Offender management statistics quarterly: January to March 2025

Question 1

1.  Population

Accepted Answer

The prison population was 87,334 on 30 June 2025.

The sentenced prison population stood at 69,251 (79% of the total); the remand prison population stood at 17,701 (20%) and the non-criminal prison population stood at 382 (less than 0.5%).

Figure 1: Prison population, June 2005 to June 2025

Chart description text

Description of Figure 1: Line chart showing a time series (June 2005 to June 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 June 2005 the total population was around 76,000, with sentenced around 62,000, and remand around 13,000. The total and sentenced populations rose until around 2011, then became fairly level (averaging 85,000 and 73,000, respectively) until the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, when both dropped. Total and sentenced populations have both increased since then, by June 2025, the total was around 87,000 and sentenced around 69,000. Between 2005 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 June 2025.

The data in this chart is included in Table 1_A_1 of the Annual Prison Population tables of this publication, which covers June 2015 to June 2025, and in table 1_Leg_1 of Annual Prison Population: 2002 to 2015.

Remand prison population

The 30 June 2025 remand population figure of 17,701 is 4% higher than in June 2024 and is the highest ‘end of June’ figure in at least the last fifty years. The untried prison population rose by 5% (to 11,629) when compared to the end of June 2024 whilst the convicted unsentenced population remained virtually unchanged with a less than a 0.5% increase (to 6,072) over the same period.

The two largest offence groups for those held on remand were ‘violence against the person’ (46% of the untried population and 30% of the convicted unsentenced population) and ‘drug offences’ (11% of the untried population and 19% of the convicted unsentenced population).

There were notable increases in the remand populations for Public Order Offences, a 54% increase in the untried population and a 49% increase in the convicted unsentenced population since June 2024, likely associated with the violent disorder seen in Summer 2024 and other ongoing disorder.

While white prisoners make up 74% 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 69,251 which is a 1% decrease from the same point 12 months earlier. This was largely driven by decreases in the population serving determinate sentences of between 2 and 14 years, resulting from a policy change on Standard Determinate Sentences (SDS40) that took effect on 10 September 2024 (resulting in the release of a large number of offenders on that day^{[footnote 2]} and subsequently^{[footnote 3]}), together with earlier releases on End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) from October 2023 to 9 September 2024^{[footnote 4]}, and the removal of a maximum sentence length constraint for Home Detention Curfew release in June 2024. Decreases of around 14% were seen in the numbers of prisoners serving determinate sentences of 2 to 7 years, and around 9% for determinate sentences of 7 to 14 years.

In June 2025, the number of prisoners serving sentences of greater than 6 months to less than 12 months increased by 52% compared to June 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 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).

Around 7 in 10 prisoners serving an immediate custodial sentence have been convicted of a violence against the person offence (35%), sexual offence (22%) or drug offence (13%). While both the violence against the person and sexual offence sentenced population groups have seen increases of 5% each over the last year, the population serving an immediate custodial sentence for drug offences has decreased by 25% in the same period. The ‘Public order offences’ immediate custodial sentenced population has increased notably (by 69% compared to June 2024), again likely linked to the disorder in Summer 2024.

Extended Determinate Sentences (EDS)

EDS constitute a custodial term, the majority of which is served in prison, followed by an additional extended period of licence in the community. They can be imposed if the offender is found guilty of, or has a previous conviction for, a specific sexual, violent, or terrorist offence. On 30 June 2025, 9,032 prisoners were serving such sentences. This is a 9% increase since June 2024 and prisoners serving EDS account for just over 10% of the total prison population.

Indeterminate sentences

On 30 June 2025, there were 8,491 (8,135 male; 356 female) ‘unreleased’ prisoners serving indeterminate sentences (Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) and life sentences). This is virtually unchanged (less than a 0.4% decrease) compared to 30 June 2024.

The number of ‘unreleased’ prisoners serving life sentences (7,513) has increased by 2% compared to one year ago whereas the number of ‘unreleased’ IPP prisoners fell by 14% to 978. 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. Over 7 in 10 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 6% to 882 when compared to 30 June 2024, and the number of ‘recalled’ IPP prisoners has decreased by 6% to 1,508 over that same time period.

