Deaths of offenders in the community 2016 to 2017 annual statistics bulletin
Source: data.gov.uk (2018-05-25)

Deaths of Offenders in the Community statistics. Death of offenders in the community covers deaths of offenders supervised in the community by the probation service in England and Wales.

Deaths of Offenders in the 
Community 2016/17 
Annual Statistics Bulletin 
England and Wales 
 
 
 
 
 
Ministry of Justice  
Statistics bulletin 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
26th October 2017 
 

 
 
- 2 - 
Contents  
 
Contents.............................................................................................................................. - 2 - 
Introduction ......................................................................................................................... - 3 - 
Missing returns and adjustment to number of deaths ................................................. - 3 - 
Main Points ......................................................................................................................... - 4 - 
Commentary ....................................................................................................................... - 5 - 
List of tables and figures ................................................................................................ - 10 - 
Glossary ............................................................................................................................ - 11 - 
Categorisation of deaths ................................................................................................ - 13 - 
Data sources and data quality ....................................................................................... - 14 - 
Contact points .................................................................................................................. - 17 - 
 
 
 

 
 
- 3 - 
Introduction 
 
The Deaths of Offenders in the Community statistics bulletin covers the deaths of offenders 
in England and Wales that occurred while they were under probation supervision because 
they were:  
 
serving their court order sentences in the community (including community orders, 
suspended sentence orders); or 
 
on post-release supervision after completing a custodial sentence. 
 
These figures refer to deaths of offenders occurring in the general public, with the exception 
of the small number of cases occurring to those residing in approved premises, which are 
also included in this publication.  
 
Offenders under supervision in the community (other than, to an extent, those occurring in 
approved premises) are not in the care of HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) in the 
way they are when in custody. The main responsibilities of offender managers in the 
community are to assess, supervise and rehabilitate offenders. While they can encourage 
offenders to address issues affecting the offenders’ health and wellbeing, their ability to 
manage these issues is limited. As a result, the level of responsibility and accountability of 
the probation service for the health and well-being of offenders is substantially different from 
that of the prison service in relation to deaths in custody.  
 
Statistics on deaths occurring in custody are published separately in the Safety in Custody 
Bulletin1. These two sets of figures cannot be compared meaningfully.  
 
Missing returns and adjustment to number of deaths 
For the 2016/17 data collection, Humberside, Lincolnshire & North Yorkshire CRC and 
Norfolk & Suffolk CRC did not submit returns. These two CRCs recorded 37 deaths in 
2015/16 and 38 deaths in 2014/15. Where applicable, adjusted figures are used for earlier 
years to provide a like-for-like comparison with 2016/17, by removing deaths from these two 
CRCs from earlier years’ totals.  
 
Release Schedule 
 
This bulletin was published on 26 October 2017, and includes statistics covering financial 
year periods from 2010/11 to 2016/17. The earliest period for which data are held across 
probation is 2010/11. As such, the data presented in this publication represent the complete 
available time series.  
 
Financial year figures are collected on an annual basis during August and September of 
each year, and collated for publication during October. The next release of Deaths of 
Offenders in the Community statistics, to include figures for the financial year 2017/18, is 
scheduled for 25 October 2018. 
 
                                                 
1 Safety in Custody Statistics: www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics 

 
 
- 4 - 
Main Points 
 
The number of 
deaths in the 
community 
continues to rise 
 
 
 
In 2016/17, there were 748 deaths of offenders in the 
community, up 7% from 2015/16 when adjusted for the missing 
returns from two Community Rehabilitation Companies 
(CRCs).  
There were 233 self-inflicted deaths, down 9% from the 
previous year.  During this period natural-cause deaths 
increased by 10% to 258 and apparent homicides increased 
from 22 to 33 deaths in 2016/17. 
Deaths during post-
release continue to 
rise 
 
 
 
