was a decrease of 21% in sentenced admissions of greater than 6 months to less than 12 months, but increases in sentenced admissions of 14 years or more (excluding indeterminate sentences) and less than or equal to 6 months, of 14% and 10% respectively. In the same period, indeterminate sentenced admissions increased by 3% when compared to the same quarter in 2023.

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 January and March 2024, 188 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

13,289 offenders were released from custody in the latest quarter.

13,170 releases from determinate sentences and 119 from indeterminate sentences.

Prison releases from custodial sentences

The number of prisoner releases between January and March 2024 was 12% higher than the same quarter in 2023.

Between January and March 2024, there were large proportionate increases in the number of prisoners released from sentences of 12 months to less than 2 years, 5 years to less than 7 years and extended determinate sentences, with increases of 25%, 29%, and 27% respectively as compared to the same period in 2023.

Releases on Home Detention Curfew (HDC)

The number of offenders released on HDC in the latest quarter dropped to 1,824, a decrease of 8% 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 up 10% (11,397) 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.

Releases on Temporary Licence (ROTL)

ROTL numbers have continued to increase. There were 104,107 incidences of Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL) between January and March 2024, this is 9% higher than the same period in 2023 but slightly down on the previous two quarters (which may reflect early release on ECSL for some offenders who would otherwise have received ROTL).

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 January and March 2024 continued to rise, up 6% (to 4,489) compared to the same quarter in 2023.

There were 220 Temporary Release Failures (TRF) between January and March 2024, this represents a rate of 211 failures per 100,000 ROTL incidences (which is 5% higher than in the same quarter last year).

Prisoner transfers

Between January and March 2024 there were 22,444 incidences of prisoner transfer, with 19,247 prisoners having at least one incidence of transfer. Both figures represent increases since the same period of 2023, with rises of 14% and 13% respectively.

Question 4

4.  Adjudications

Accepted Answer

There were 61,855 adjudication outcomes between January and March 2024.

This is an increase of 35% on the same quarter in the previous year. Additional days were awarded as punishment on 1,479 occasions in this quarter.

Around three in five (61%) of adjudications were proven.

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), 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.

There was a 25% increase in the number of proven adjudications (to 37,794) from the same quarter in 2023. This in turn contributed to a 107% rise in the number of punishments (to 108,560).

There were increases in the number of proven adjudications across all major adjudication offence types. The largest percentage rise was for ‘wilful damage’, which rose by 52% (to 4,525). The number of offences of ‘unauthorised transactions’ rose by 26% (to 11,836) while ‘disobedience or disrespect’ offence increased by 19% (to 11,673). Together, these two offences account for 62% of the total and along with ‘violence’ (14% of the total), make up the three biggest offence groups for proven adjudications.

The number of proven adjudications for ‘violence’ in the latest quarter increased by 21% (to 5,234) 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 1,479 occasions between January and March 2024. A total of 24,454 days were awarded in the latest quarter – this has increased by 74% compared with the same quarter in 2023 (14,082 days between January and March 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 January and March 2024 was 7,415, of which 379 were recalls from Home Detention Curfew (HDC).

The total number of recalls increased by 9% 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. Following relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions in early 2021, the number of quarterly recalls has generally gone up with the latest figure being an increase of 9% from a year ago. With the introduction of End of Custody Supervised Licence in October 2023, allowing some determinate-sentence offenders to be released up to 70 days earlier than they would have been released previously, recalls are likely to show increases in the next few quarters.

Following relative stability up to January-March 2020, the number of quarterly recalls of offenders released from a sentence of under 12 months (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 and the unification of the probation services in June 2021 (where these offenders are now recalled under a set of requirements different from that under the old Community Rehabilitation Companies) have contributed to increases in these numbers, with the latest figure (3,218) representing an increase of 6% from the previous quarter and an increase of 20% from a year ago. Increases in these recalls have mostly driven increases in overall recall numbers since the unification in mid-2021.

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 6 out 10 recalls, coinciding with increases in ORA recalls. Between January and March 2024, there were 4,197 recalls of such offenders, representing an increase of 2% from the previous quarter and from a year ago. Recalls of indeterminate-sentence offenders have trended downwards since 2023, whereas recalls of those serving a determinate sentence of 12 months or more has slightly trended upwards.