Recall to custody

The population recalled to custody (13,538 prisoners) has increased by 11% relative to the total a year earlier. The longer-term increases in the recall population are likely driven by a combination of factors such as increases in the average length of determinate sentences and an increase in the number of people serving indeterminate sentences or sentences with an extended licence. Further information on recent trends in prison recalls can be found in the “Licence recalls” chapter.

Foreign National Offenders (FNOs)

There were 10,772 (3,781 remand, 6,673 sentenced and 318 non-criminal) foreign nationals held in custody on 30 June 2025; representing 12% of the total prison population. The number of FNOs in the prison population increased by 3% compared to 30 June 2024. The most common nationalities after British Nationals in prisons are Albanian (11% of the FNO prison population), Polish (7%), Romanian (7%), Irish (7%) and Lithuanian (3%).

Question 2

2.  Prison receptions and admissions

Accepted Answer

There were 18,874 first receptions into custody in the latest quarter.

13,061 were remand first receptions, 5,725 were sentenced first receptions and 88 were non-criminal first receptions.

Prisoner first receptions

The total number of first receptions between January and March 2025 was 3% higher than the same quarter in 2024.

There were 3,579 first receptions of foreign nationals between January and March 2025, which is 7% higher compared to the same period in 2024. The representation of foreign nationals amongst first receptions has consistently been 18% to 19% since the final quarter of 2022.

Among sentenced first receptions in January to March 2025, sentence lengths of greater than 6 months to less than 12 months increased by 69% 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).

In the latest quarter, there was a 7% increase in first receptions for foreign nationals when compared to the same quarter last year. There was a 3% increase in first receptions for British nationals over the same period. The foreign nationalities with the highest numbers of first receptions in the latest quarter were: Albanian (567), Romanian (350) and Polish (261). Compared to the same quarter in 2024 this corresponds to an increase in first receptions of Albanians, by 7%, and a decrease in first receptions of Romanians and Poles, down 10% and 12%, respectively. When taken together, these three nationalities accounted for one third of the total 3,579 first receptions of foreign nationals in this quarter (January to March 2025).

Prison admissions

Compared to the same quarter in 2024, both remand and recall admissions increased. Untried remand admissions increased by 7%, while convicted unsentenced remand admissions rose by 1%. Recall admissions were up 39%. Sentenced admissions fell by 2%.

When considering immediate custodial sentenced admissions, violence against the person had the largest number of sentenced admissions overall, accounting for almost a quarter (23%) of all immediate custodial admissions. There was a stark increase in public order offences, up by 78% compared to the same time 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 39% and 54%, respectively, the largest percentage rises of all the offence groups. 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.

For sentenced admissions, the most common offence groups for males, comprising 55% of the total, were violence against the person (24%), theft offences (16%), and drug offences (15%). These three offence groups were also the most common for sentenced admissions of females, accounting for 60% of the total. However, for female sentenced admissions the highest proportion was for theft offences (29%), followed by violence against the person (20%), and drug offences (11%).

Recalls

There were 9,957 ‘recall prison admissions’ (those returned to prison for breaching their release conditions) between January to March 2025 (39% 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

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.

We recommend users consider this data to be indicative, given the limited response rate (typically around 50%) to this veteran’s question. Our ongoing monitoring of data quality has also identified some shortfalls in BCS data, which we will continue to monitor.

Between January to March 2025, 174 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

13,296 offenders were released from custody in the latest quarter.

13,195 releases from determinate sentences and 101 from indeterminate sentences.

Prison releases from custodial sentences

The number of prisoner releases between January and March 2025 remained relatively unchanged compared to the same period in 2024.

Between January and March 2025, there was a large increase in the number of prisoners released from sentences greater than 6 months to less than 12 months, up 34% compared to the same period in 2024. This corresponds with a recent increase in the prison population serving sentences of this length.