 
There were 372 deaths during post-release supervision, up 
28% from the previous year. This accounts for the overall 
increase of deaths of offenders in the community on the 
previous year. This increase corresponds with the introduction 
of the Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA) on 1 February 2015, 
and the subsequent increase in the number of offenders on 
post-release supervision since. 
Natural-cause 
deaths account for 
the majority of 
deaths in NPS. In 
contrast self-
inflicted deaths 
account for the 
majority of deaths 
in CRCs  
 
 
Natural-cause was the predominant classification of deaths in 
the National Probation Service (44%), while self-inflicted 
predominated in the Community Rehabilitation Companies 
(34%). There are notable differences in the distribution of age 
at the time of death between the National Probation Service 
(NPS) and CRCs.  A larger proportion of deaths in the NPS 
occurred in the 50-65 years and over 65 years age categories, 
while the largest number of deaths in CRCs occurred among 
those aged between 36 and 45 years. 
 
 
 
 

 
 
- 5 - 
Commentary 
 
There were 748 deaths of offenders in the community in 2016/17, the highest in the time 
series despite missing information from two Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs). 
This is an increase of 7% (47 deaths) from 701 deaths in the previous year, after adjusting 
2015/16 figures to account for the two missing data returns. From here on and where 
applicable, figures shown for earlier years will be adjusted by removing deaths from the two 
CRCs so as to provide like-for-like comparisons with 2016/17 figures. 
 
The increase in deaths in the community is due to the rise in number of offenders who died 
under post-release supervision, while deaths of other offenders have been falling. There was 
an increase of 82 deaths (28%) during post-release supervision compared to 2015/16. The 
proportion of deaths in the community that occurred during post-release supervision has 
increased from 16% in 2010/11 to 50% in 2016/17.  
 
Figure 1: Death of offenders in the community and deaths occurring during post-
release supervision, England and Wales1 
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
2016/17
Number of deaths
Total deaths
Post-release deaths
ORA
 
(1) 2016/17 is missing 2 returns, so the figures are not directly comparable to earlier periods. 
 
The introduction of the Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA) on 1 February 2015 caused an increase in the 
number of offenders on post-release supervision. Caution should be used when comparing periods prior 
to and after the introduction of ORA. 
 
 
The number of offenders who died in the community while on probation supervision 
decreased year on year between 2010/11 and 2013/14, from 704 to 560 deaths (a fall of 
20%). The figure remained relatively stable in 2014/15 with 558 deaths, followed by a 
notable increase to 738 in 2015/16. This was largely driven by deaths of offenders under 
post-release supervision, which increased from 171 in 2014/15 to 302 in 2015/16 (a 77% 
increase). The increase is partly explained by the introduction of the Offender Rehabilitation 
Act (ORA) on 1 February 2015, which resulted in a substantial increase in the number of 
offenders on post-release supervision, from 39,669 as at 31 March 2015 to 64,441 as at 31 
March 20162 (an increase of 62%).   
 
                                                 
2 Caseload of offenders under post-release supervision from the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly: 
www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly  

 
 
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Under ORA, all offenders given custodial sentences are now subject to a minimum of 12 
months’ supervision in the community upon release from prison. This consists of a period 
spent on licence, and, depending on the length of custodial sentence, a period on post-
sentence supervision. Previously, only adults sentenced to over 12 months in custody and 
all young offenders were subject to statutory supervision. 
 
As seen in Figures 1 and 2, the trend in the deaths of offenders in the community follows a 
similar pattern to the overall caseload of offenders supervised in the community at the end of 
each financial year, as published in the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly3. The 
combined caseload of all court orders (including community orders and suspended sentence 
orders) and post-release supervision, showed an increase of 9% from 180,050 as at 31 
March 2016 to 195,695 as at 31 March 2017. The increase in caseload is driven almost 
equally by increases of court orders and post-release supervision, 8% and 10% respectively. 
This is in contrast to deaths of offender in the community, where offenders on post-release 
accounted for the overall increase in deaths but deaths of other offenders fell. 
 
