Official Statistics

Asset recovery annual statistical bulletin: methodology and data quality report

Published 8 September 2022

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

This report provides statistical information on the Asset Recovery Annual Statistical Bulletin including an overview of the Bulletin’s scope, the methodology and processes that are used to produce the statistics published in the Bulletin. The report also provides users of the statistics with information on the quality of data and outputs used to produce the statistics in the Bulletin.

This report is reviewed and updated annually to reflect additions, and changes to the reporting of the statistics.

Background context information on the Bulletin is provided separately in the Background Information Note.

1. Coverage

1.1 Overview, time period and geographic regions

The Asset Recovery Annual Statistical Bulletin provides data on the value and volume of proceeds of crime restrained, seized, frozen, imposed and recovered through Criminal Confiscations, Forfeitures and Civil Recovery. It also includes statistics on the value of compensation paid to victims, the use of funds by Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) 2002 Agencies received through the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS) and the ARIS Allocations distributed to these agencies.

The Bulletin series provides data from financial year 2011 to 2012 to present and cover asset recovery performance in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and those which have no recorded jurisdiction. This release does not include data covering Scotland.

The Bulletin is published on a yearly basis, information on the Publication Calendar can be found in Section 9.

1.2 Data splits provided in the publication

The statistics provide the following breakdowns on the value and volume of proceeds of crime recovered by:

• legislative powers under POCA 2002

• location of jurisdiction

• financial year

Annex A includes data on criminal offence types related to Modern Slavery providing statistics on the value and volume of proceeds of crime restrained and recovered. These statistics provide the following breakdowns by:

• legislative powers under POCA 2002

• financial year

From September 2022, the statistical bulletin has expanded to include the breakdown of data on all criminal offence types, providing statistics on the value and volume of proceeds of crime by:

• legislative powers under POCA 2002

• financial year

• criminal offence type

From September 2022, the statistical bulletin has also expanded to include data on the ARIS Allocations distributed between the financial years 2016 to 2017 until 2020 to 2021, broken down by POCA Agency.

The latest release also includes Experimental Statistics on International Asset Recovery orders, with the following breakdowns by:

• value of proceeds of crime recovered: total value and value shared and or retained by the UK government

• financial year

Further information on Experimental Statistics can be found in Section 8.

1.3 Other asset recovery statistics

Statistics on the collection of Civil Recovery and Taxation are published by HM Revenue and Customs and the NCA in their respective Annual Report and Accounts.

2. Uses of the reported statistics

The statistics are used by law enforcement and prosecution agencies to inform operational decisions as well as the Home Office, alongside other government departments, to shape asset recovery policy with the aim of contributing to an increase in the value of proceeds of crime recovered.

It should be noted that these statistics are also used to respond to Parliamentary Questions and requests submitted under the Freedom of Information Act.

We are interested in developing these statistics to meet user needs and welcome feedback from users. Further information on providing feedback can be found in Section 12.

3. Data sources and limitations

The data used to create these statistics are obtained from several administrative and operational databases, which are covered below. It should be noted the accuracy of the statistics are dependent on the recording and management of information stored on these databases.

3.1 Joint Asset Recovery Database (JARD) Data

Data on values and volumes of proceeds of crime included in the statistical release are taken from JARD which is an operational database that is managed by the National Crime Agency (NCA). It is a central database which stores information on the seizure, detention, and recovery of the proceeds of crime across all POCA Agencies. JARD is funded through the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS) which has a top-slice that is deducted from the total amount recovered from proceeds of crime under the POCA 2002 legislation to fund national projects focused on Asset Recovery.

Data is entered by accredited Financial Investigators (FIs) within POCA Agencies including the police, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and local authorities. The operational nature of the data means that data is entered into JARD on daily basis by these agencies. This in turn means that JARD data entries adjust to reflect changes in the progress of orders, the resolution of orders and the addition of new orders.

JARD data includes all orders reported in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, however it should be noted that this release does not include data covering Scotland as Scotland has its own separate asset recovery system. The orders recorded under JARD represent those which have been processed under all legislation which is available for recovering the proceeds of crime including POCA 2002.

Main limitations of JARD

The statistics have been produced using the live operational data recorded in JARD at a set point in time basis to identify annual changes in the proceeds of crime across the POCA 2002 legislative powers under the Criminal Confiscation system and the Civil system.