Releases on Home Detention Curfew (HDC)

The number of offenders released on HDC in the latest quarter rose to 2,770, up 52% compared to the same period last year. The overall increase in HDC releases is due to the expansion of HDC eligibility to include those serving certain determinate sentences of 4 years or more (which came into effect in mid-June 2024). Of HDC releases between January and March 2025, one quarter were of prisoners serving sentences of 4 years or more.

Releases on Temporary Licence (ROTL)

There were 84,616 incidences of ROTL during the quarter ending March 2025, a decrease of 19% compared to the same quarter in 2024. Of the ROTL incidences in the latest quarter, 63% were for ‘Work Related’ reasons.

The number of individuals receiving at least one incidence of ROTL between January and March 2025 fell, down 17% (to 3,726) compared to the same quarter in 2024.

There were 208 Temporary Release Failures (TRF) between January and March 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 January and March 2025 there were 23,154 incidences of prisoner transfer, with 19,803 prisoners having at least one incidence of transfer. Both figures represent increases of 3% since the same period of 2024.

Question 4

4.  Adjudications

Accepted Answer

There were 71,625 adjudication outcomes between January and March 2025.

This is an increase of 16% on the same quarter in the previous year. Additional days were awarded as punishment on 1,683 occasions in this quarter.

Around three in five (60%) 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, prior to 1st October 2022 for the ‘April to June 2024’ quarter, prior to 1st January 2023 for the ‘July to September 2024’ quarter, and prior to 1st April 2023 for the ‘October to December 2024’ quarter), to prevent their inflating the latest statistics and giving an inaccurate impression of recent trends in adjudications. However, these changes to data processing rely on proxies to identify which cases to exclude, so users should be aware that there is the potential for adjudications to be under- or over-reported as a result.

Additionally, under the new system, adjudications covering more than one [alleged] offence are recorded as separate adjudications, whereas previously they were grouped under the same adjudications reference number. This has resulted in an increase in the number of reported adjudication outcomes (as these were previously de-duplicated in our data processing). The number of ‘punishments’ are likely to have also increased as a result of this change – this is due to the ability to record multiple punishments for linked offences.

Amendment to the Prison Rules 1999 and 2000

On 31st May 2024, amendments to the Prison and Young Offender Institution (Adjudication) Rules were made. These 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.

There was a 14% increase in the number of proven adjudications (to 42,921) from the same quarter in 2024. This, in turn, contributed to a 19% rise in the number of punishments during the same period, reaching 129,150.

Increases in proven adjudications were observed across all major adjudication offence categories. The largest percentage rise was in ‘Unauthorised transactions’, which increased by 18% to 13,995. Offences of ‘Disobedience or disrespect’ and ‘Violence’ both rose by 11%, to 12,933 and 5,801. Together, ‘Disobedience or disrespect’ and ‘Unauthorised transactions’ account for 63% of all proven adjudications. Along with ‘Violence’, which represents 14% of the total, these three categories form the largest offence groups.

Between January and March 2025, additional days were awarded as punishment on 1,683 occasions. A total of 26,433 days were awarded in this period—an 8% increase compared to the same quarter in 2024, when 24,454 days were awarded.

Further insights into adjudication trends between 2011 and 2018 can be found in ‘The Adjudications Story’ publication.

Question 5

5.  Recalls

Accepted Answer

The number of licence recalls between January and March 2025 was 10,101, of which 518 were recalls from Home Detention Curfew (HDC).

The total number of recalls increased by 36% compared to the same quarter in 2024.

A table showing recall length (fixed-term, standard) has been added to the usual quarterly recall tables.

Quarterly recall numbers have been historically high in the last four 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 (10,101) is an increase of 36% from a year ago, but a decrease of 3% from the previous quarter.

The latest ORA recall figure (4,956) represents an increase of 54% from a year ago, and numbers have stayed relatively stable over the last three quarters. These recalls are impacted by the introduction of FTR-SI in April 2024.

There were 5,145 recalls of offenders with a sentence of 12 months or more (including those with indeterminate sentences) in January-March 2025, representing a decrease of 5% from the previous quarter and an increase of 23% 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 50% of all recalls, with ORA cases constituting about 80% 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 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 2025, about 75% involved non-compliance, 34% involved failure to keep in touch, 23% involved a charge of further offending, and 22% involved failure to reside. These proportions have remained relatively stable in recent quarters.