Figure 2: Number of offenders supervised by the probation service at the end period 
by type, England Wales 
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
140,000
160,000
180,000
200,000
Mar 10
Mar 11
Mar 12
Mar 13
Mar 14
Mar 15
Mar 16
Mar 17
Number of offenders
Court Orders and Post release
Court Orders
Post-release
ORA
 
Some caution should be used when considering caseload figures, as offenders may appear both within 
the caseload figures of court orders and post-release supervision, resulting in potential double-counting. 
The introduction of the Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA) on 1 February 2015 caused an increase in the 
number of offenders on post-release supervision. Caution should be used when comparing periods prior 
to and after the introduction of ORA. 
 
In 2016/17, there was a 16% increase in deaths of offenders in the community supervised by 
the National Probation Service (NPS) and a 2% increase in those supervised by CRCs 
compared with 2015/16. Prior to this, the NPS and CRCs had seen relatively similar 
increases in deaths between 2014/15 and 2015/16 of 35% and 31% respectively. 
 
Some caution should be used when considering caseload figures in conjunction with deaths. 
Offenders may appear both within the caseload figures of court orders (including community 
orders and suspended sentence orders) and post-release supervision. Furthermore, 
published caseload figures are snapshots of moments in time, which may not fully represent 
                                                 
3 Probation caseload statistics are published in the Offender management statistics quarterly at 
www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly  

 
 
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the overall caseload during the 12-month periods for which deaths are presented in this 
publication. Accordingly, rates of deaths have not been calculated, and comparisons of 
trends in caseload to trends in deaths of offenders in the community should be seen as 
indicative. However, these changes to overall probation caseload figures can be viewed as 
context to the corresponding changes in deaths across the time series. The overall trends of 
probation caseload and the number of deaths of offenders in the community are similar.  
 
Apparent cause of death 
 
Across the time series, deaths that were natural or self-inflicted accounted for around two 
thirds of all deaths in the community. The number of natural-cause deaths has been higher 
than self-inflicted, but the difference narrowed between 2010/11 and 2014/15. In the 
following year, self-inflicted deaths surpassed natural causes, which was the only year that 
this happened.   
 
Figure 3: Death of offenders in the community by apparent cause, England and 
Wales1 
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
2016/17
Number of deaths
Self-inflicted
Natural Causes
Homicide
Accident
Other
ORA
 
(1) 2016/17 is missing 2 returns. Caution should be used when comparing with earlier periods. 
 
The introduction of the Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA) on 1 February 2015 caused an increase in the 
number of offenders on post-release supervision. Caution should be used when comparing periods prior 
to and after the introduction of ORA. 
 
 
 
There were 258 natural-cause deaths in 2016/17, a 10% increase when compared with 
adjusted figures for 2015/16. Deaths due to natural causes accounted for around a third of 
all deaths in the community across the time series, although natural-cause deaths accounted 
for a higher proportion of all deaths of offenders supervised by NPS (44% in 2016/17) 
compared to CRCs (29% in 2016/17). This difference may be explained partly by the age of 
offenders at the time of their death. For 2016/17, around 39% of offenders supervised by 
NPS were aged 50 or over when they died. Offenders in this age group are more likely to die 
of natural causes than any other reason. In contrast, only 20% of offenders supervised by 
the CRCs were aged 50 or over when they died. 
 
There were 233 self-inflicted deaths in 2016/17, a decrease of 9% from 2015/16 and this 
accounted for 31% of all deaths. This reverses the recent trend where the proportion of 

 
 
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deaths that were self-inflicted had gradually increased year on year, from 21% in 2010/11 to 
37% in 2015/16 – the only year to record more self-inflicted deaths than those due to natural 
causes. 
 
In 2016/17, the proportion of self-inflicted deaths in the NPS was lower than the proportion of 
deaths due to natural causes. The opposite is true of the CRCs, where self-inflicted deaths 
accounted for a higher proportion of deaths than natural causes. This is only partly explained 
by the different age distributions of the supervised offenders. When comparing on a like-for-
like basis, CRCs had a drop in the number of self-inflicted deaths compared to the previous 
year, whereas the NPS saw an increase.  
 