Ethnicity proportions in quarterly recalls have remained relatively stable, with about 8 in 10 recalls being white, 8% being black and 5% being Asian in the latest figures.

There usually is more than one reason for recalling an offender on licence. Of recalls in January-March 2024, about 26% involved a charge of further offending, 78% involved non-compliance, 33% involved failure to keep in touch, and 25% involved failure to reside. These proportions have remained relatively stable.

Between January and March 2024, 135 IPP prisoners and 86 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 47% from a year ago, an increase of 40 releases for IPP prisoners and 31 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 March 2024, there were 2,492 who had not been returned to custody by the end of June 2024.

A further 15 offenders had not been returned to custody as of June 2024 after recall between 1984 and April 1999, meaning the total number of offenders not returned to custody at the end of June 2024 was 2,507. These figures include some offenders believed to be dead or living abroad but who have not been confirmed as dead or deported.

Of the 2,507 not returned to custody by 30 June 2024, 360 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

An update on the probation data transition to more modern data processing methods is included at the end of this section, under ‘Probation data process transition’.

The total number of offenders on probation (i.e., court orders and pre/post-release supervision) in England and Wales at the end of March 2024 was 239,015.

This represents a 0.2% decrease compared to the end of March 2023 and an increase of 9% compared to March 2014.

Latest figures continue to show that trends in probation starts and caseload have returned to levels similar to those observed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic^{[footnote 2]}. This follows increases, more broadly, since operational restrictions^{[footnote 3]}, introduced in response to the pandemic, were lifted in late spring 2020.

Probation reset

Between 29 April 2024 and 1 July 2024, the Probation Service implemented a change to probation practice that focusses probation practitioners at the beginning of orders where intervention can have the most impact^{[footnote 4]}. Unless an offender meets 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. Probation figures in this edition of the publication are, therefore, the last full quarter to be unaffected before implementation of the probation reset began.

Other policy changes

Changes to the recall process^{[footnote 5]}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. This and ECSL, explained earlier in the publication, will also likely impact, to some degree, 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 31 March 2024, there were 239,015 offenders supervised by the Probation Service in England and Wales (Figure 3), which has remained broadly unchanged over the past year (a decrease of 0.2% compared to 31 March 2023 and a 0.1% increase compared to 31 December 2023).

Between the end of March 2023 and the end of March 2024, court order caseload decreased by 4% from 111,038 to 106,959, 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 1%.

The total caseload of offenders supervised before or after release from prison at the end of March 2024 was 136,532, representing an increase of 3% compared to the end of March 2023.

Figure 3: Number of offenders under Probation Service supervision, 31 March 2014 to 2024^{[footnote 6]}

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 January and March 2024, 42,518 offenders started court order or pre-release supervision by the Probation Service (Figure 4). This represents increases of 6% on the previous quarter and of 4% compared to the same quarter a year ago. It is also the largest number of offenders starting court order or pre-release supervision since January to March 2020. Of these:^{[footnote 7]}

25,091 offenders started court order supervision – this is a 5% increase compared to the previous quarter and a 2% increase compared to the same quarter in the previous year
17,446 offenders started pre-release supervision – this increased by 8% in comparison with the last quarter and by 5% compared with the same quarter last year

Of those under court order supervision:

16,029 offenders started community orders (COs) – this is an increase of 5% compared to the previous quarter and of 1% compared to the same quarter in 2023
8,918 offenders started suspended sentence orders with requirements (SSOs) – this is an increase of 4% compared to both the previous quarter and the same quarter in the previous year

Figure 4: Number of offenders starting supervision under the Probation Service, April to June 2021 to January to March 2024^{[footnote 8]}

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 January and March 2024, 26,641 requirements were started under COs and 16,534 under SSOs, representing an increase of 4% and 8% 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 7% to 11,835 and rose by 9% to 7,614 under SSOs.