As the data are directly entered by law enforcement officers onto the live database, any errors in the imputation of data may therefore impact the accuracy of statistics produced for the value and volumes of proceeds of crime for each respective POCA 2002 power. Where known errors have been identified, corrective measures have been applied.

The statistics may not report timely figures on orders which are still active from previous historical years because it can take several years for an order to proceed from the asset denial stage to the asset recovery stage. For example, when an order is at the asset recovery stage, a criminal can make payments towards the order over several years after the initial seizure was made. Thus, the statistics presented might not report the asset denial and asset recovery stages for the same associated order within a given time period.

Moreover, the data recorded in JARD by law enforcement officers for the criminal offence types under the “Primary Offence type” field does not always provide a representative figure of the true criminal offence type for a given order. This is due to officers selecting an approximate offence type when recording an order on JARD if there is no specific criminal offence. Therefore, the statistics presented for criminal offence types might not report the true criminal offence type for a given order.

Cash seizures reporting issue

There is a known data reporting issue for Cash Seizures recorded on JARD which is under investigation by the Home Office and partners including the NECC and NPCC. It is anticipated that this has led to the significant under-reporting of Cash Seizures across law enforcement, but the exact scale of the issue is still being explored. Therefore, the statistics reported in this release will not capture all orders obtained for this power in the specified time period.

Any revisions to these figures will be announced in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics once a solution to this issue has been identified.

In September 2021, the report included statistics on the volume of payments recovered from Confiscation Orders, where the measure used for this was based on a proxy estimate of the volume of proceeds of crime imposed from Confiscation Order Impositions. However, this measure has no direct correlation with the volume of proceeds of crime recovered from Confiscation Orders.

The data available on JARD for Confiscation Orders can include multiple payments made against an order for a given period. As these payments are against all orders, not just those imposed within the reporting period this is therefore an ineffective measure of performance and does not directly link to orders imposed within the reporting period. For this reason, releases from September 2022 will not report statistics on the volume of proceeds of crime (payments) recovered from Confiscation Orders, only the values. Previous releases before September 2021 will not be affected as the volume of payments recovered from Confiscation Orders was not previously presented.

In summary, it is important that users take into consideration the following limitations:

• coverage: reported statistics on the proceeds of crime in the bulletin are based on England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and those which have no recorded jurisdiction. Therefore, we do not capture any Scotland orders in the Bulletin on Asset Recovery, should users be interested in assessing the scale of proceeds of crime in Scotland

• accuracy: there are a number of users who can update entries of orders on JARD, so current orders and those which are still ongoing from previous historical years may be subject to revisions to correct for data errors, to update the scale of alleged proceeds of crime and the scale of recovered proceeds of crime following successful or unsuccessful criminal or civil procedural outcomes

3.2 Civil recovery data

The data presented on Civil Recovery Orders is provided by the NCA. It includes Orders on proceeds of crime seized, detained, and recovered through Civil Recovery Orders.

Data provided includes orders obtained by all Agencies including the NCA.

Data is collated by the NCA and is updated regularly to reflect changes in the progress of orders, the resolution of orders and addition of new orders.

3.3 International asset recovery data

The data presented on International Asset Recovery are taken from administrative databases which are managed by the Home Office. The data provides information on the orders executed by law enforcement in England and Wales, or Northern Ireland on behalf of another country, or vice versa. Data are also recorded on orders where funds recovered in the UK are returned to another country.

This data is entered regularly by the Home Office and reflects the progress of orders as and when there are any changes. The data entered on the database can be quality assured against other data sources managed by POCA Agencies including JARD.

Data has not been provided prior to the financial year 2019 to 2020 due to quality issues which mean it is difficult to identify when assets were recovered for orders.

Information on International Asset Recovery orders are gathered manually by the Home Office and collated on an internal database. All efforts have been made to collect data on all relevant orders.

3.4 Survey data on the use of ARIS Funds

The data presented on the Use of ARIS Funds is taken from the Use of ARIS Funds Survey. The Home Office runs this survey on an annual basis and distributes it to all POCA Agencies which have involvement with the ARIS Scheme and is designed to develop an understanding of how they spend funds which are allocated to them.

Data collected from the survey is cleansed by the statistical team to ensure missing entries are removed.