As seen in Figure 4, self-inflicted death was the predominant classification of deaths in the 
CRCs in 2016/17, while natural-cause deaths predominate in the NPS.  
 
Figure 4: Relative distribution of deaths by classification in NPS and CRCs, 2016/17 
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
NPS
CRC
Self-inflicted
Natural Causes
Homicide
Accident
Other
Unclassified
 
Caution should be used when comparing percentages of apparent cause of death for CRCs and NPS due to the 
high proportion of deaths that are as yet unclassified.   
 
There were 33 apparent homicides in 2016/17, 13 in NPS and 20 in CRCs. While this is the 
highest in the time series, it accounted for only 4% of all deaths, and is broadly consistent 
with previous years. 
 
Gender 
 
In 2016/17, 40% of male and 19% of female offenders who died in the community were 
under the supervision of the NPS. There were 649 male deaths, accounting for 87% of all 
deaths, with 36% due to natural causes and 30% for for self-inflicted. This is in contrast to 
females where the main cause of death was self-inflicted (41%) and natural causes 
accounted for 25%. At the time of death, 29% of males were aged 50 or over compared to 
17% for females. This age group is more likely to die of natural causes, which partly explains 
the higher proportion of natural-cause deaths amongst males. 
 
For males, 2015/16 was the only year in the time series to have higher numbers of self-
inflicted deaths than natural causes. In both of the last two years, females have recorded 
more self-inflicted deaths than those due to natural causes.  
 
Post-release supervision 
 
There were 372 deaths of offenders under post-release supervision in the community after a 
custodial sentence in 2016/17, representing 50% of all deaths of offenders in the community. 
Although in absolute terms these were similar between NPS and CRCs (180 and 192 deaths 
respectively), in relative terms deaths under post-release supervision represented 41% of all 
deaths in the community while supervised by CRCs, but 65% of all deaths while supervised 

 
 
- 9 - 
by the NPS. The sizeable increase in deaths since 2014/15, corresponds with the 
introduction of ORA. 
 
The relative distributions of classifications of deaths under post-release supervision in NPS 
and CRCs are broadly similar to those seen in deaths of offenders in the community overall 
in 2016/17. These distributions remained relatively similar across the time series. Natural-
cause deaths predominate for those supervised by NPS, and self-inflicted death was the 
most prevalent classification in CRCs between 2014/15 and 2016/17. 
 
 
Approved Premises 
 
Approved Premises (formerly known as probation/bail hostels) provide accommodation for 
offenders on post-release supervision (released from prison on licence) and those directed 
by the courts to live there as a condition of their court order. Staff provide supervision, 
support and ensure that residents comply with conditions of their licence or court order. 
Some of the deaths while resident in Approved Premises occurred away from the premises. 
 
There were 13 deaths of offenders with residence in Approved Premises in 2016/17. Deaths 
of offenders residing in Approved Premises accounted for 2% of all deaths of offenders in 
the community in general across the time series, ranging from 9 to 15 deaths a year since 
2010/11. The majority of deaths of offenders residing in Approved Premises across the time 
series were male, while females accounted for three deaths. Due to the greater volatility due 
to low numbers, comparisons across time would not be meaningful. 
 

 
 
- 10 - 
List of tables and figures 
 
This is a list of annual Deaths of Offenders in the Community Statistics tables and figures. 
Figures 1 to 4 are included in this document. The summary tables are available from the 
website4. All tables refer to incidents occurring to offenders in the community in England and 
Wales and for 2010/11 to 2015/16 unless stated otherwise.  
 