Between January-March 2025, 146 IPP prisoners and 55 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 9% from a year ago, with IPP releases increasing by 11 offenders and life-sentence releases decreasing by 31 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 March 2025, there were 2,792 who had not been returned to custody by the end of June 2025.

A further 15 offenders had not been returned to custody as of June 2025 after recall between 1984 and April 1999, meaning the total number of offenders not returned to custody at the end of June 2025 was 2,807. These figures include some offenders believed to be dead or living abroad but who have not been confirmed as dead or deported.

Of the 2,807 not returned to custody by 30 June 2025, 405 had originally been serving a prison sentence for violence against the person offences and a further 74 for sexual offences.

Question 6

6.  Probation

Accepted Answer

The total number of offenders on probation (i.e., court orders and pre/post-release supervision) in England and Wales at the end of March 2025 was 241,540.

With an increase of 1.1%, this remains largely unchanged compared with the end of March 2024 but represents a larger increase of 9% compared with the end of March 2015.

Probation data process transition update

In the October 2023 edition of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly publication,^{[footnote 5]} the Probation Statistics team announced its intention to transition its legacy systems to more modern data processing methods. Since then, regular updates on the progress of this transition have been provided through our quarterly releases.

The updated pipeline was first introduced in October 2024 to produce the probation starts, caseload and terminations figures. In April 2025, the transition was extended to include the court reports figures. Furthermore, only figures from January 2024 onwards were produced using the updated pipeline as a comparison between the legacy and updated pipelines showed minimal differences, making it unnecessary to go further back and revise figures from earlier periods.

This will be the final bulletin to include details about the transition. From October 2025 onwards, please refer to previous editions (specifically those published from October 2023) for this information.

Overall results

Latest figures show that, following a return to trends observed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,^{[footnote 6]} probation starts have fluctuated but, overall, have maintained a slight and steady increase, with a slightly larger increase in the most recent quarter compared to the previous one. Meanwhile, the probation caseload has remained relatively stable.

Probation reset

Between 29 April 2024 and 1 July 2024, the Probation Service introduced a change in practice that focuses probation practitioners on engagement at the beginning of orders, where intervention can have the most impact.^{[footnote 7]} 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 first 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.

Other policy changes

Changes to the recall process,^{[footnote 8]} 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 9]} which ran from 17 October 2023 to the 9 September 2024, and the introduction of the Standard Determinate Sentences (SDS40) scheme,^{[footnote 10]} which came into force on 10 September 2024, both released eligible determinate sentenced prisoners prior to their conditional release date.^{[footnote 11]} 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 12]} 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 as at 31 March 2025 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 31 March 2025, there were 241,540 offenders supervised by the Probation Service in England and Wales (Figure 2). This has remained broadly stable over the last year, increasing by just 1.1% compared to 31 March 2024 and, more recently, increasing by 0.5% compared to 31 December 2024.

Between the end of March 2024 and the end of March 2025, court order caseload increased by 0.6% from 106,961 to 107,640, with the number of offenders on a community order (CO) decreasing by 4% and those on a suspended sentence order with requirements (SSO) increasing by 7%. In addition, the number of offenders subject to a Supervision Default Order decreased by 56% over the same period, coinciding with the implementation of probation reset.

The total caseload of offenders supervised before or after release from prison at the end of March 2025 was 138,545, representing an increase of 1% compared to the end of March 2024. This increase is driven by a rise in the post-release supervision caseload, which, aside from the most recent period, has been steadily increasing since the end of September 2023, coinciding with the introduction of both the ECSL and SDS40 schemes. The number of offenders supervised under post-release supervision rose by 4% to 62,409 between the end of March 2024 and the end of March 2025, whereas the number of offenders supervised under pre-release supervision fell by 0.4% to 76,241 over the same period.