The survey is distributed only to those agencies which are involved in the ARIS Scheme and therefore returns will not include agencies that do not receive funds from the ARIS Scheme.

Therefore, statistics presented will only represent those POCA Agencies which have submitted returns for the survey and not the entire group of POCA Agencies. It means any monies presented does not reflect the total allocation which is distributed as part of the ARIS scheme. The response rates will vary between years, as this is based on POCA Agencies which have submitted returns for the survey.

3.5 ARIS allocations data

The data presented for ARIS Allocations is extracted from an administrative database managed by Home Office. This database uses data recorded on JARD for Confiscation Orders and METIS data for Forfeiture Orders. This includes information on orders that have been processed under the POCA 2002 legislation within a given financial year and provides details such as lead agency and amount of assets recovered.

Data has been cleansed by the ARIS team and the Home Office Finance team as part of the processes undertaken each quarter for calculating ARIS Allocations.

The statistics have been produced using a combination of live operational data recorded in JARD and financial data in METIS. Data which is recorded on both data sources are entered by either law enforcement officers or finance colleagues, which means there could be errors made at the imputation stage. Any errors in these original data sources which have been identified by POCA Agencies or the ARIS team during the allocation process will have had corrections implemented.

These statistics may not include figures for a POCA Agency in every financial year because they might not have processed any orders which fall under the remit of the ARIS Scheme. Hence, it might not be possible to make comparisons over time for a given agency.

3.6 Variations in data recorded

It should be noted there will be variations in the data recorded for each financial year due to revisions made in retrospection of the live administrative JARD system. Figures included in the latest statistical release supersede previous officially reported figures. Therefore, any direct comparisons of changes in asset recovery performance should not be made between the latest and previous releases of the Asset Recovery Annual Statistical Bulletin.

4. Methodology

The information below outlines the main processes involved in producing the statistics used in the Asset Recovery Annual Statistical Bulletin including data extraction, statistics production, and quality assurance.

4.1 Data extraction

Data used in the release are extracted annually in July. It should be noted that the data includes those orders which use the legislative powers under POCA 2002 for restraining, seizure, freezing, imposition, and recovery of proceeds of crime. These reported statistics are extracted on a financial year basis.

In a financial year, the recorded data covers the time period between the 1st April until the 31st March. For example, the financial year ending 2015, reports the period starting from the 1st April 2014 until 31st March 2015.

Civil recovery statistics

Statistics on the proceeds of crime recovered from Civil Recovery Order receipts were obtained from the NCA. These statistics are reported on a financial year basis covering the years 2016 to 2017 until 2021 to 2022.

International asset recovery statistics

Experimental Statistics on the assets realised from cooperating with other countries are extracted from an administrative Home Office database. These statistics are reported on a financial year basis covering the financial years 2019 to 2020 and 2021 to 2022.

Data has not been provided prior to the financial year 2019 to 2020 due to quality issues which made it difficult to identify where assets were recovered.

Experimental Statistics on the funds returned to other countries are extracted from an administrative Home Office database. These statistics are reported as at the end of the latest financial year included in the statistical bulletin.

Survey data on the use of ARIS Funds

The statistics presented in the “Use of ARIS Funds” section are based on an annual survey which is managed by the Home Office and is distributed to all of the POCA Agencies which have involvement with the ARIS Scheme and is designed to develop an understanding of how they spend funds which are allocated to them.

The figures for the financial years 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020 on the Use of ARIS funds were obtained from a survey sent to POCA Agencies in June 2020.

Survey data collected in previous financial years was combined with the current survey data circulated to POCA Agencies. It should be noted the number of survey responses will vary between the financial years so caution should be applied when making year-on-year comparisons.

Data on the Use of ARIS Funds for financial year 2021 to 2022 will be presented in the next statistical release.

ARIS allocations statistics

Statistics presented on ARIS Allocations are extracted from an administrative Home Office database. It includes information on the allocations under the ARIS Scheme which are distributed across POCA Agencies within a given financial year. These statistics are reported on a financial year basis covering the financial years 2016 to 2017 until 2021 to 2022.

For consistency purposes, the statistics presented on ARIS Allocations do not cover the same period as the survey data presented in the “Use of ARIS Funds” section.