 
Table description 
 
 
Deaths of Offenders in the Community – Summary tables 
Table 1 
Deaths of offenders in the community by gender and apparent 
cause 
Table 2 
Deaths of offenders in the community by gender and age band 
Table 3 
Deaths of offenders in the community by gender and ethnic group 
Table 4 
Deaths of offenders during post-release supervision in the 
community after a custodial sentence, by gender and apparent 
cause 
Table 5 
Deaths of offenders in the community by CRC, 2014/15 and 
2016/17 
Table 6 
Deaths of offenders in the community by NPS Division, 2014/15 and 
2016/17 
Table 7 
Deaths of offenders in the community by Probation Trust, 2010/11 
to 2013/14 
Table 8 
Deaths of offenders in the community residing in Approved 
premises by apparent cause 
 
 
Deaths of Offenders in the Community – Figures 
Figure 1 
Death of offenders in the community and deaths occurring during 
post-release supervision 
Figure 2 
Number of offenders supervised by the probation service at the end 
period by type 
Figure 3 
Death of offenders in the community by apparent cause 
Figure 4 
Relative distribution of deaths by classification in NPS and CRCs, 
2016/17 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
4 www.gov.uk/government/collections/death-of-offenders-in-the-community 

 
 
- 11 - 
Glossary 
 
Approved premises 
Approved premises (formerly known as probation and bail hostels) 
accommodate offenders released from prison on licence, 
offenders directed to live there as part of their sentence (such as a 
requirement of a community order) and those directed to live there 
by the courts as a condition of bail. Their purpose is to provide an 
enhanced level of residential supervision in the community, as 
well as a supportive and structured environment. 
Community 
Rehabilitation 
Company (CRC) 
A series of organisations established on 1 June 2014, responsible 
for the delivery of offender management to medium and lower-risk 
offenders in the community. 
Community order 
Replaced all pre-Criminal Justice Act community sentences for 
adults. Under this order, a number of possible requirements must 
be added, such as supervision, unpaid work and drug treatment. 
Community 
sentence 
This places the offender under the supervision of the probation 
service and there will be a range of requirements that must be 
completed. 
Licence 
The period in which a prisoner is released from prison to serve the 
remainder of their sentence in the community. Offenders subject 
to post-release licence are required to adhere to specific 
conditions as part of their licence. Conditions for offenders 
released from determinate sentences are set by the 
governor/controller (on behalf of the Secretary of State) from the 
releasing prison for determinate sentences. Where the sentence 
is indeterminate, licence conditions are set by the Parole Board. 
National Probation 
Service (NPS) 
An organisation established on 1 June 2014, responsible for the 
delivery of offender management to higher risk offenders in the 
community. 
Offender 
Rehabilitation Act 
2014 (ORA) 
An Act passed by parliament that made changes to the legislative 
framework to support various reforms including ensuring offenders 
released from custodial sentences of over 1 day will be subject to 
a minimum of 12 months’ supervision in the community, and 
making available a new ‘Rehabilitation Activity Requirement’ as 
part of a community order or suspended sentence order. 
Post-release 
supervision 
Offenders released from prisons after completing their custodial 
sentence are subject to supervision in the community. This 
consists of a period spent on licence, and, depending on the 
length of custodial sentence, a period on post-sentence 
supervision. Prior to the Offender Rehabilitation Act, the 
supervision period comprised only the licence period.  

 
 
- 12 - 
Post-sentence 
supervision 
Provisions in the Offender Rehabilitation Act created a new 
supervision period to be served by offenders released from 
custodial sentences of more than 1 day but less than 2 years. The 
supervision period follows the licence period, and tops up the 
licence so that the total period under supervision in the community 
is 12 months. For example, an offender subject to a licence period 
of 4 months would then be subject to a supervision period of 8 
months. The purpose of the post-sentence supervision period is 
the rehabilitation of the offender. As with licence conditions, 
requirements under the supervision period are imposed by the 
Secretary of State. 
Probation trusts 
Probation trusts were organisations who managed the delivery of 
probation services to offenders prior to implementation of the 
Offender Rehabilitation Act. Probation trusts ceased to exist on 31 
May 2014 
Suspended 
sentence order 
A court may give an offender a 'suspended' prison sentence if the 
time they would otherwise spend in prison is under 12 months. 
The offender then serves their sentence in the community and 
must comply with conditions set out in the order made by the 
court. These conditions can last for up to two years. If the offender 
breaks these conditions, or commits another offence, they will 
usually have to serve the original sentence in prison in addition to 
the sentence they get for any new offence. 
 