Under COs, the most notable changes in requirements commenced between January and March 2024 compared to the same quarter in 2023 were:

mental health treatment (MHTR) increasing by 46% to 741
drug rehabilitation (DRR) increasing by 19% to 1,217
alcohol abstinence and monitoring (AAMR) increasing by 11% to 1,014
electronic monitoring decreasing by 44% to 647

Under SSOs, the most notable changes in requirements commenced between January and March 2024 compared to the same quarter in 2023 were:

mental health treatment (MHTR) increasing by 63% to 411
alcohol abstinence and monitoring (AAMR) increasing by 22% to 583
drug rehabilitation (DRR) increasing by 16% to 755
electronic monitoring decreasing by 32% to 479

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 9]} 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 January and March 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 49%
DRR increased by 17%
alcohol treatment (ATR) increased by 8%
unpaid work increased by 8%

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

MHTR increased by 56%
AAMR increased by 23%
unpaid work increased by 13%
DRR increased by 13%

In contrast, rehabilitation requirements combined with accredited programmes under SSOs decreased by 11% over January to March 2024 compared to the same quarter a year ago.

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 15,449 COs and 7,715 SSOs terminated between January and March 2024, 70% 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 January to March 2024, the total number of PSRs prepared by the Probation Service increased by 7% to 24,627 compared to the last quarter, and by 6% compared to the same quarter in 2023.

The number of SSOs proposed in PSRs has been steeply declining since 2018. This decline is associated with the change in 2018 of the guidelines to probation staff on recommending suspended sentence orders in PSRs^{[footnote 10]}. As a result, concordance rates for SSOs should be interpreted with caution.

In the year ending March 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.

Probation data process transition

As stated in the April to June 2023 edition of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly publication, the Probation Statistics team have begun the process of transitioning their legacy systems to more modern data processing methods to enable greater functionality that, in turn, can present further opportunities for more thorough, accurate and timely analysis, and insight.

As part of this transition, provisional probation starts, caseload, termination, and requirements figures sourced using the new data processing method have been produced and are presented in this section as comparative statistics, accompanied by an explanation of some of the more apparent differences that have arisen using the new process.

Starts

Table 1: Offenders starting court order and pre-release supervision by the Probation Service, by sentence type, January to March 2024, England and Wales, sourced using the current and new data process

Sentence type	Current (Published)	New (Provisional)	Difference
All court orders and pre-release supervision	42,518	42,276	-0.6% (-242)
All court orders	25,091	25,086	<0.1% (-5)
All community sentences	16,172	16,168	<0.1% (-4)
Community orders	16,029	16,025	<0.1% (-4)
Other sentences	8,923	8,922	<0.1% (-1)
Suspended sentence orders with requirements	8,918	8,917	<0.1% (-1)
Pre-release supervision	17,446	17,209	-1.4% (-237)

While most of the differences under the new data process are minimal, the most apparent variance arises when comparing pre-release supervision starts figures. Around 97% of the difference between the current and the new data process for pre-release supervision starts can be attributed to duplicate records of offenders within the current data. While these records are not filtered out using the current 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 of around 3%, can be attributed to differences in the timing of when the data was extracted from the data source between the current and new data processing methods.

Caseload

Table 2: Offenders supervised by the Probation Service by sentence type, at end of 31 March 2024, England and Wales, sourced using the current and new data process

Sentence type	Current (Published)	New (Provisional)	Difference
All supervision	239,015	238,989	<0.1% (-26)
All supervision in the community	164,181	164,043	-0.1% (-138)
All court orders	106,959	106,958	<0.1% (-1)
All community sentences	64,112	64,115	<0.1% (3)
Community orders	63,528	63,527	<0.1% (-1)
Other sentences	44,731	44,730	<0.1% (-1)
Suspended sentence orders with requirements	44,722	44,721	<0.1% (-1)
All pre- and post-release supervision	136,532	136,515	<0.1% (-17)
Pre-release supervision	76,401	76,519	0.2% (118)
Post-release supervision	60,274	60,139	-0.2% (-135)

Again, while most of the differences are minimal, we have found that the majority, particularly the pre- and post-release supervision split, can be attributed to variations in the timing of data extraction from the data source between the current and new data processing methods. In the last quarter, through methodology development and exploratory analysis, we have worked to align these data sources more closely, and figures across all sentence groups under the new system are proportionally closer with published statistics than in the last quarter.

For example, this quarter the variance between published and provisional overall supervision figures is less than 0.1%, compared to a variance of 0.2% last quarter. Further, the variance in community orders and suspended sentence orders caseload figures between the published and provisional figures is less than 0.1%, compared to a variance of 0.2% last quarter.