4.2 Average metrics used for long term comparisons

The statistical release includes an average metric which is used to understand trends within the data over a longer period. This metric is presented for the values and volumes for the respective POCA powers. It provides a measure of whether current performance is in line with the overall trend observed for the respective POCA power. An average metric can remove some volatility observed in a given financial year and provide a measure more reflective of the data.

In releases prior to September 2021, the mean average was used for comparisons on performance over the longer term. After a review by the statistical team and consultation with users, the decision was taken to use the median average in subsequent releases. This is because the median is less impacted by outliers in the underlying data.

4.3 Future methodology development: accounting for inflation

This statistical release includes statistics on the value of the proceeds of crime restrained, seized, frozen, imposed and recovered through Criminal Confiscations, Forfeitures and Civil Recovery, as well as the value of compensation paid to victims, and the ARIS Allocations distributed to these agencies. The figures presented for these statistics are nominal values (not adjusted for inflation) and any comparisons to previous years also do not account for inflation.

We will be undertaking a review of the current methodologies used for these statistics following on from this release and will hold consultations with stakeholders on how to develop the methodology, and presentation of this data, to most appropriately account for inflation given recent wider economic changes. Any methodological changes will be presented in future statistical releases.

5. Statistics production

This section details the method used to produce the statistics for each POCA power under the Criminal Confiscation and Civil system for asset recovery.

5.1 Value and volume of proceeds of crime statistics

The statistics presented on the value and volume of proceeds of crime restrained, seized, imposed, frozen and recovered through Criminal Confiscation or Civil powers are produced using aggregations of live operational data recorded in JARD except for Civil Recovery, Taxation and International Asset Recovery.

It is used to produce the corresponding reported statistics covering the period from the financial year 2016 to 2017 until financial year 2021 to 2022.

This method uses live JARD data to monitor changes in asset recovery by the value and volumes of each respective legislative power mentioned above, therefore the statistics presented may be revised because the criminal and civil orders are subject to retrospective revision.

This is also the same for the values and volumes of proceeds of crime statistics by the seven main criminal offence types for Criminal Confiscation powers and Civil powers. A breakdown of the seven main defined criminal offence type groups for the purposes of asset recovery reporting in relation to economic crime is provided in Table 5.1 below. The criminal offence type groups are based on the JARD “Primary Offence type” field for entries by criminal offence types for orders submitted by Financial Investigators. Orders without a recorded entry for the criminal offence type have been grouped under the ‘Unassigned’ group.

Table 5.1: Primary criminal offence type group on JARD and the defined criminal offence type group

Primary criminal offence type group on JARD	Defined criminal offence type group
Drug Trafficking	Drugs
Money Laundering - Drugs	Drugs
Other Fraud / Embezzlement / Deception / Crimes of dishonesty	Fraud
Tax and Benefit Fraud	Fraud
VAT Fraud	Fraud
Excise Duty Fraud	Fraud
Trading Standards Offences	Fraud
Money Laundering - Other	Money Laundering
Burglary / Theft	Theft
Robbery	Theft
Handling Stolen Goods	Theft
Human Trafficking	Modern Slavery
Slavery / Servitude / Forced or Compulsory Labour	Modern Slavery
Organised Immigration Crime (OIC)	Other
Other Crime	Other
Counterfeiting / Intellectual Property / Forgery	Other
Pimps and Brothels / Prostitution / Pornography	Other
Intellectual Property Crime	Other
Arms Trafficking	Other
Unknown	Other
Bribery and Corruption	Other
Terrorism	Other
Vehicle Offences	Other
blank	Unassigned

The main methodology is summarised below.

Value of proceeds of crime statistics

For Criminal Confiscation powers we have the following:

• the value of proceeds of crime restrained from Restraint Orders is based on the estimated order value. This represents the predicted amount of monies to be restrained from the defendant once a Restraint Order is imposed. It is calculated using the amount of monies which the defendant is deemed to have benefited from criminal activity

• the value of proceeds of crime imposed from a Confiscation Order Imposition is based on the order amount. It represents the amount of monies which have been denied from the defendant once a Confiscation Order has been imposed

• the main measure for the value of proceeds of crime recovered from a Confiscation Order is based on the distributed amount associated with a Confiscation Order. The distributed amount represents the value of proceeds of crime in receipts which have been recovered from the defendant following a Confiscation Order being imposed