 
 
- 13 - 
Categorisation of deaths 
 
Each death has been classified as one of the following apparent causes, as allocated at the 
time of reporting based on information held and reported by the probation provider (NPS, 
CRC or Probation Trust) to HMPPS: 
 
Accident 
Any death of a person arising from external causes, accidental 
overdose/poisoning and deaths where taking a drug contributed to a 
death but not in fatal amounts. 
Homicide 
Any death of a person at the hands of another (includes murder and 
manslaughter). 
Natural causes 
Any death of a person as a result of a naturally occurring disease 
process. 
Other 
Any death of a person whose death cannot easily be classified as 
natural causes, self-inflicted, accident or homicide. The cause of 
death may never be known even after all of the necessary 
investigations have taken place. 
Self-inflicted 
Any death of a person who has apparently taken his or her own life 
irrespective of intent. 
Unclassified 
Any death where there is insufficient information to make a 
judgement about the cause at the time of reporting. 
 

 
 
- 14 - 
Data sources and data quality  
 
The data presented in this publication are drawn from manual returns collected annually 
from each National Probation Service (NPS) Division and each Community Rehabilitation 
Companies (CRCs), and each Probation Trust prior to 2014/15. These returns but may not 
capture all offenders that died during supervision in the community. The death of an offender 
may only come to light when they are informed by third parties such as the police, the 
medical profession or friends and family of the deceased.  
 
Death classification figures in this bulletin are based on reports received by probation staff 
and their interpretation of these reports. These, in many cases, may not be the confirmed 
cause of death, but represent the apparent cause of death at the time deaths were reported 
to HMPPS. Because HMPPS’ responsibility for the majority of these figures is predominantly 
in relation to the termination of the court order or post-release supervision, further 
information pertaining to the death that may influence subjective assessments of the 
apparent cause of death may not be subsequently reported to HMPPS. Therefore, while 
apparent cause of deaths in this bulletin reflects the classification made at the time of 
reporting, it may not reflect the final classification of deaths after inquest. Such 
reclassifications would not be expected to have a notable effect on reported trends. 
 
Furthermore, at the time of reporting, probation staff may not have sufficient information 
regarding the circumstances of the death to assign an apparent cause. The results of any 
investigations or inquests following the death are not always circulated back to the probation 
providers. As such, a number of deaths remain unclassified each year, and many of these 
are unlikely to be subsequently updated. Accordingly, caution is advised when comparing 
deaths in individual categories across time. 
 
As part of the Transforming Rehabilitation reform programme, Probation Trusts were 
replaced in June 2014 by the National Probation Service (NPS), which manages the most 
high-risk offenders across seven divisions; and 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies 
(CRCs), who manage medium and low-risk offenders. There may be possible underreporting 
from the period during the transition. Figures for 2014/15 would include some deaths that 
occurred when the Probation Trusts existed but were reported by the NPS or CRCs that had 
been allocated responsibility for these offenders prior to their deaths. 
 
Data on deaths of residents staying in Approved Premises may include those directed to 
reside there as part of their bail conditions. Where known, deaths of residents released on 
bail have been removed from the figures. Some deaths in Approved Premises occur away 
from the premises, as such it should not be inferred that all of such deaths were either 
directly supervised or occurring on the premises themselves. 
 
Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the information collected 
is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. While the figures 
shown have been checked as far as possible, they should be regarded as approximate and 
not necessarily accurate to the last whole number shown in the tables.  
 