Terminations

Table 3: Percentage of terminations of community orders and suspended sentence orders, by reason, January to March 2024, England and Wales, sourced using the current and new data process

Reason	Current (Published)	New (Provisional)	Difference
Community orders
Ran their full course	63%	63%	..
Terminated early for good progress	7%	7%	..
Terminated early for failure to comply with requirements	12%	12%	..
Terminated early for conviction of offence	12%	12%	..
Terminated early for other reasons	6%	6%	..
Total community order terminations	15,449	15,448	<0.1% (-1)
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	13%	13%	..
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 for caseload comparisons, figures across community order and suspended sentence order terminations under the new system are proportionally closer with published statistics than in the last quarter.

For example, this quarter the variance between published and provisional community order terminations is less than 0.1%, compared to a variance of 0.7% last quarter. Further, the variance in suspended sentence orders terminations between the published and provisional figures is less than 0.1%, compared to a variance of 0.3% last quarter.

Requirements

This quarter, as well as continuing work to more closely aligning the current and provisional data systems, we also focused on the breakdowns of the requirements data, published in tables 6.3 and 6.4 of the probation chapter. Comparisons are included below for a selection of the most frequent requirements and requirement combinations.

Table 4: Most frequently used combinations of requirements for starts of community orders and suspended sentence orders, January to March 2024, England and Wales

Reason	Current (Published)	New (Provisional)	Difference
Community order
Rehabilitation	3,663	3,663	0
Unpaid work	3,365	3,363	<0.1% (-2)
Rehabilitation and unpaid work	3,284	3,283	<0.1% (-1)
Rehabilitation and drug treatment	793	793	0
Rehabilitation and alcohol treatment	660	659	0.2% (-1)
Rehabilitation and alcohol abstinence and monitoring	454	454	0
All other requirements	3,810	3,810	0
Suspended sentence orders with requirements
Rehabilitation and unpaid work	2,310	2,310	0
Rehabilitation	1,981	1,980	<0.1% (-1)
Unpaid work	912	912	0
Accredited programme and rehabilitation	443	443	0
Accredited programme, rehabilitation and unpaid work	440	440	0
Rehabilitation and drug treatment	428	428	0
All other requirements	2,404	2,404	0

Table 5: Number of requirements commenced under community orders and suspended sentence orders, by type of requirement, January to March 2024, England and Wales

Reason	Current (Published)	New (Provisional)	Difference
Community order
Rehabilitation	11,835	11,833	<0.1% (-2)
Unpaid work	8,117	8,114	<0.1% (-3)
Accredited programme	1,559	1,559	0
Drug treatment	1,217	1,217	0
Alcohol treatment	1,117	1,116	<0.1% (-1)
Alcohol abstinence and monitoring	1,014	1,014	0
All other requirements	1,782	1,782	0
Suspended sentence orders with requirements
Rehabilitation	7,614	7,613	<0.1% (-1)
Unpaid work	4,424	4,424	0
Accredited programme	1,496	1,496	0
Drug treatment	755	755	0
Alcohol abstinence and monitoring	583	583	0
Alcohol treatment	540	540	0
All other requirements	1,122	1,122	0

Next steps

It should be noted that all comparative figures sourced under the new data process are provisional and the Probation Statistics team are continuing to explore and understand any variances against published figures. Subject to any data issues, we will be publishing the Probation Statistics chapter using the new data process next quarter in the Q2 2024 Offender Management Statistics Quarterly publication. Figures from Q1 2024 (January to March 2024) onwards will be published using the new, more modern data processing method and this will be communicated clearly.

Question 7

Further information

Accepted Answer

This publication presents quarterly 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:

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.

National Statistics status

National Statistics status are ‘accredited official statistics’(‘https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/accredited-official-statistics/) that meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value^{[footnote 11]}.

All official statistics should comply with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. They are awarded National Statistics status following an assessment by the UK Statistics Authority’s (UKSA) regulatory arm. The UKSA considers whether the statistics meet the highest standards of Code compliance, including the value they add to public decisions and debate.

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in July 2012 They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.

It is the Ministry of Justice’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected for National Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority promptly. National Statistics 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: 31 October 2024

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

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

Offender management statistics quarterly: January to March 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

Offender first receptions

Prison admissions

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

National Statistics status

Contact

Is this page useful?

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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

Offender first receptions

Prison admissions

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

National Statistics status

Contact

Is this page useful?

Help us improve GOV.UK

Help us improve GOV.UK