Figure 2: Number of offenders under Probation Service supervision, 31 March 2015 to 2025^{[footnote 13]}

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 January and March 2025, 43,805 offenders started court order or pre-release supervision by the Probation Service (Figure 3). This represents an increase of 4% on both the previous quarter and the same quarter a year ago. Of these:^{[footnote 14]}

25,733 offenders started court order supervision – this increased by 4% compared with the previous quarter, and by 3% compared with the same quarter in the previous year
18,090 offenders started pre-release supervision – this increased by 3% in comparison with the last quarter, and by 5% compared with the same quarter last year

Of those under court order supervision:

16,229 offenders started community orders (COs) – this represents an increase of 4% since the previous quarter, and a smaller increase of 1% compared with the same quarter in 2024
9,436 offenders started suspended sentence orders with requirements (SSOs) – this is an increase of 4% compared with the previous quarter, and an increase of 6% compared with the same quarter in the previous year

Of those under pre-release supervision, 208 offenders started a committal for breach of post-sentence supervision. This represents a decrease of 69% 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, April 2022 to March 2025^{[footnote 15]}

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 2025, 26,950 requirements were started under COs and 17,686 under SSOs, representing increases of 1% and 7%, respectively, compared with 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 with the same quarter a year ago, the number of rehabilitation requirements started under COs rose by 0.8% to 11,933 and rose by 7% to 8,163 under SSOs.

Under COs, some of the most notable changes in requirements commenced between January and March 2025 compared with the same quarter in 2024 were:

exclusion increasing by 28% to 328
mental health treatment (MHTR) increasing by 11% to 825
drug rehabilitation (DRR) increasing by 8% to 1,308
electronic monitoring decreasing by 8% to 596
accredited programmes decreasing by 5% to 1,485

Under SSOs, some of the most notable changes in requirements commenced between January and March 2025 compared to the same quarter in 2024 were:

mental health treatment (MHTR) increasing by 39% to 571
drug rehabilitation (DRR) increasing by 22% to 917
alcohol abstinence and monitoring (AAMR) increasing by 16% to 675
exclusion increasing by 14% to 159
accredited programmes increasing by 10% to 1,644

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 16]} 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 since April 2022 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 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 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:

DRR increased by 15% to 908
MHTR increased by 9% to 339
AAMR increased by 4% to 474
Alcohol treatment (ATR) increased by 3% to 679

In contrast, rehabilitation requirements combined with accredited programmes and unpaid work together under COs decreased by 41% and rehabilitation requirements combined with accredited programmes only decreased by 39% over the same period.

Compared to the same quarter in 2024, under SSOs, rehabilitation requirements combined separately with:

DRR increased by 29% to 554
MHTR increased by 26% to 204
ATR increased by 14% to 342
AAMR increased by 10% to 249

In contrast, rehabilitation combined with accredited programmes and unpaid work together decreased by 39% and rehabilitation combined with accredited programmes only decreased by 33% 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 15,099 COs and 8,267 SSOs terminated between January and March 2025, 73% and 77% respectively were terminated successfully, i.e., ran their full course, or were terminated early for good progress.

Pre-sentence reports

In the quarter January to March 2025, the total number of PSRs prepared by the Probation Service stood at 25,687, representing a 4% increase from the last quarter and a 3% 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 March 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 for SSOs should be interpreted with caution.

In the year ending March 2025, 88% of immediate custodial sentences proposed in PSRs resulted in that sentence being given, representing the highest concordance between sentence proposed and sentence given, excluding SSOs. Furthermore, immediate custody represented 9% of all sentences proposed in PSRs over the same period, meanwhile community sentences represented 89%.