 
 
- 15 - 
Users and uses of these statistics 
 
The statistics included in this publication have a wide range of uses, and this report adds to 
the body of learning in this area. It supports work to help identify possible means to reduce 
the risk of such tragedies occurring in future, meeting a broad spectrum of user needs as 
shown below: 
 
User 
Summary of main statistical needs 
MOJ Ministers 
Use the statistics to monitor the safety and wellbeing of the 
offenders in the community; and to assess policy impacts (e.g. 
changes to managing vulnerable offenders) 
MPs and House of 
Lords 
Statistics may be used to answer parliamentary questions  
Monitoring and 
Accountability 
E.g. Justice Select Committee. Deaths of Offenders in the 
Community may be used as a primary data source for monitoring 
and for public accountability. 
Policy teams 
Statistics are used to inform policy development, to monitor 
impact of changes over time and to consider future changes and 
their impact on the system 
Agencies 
responsible for 
offender 
management 
Current and historical administrative data are used to support 
performance management information at national and local levels 
to complement their understanding of the current picture and 
trends over time 
Academia, students 
and businesses 
Used as a source of statistics for research purposes and to 
support lectures, presentations and conferences 
Trade Unions 
Used as a source of statistics to inform the work of the unions in 
relation to the probation service.  
Journalists 
Used as a compendium of data on deaths of offenders in the 
community so that an accurate and coherent story can be told on 
rehabilitation and events occurring to offenders in the community 
Voluntary sector 
Data may be used to monitor trends of the safety and wellbeing of 
offenders, to reuse the data in their own briefing and research 
papers and to inform policy work and responses to consultations. 
General public 
Data may be used to respond to ad-hoc requests made under the 
Freedom of Information Act.  
 
HMPPS regularly receives requests for statistics for more recent date periods than those 
covered in published statistics. In accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, 
HMPPS is unable to release figures for periods in advance of those published in Official 
Statistics publications. Furthermore, the figures appearing in this publication are received by 
HMPPS in annual returns during August and September of each year, meaning the 
publication date is the earliest that collated figures for the financial year are held and 
available for internal use also, meaning these figures are the most timely available held data. 
 
 

 
 
- 16 - 
Related publications 
 
This bulletin is published alongside other inter-related bulletins: 
  
Safety in Custody Statistics Quarterly Bulletin5: This covers deaths, assaults and self-harm 
occurring in prison custody. Although death in custody statistics are published on the same 
day as deaths of offenders in the community, attempts to compare these figures would not 
be meaningful and such comparisons should not be made.  
 
Offender Management Statistics Quarterly Bulletin6: This provides key statistics relating to 
offenders who are in prison or under Probation Service supervision. It covers flows into 
these services (receptions into prison or probation starts) and flows out (discharges from 
prison or probation terminations) as well as the caseload of both services at specific points in 
time. 
 
Proven Re-offending Statistics Quarterly7: This provides proven re-offending figures for 
offenders who were released from custody, received a non-custodial conviction at court, 
received a caution or received a reprimand or warning. 
 
Community Performance Management Information release8: A quarterly release of 
performance management information for the National Probation Service (NPS), Community 
Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs). 
 
Multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) annual report9: Presents statistics on 
the number of Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) eligible offenders in 
England and Wales, and information related to these offenders. 
 
Taken together, these publications present users with a more coherent overview of offender 
management, re-offending among both adults and young people and the safety of offenders 
whilst in prison custody. 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
5 www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics  
6 www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly  
7 www.gov.uk/government/collections/proven-reoffending-statistics  
8 www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-performance-quarterly-management-information-release 
9 www.gov.uk/government/collections/multi-agency-public-protection-arrangements-mappa-annual-reports 

 
 
- 17 - 
Contact points  
 
Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office:  
 
Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx 
Email: xxx@xxx.xx 
 
Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to:  
 
Saleyah Miah 
Prison and Probation Analytical Services 
Ministry of Justice 
102 Petty France 
London  
SW1H 9AJ 
Email: xxx@xxx.xx 
 
 
General enquiries about the statistical work of the Ministry of Justice can be e-mailed to: 
xxx@xxx.xx 
 
General information about the official statistics system of the UK is available from 
http://statisticsauthority.gov.uk/about-the-authority/uk-statistical-system 
 
The Ministry of Justice publishes data relating to offender management in England and 
Wales. Equivalent statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland can be found at:  
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice 
http://www.sps.gov.uk/FreedomofInformation/PrisonerDeaths.aspx 
http://www.dojni.gov.uk/index/statistics-research/stats-research-publications.htm 
 
 
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