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 31 March 2025 fell to 1,134. This is a decrease of 18% compared to the end of December 2024 and a 62% decrease compared to the end of March 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:

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

Accredited official statistics status

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

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website: https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/

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

Contact

Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/media-enquiries

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

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

Next update: 30 October 2025

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

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’ ↩
For further information please see the SDS40 Tranche release data ad-hoc publication: ‘https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/standard-determinate-sentences-sds40-tranche-release-data’ ↩
For further information please see the SDS40 release data ad-hoc publication: ‘https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/standard-determinate-sentence-sds40-release-data’ ↩
For further information please see the ECSL ad-hoc data publication: ‘https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/end-of-custody-supervised-licence-ecsl-detailed-data’ ↩
‘https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2023/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2023#probation’ ↩
Total caseload as at 31 December 2019 (i.e. the last reporting period prior to the pandemic) stood at 247,759. ‘https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/981212/Probation_Q4_2020.ods’ ↩
Further details are available at: ‘Prisons and Probation: Foreign National Offenders - Hansard - UK Parliament’ and ‘https://democracy.leics.gov.uk/documents/s183789/Probation%20Reset.pdf’ ↩
‘Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Suitability for Fixed Term - Hansard - UK Parliament’ ↩
Figures on the number of prisoners released under the ECSL scheme are available here: ‘https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6723620e46aa392ce3565530/ECSL_Commentary_Transparency.pdf’ ↩
Figures on the number of prisoners released under the SDS40 scheme are available here: ‘https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/680a218f382965132de1aa7a/SDS40_additional_transparency_data.pdf’ ↩
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. ↩
‘End of lifetime licences for rehabilitated IPP offenders - GOV.UK’ ↩
The number of offenders on the probation caseload in 2020 was substantially reduced as a result of the operational restrictions that were put in place on the 23 March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the impact of these operational restrictions continued into subsequent periods, figures in more recent periods have recovered to pre-pandemic levels. ↩
Each person is counted once only for each type of probation supervision started within the time period. In addition, each person is counted once only in each total or sub-total even if they started several types of probation supervision within the time period. This means that the totals and sub-totals are less than adding the sum of their parts. For example, if a person started a community order and a Supervision Default Order within the time period, then the person would be counted once only within the total of all community sentences. ↩
The number of offenders on the probation caseload in 2020 was substantially reduced as a result of the operational restrictions that were put in place on the 23 March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the impact of these operational restrictions continued into subsequent periods, figures in more recent periods have recovered to pre-pandemic levels. ↩
The initiative started in 2017 in five areas, with a national roll out to be completed by mid-2024. ‘https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/918187/a-smarter-approach-to-sentencing.pdf’ ↩
The Sentencing Council guideline, effective from 1 February 2017, provides guidance for sentencers on the imposition of community and custodial sentences, and is available at: ‘https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/overarching-guides/magistrates-court/item/imposition-of-community-and-custodial-sentences/’ ↩

Offender management statistics quarterly: January to March 2025

Applies to England and Wales

Points to note

Statistician’s comment

1. Population

Remand prison population

Sentenced prison population

Extended Determinate Sentences (EDS)

Indeterminate sentences

Recall to custody

Foreign National Offenders (FNOs)

2. Prison receptions and admissions

Prisoner first receptions

Prison admissions

Recalls

Former Members of the Armed Forces

3. Releases

Prison releases from custodial sentences

Releases on Home Detention Curfew (HDC)

Releases on Temporary Licence (ROTL)

Prisoner transfers

4. Adjudications

5. Recalls

Offenders not returned to custody

6. Probation

Overall results

Probation reset

Other policy changes

Caseload

Starts

Terminations

Pre-sentence reports

Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) offenders

Further information

Accompanying files

Accredited official statistics status

Contact

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Applies to England and Wales

Points to note

Statistician’s comment

1. Population

Remand prison population

Sentenced prison population

Extended Determinate Sentences (EDS)

Indeterminate sentences

Recall to custody

Foreign National Offenders (FNOs)

2. Prison receptions and admissions

Prisoner first receptions

Prison admissions

Recalls

Former Members of the Armed Forces

3. Releases

Prison releases from custodial sentences

Releases on Home Detention Curfew (HDC)

Releases on Temporary Licence (ROTL)

Prisoner transfers

4. Adjudications

5. Recalls

Offenders not returned to custody

6. Probation

Overall results

Probation reset

Other policy changes

Caseload

Starts

Terminations

Pre-sentence reports

Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) offenders

Further information

Accompanying files

Accredited official statistics status

Contact

Is this page useful?

Help us improve GOV.UK

Help us improve GOV.UK