For Civil Powers we have the following:

• the value of proceeds of crime seized from Account Freezing Orders (AFOs), Cash Seizures and Listed Asset Orders is based on the finalised order amount. It represents the value of proceeds of crime that will be seized from the defendant given the civil proceedings have been completed

• from September 2022, the main measure for the value of proceeds of crime recovered from Forfeiture Orders is based on the original order amount for a Forfeiture Order once it has been granted. The original order amount represents the value of proceeds of crime in receipts which will be recovered from the defendant at the point where the civil proceedings have been completed

• the main measure for the value of proceeds of crime recovered from Civil Recovery Orders is based on the finalised order amount. The finalised order amount represents the value of proceeds of crime in receipts which will be recovered from the defendant given the civil proceedings have been completed

Volume of proceeds of crime statistics

For Criminal Confiscation powers we have the following:

• the main measure for the volume of proceeds of crime restrained and imposed is based on the number of orders restrained and imposed. This represents the number of processed orders for each respective power where proceeds of crime will be restrained and imposed from the defendant following either a Restraint Order or Confiscation Order being imposed

For Civil Powers we have the following:

• the main measure for the volume of proceeds of crime seized, frozen, and recovered from a type of order, such as a Seizure, Freezing Order or Forfeiture Order is based on the number of orders where a type of Order has been seized, frozen or recovered. The volume of orders represents the number of processed orders where proceeds of crime will be seized, frozen, and recovered from the defendant given the civil proceedings have been completed

• the main measure for the volume of proceeds of crime recovered from Civil Recovery Orders represents the number of processed orders where proceeds of crime will be recovered from the defendant given the civil proceedings have been completed

Main methodology changes

• in previous reports from September 2017 to September 2020, the main measure for the value of proceeds of crime recovered from Forfeiture Orders was based on the current order amount associated with a Forfeiture Order. This represented the value of proceeds of crime deemed to be recoverable from the defendant whilst the civil proceedings are being completed. The current order amount is a figure which could change following the completion of civil proceedings

• in the report for September 2021, the main measure for the value of proceeds of crime recovered from Forfeiture Orders was based on the order amount under a Detention Order. This represents the value of proceeds of crime seized from the defendant whilst civil proceedings were ongoing. The order amount under a Detention order could change following the completion of civil proceedings

From September 2022, the main measure for the value of proceeds of crime recovered from Forfeiture Orders will be based on the original order amount for a Forfeiture Order once it has been granted. The original order amount represents the value of proceeds of crime in receipts which will be recovered from the defendant at the point where the civil proceedings have been completed.

• in the report for September 2021, the main measure for the volume of proceeds of crime recovered from Confiscation Orders was based on a proxy estimate, and this was the volume of Confiscation Order Impositions. This represented the volume of Confiscation Orders imposed where the orders are granted but not the corresponding full amount has not been paid by the defendant. Therefore, this measure only reflects payments made against an order in a given period, as opposed to the number of orders associated with the total value of proceeds of crime recovered for the same period

• from September 2022, statistics on the volume of proceeds of crime recovered from Confiscation Orders will not be reported because the data recorded on JARD does not accurately capture this information

• from September 2022, the value and volume of proceeds of crime seized from Account Freezing Orders (AFOs), Cash Seizures and Listed Asset Orders will be presented in financial years based on the date when the seizure took place unless this field is not recorded. For orders where this field is not recorded, the date when the order is granted will be used to determine which financial year the proceeds of crime were seized. An assessment has been undertaken to determine this for quality assurance

• in the previous report in September 2020, the total value of proceeds of crime restrained, seized or frozen reported for Asset Return orders in the financial year 2020 to 2021 presented in Annex B was based on the total value of proceeds of crime restrained, seized or frozen up until the financial year ending March 2021

• from September 2022, the total value of proceeds of crime restrained, seized or frozen will be presented in Annex B and will cover the period until the financial year ending March 2022. This figure will supersede any previously released figures

• furthermore, there have been changes to the metric used when making comparisons over the long term. Statistical releases prior to September 2021 used the mean value or volumes under the respective POCA powers for the previous six financial years

• from September 2022 statistical releases will use the median as the metric for long term comparisons on vale and volumes under the respective POCA powers. This decision has been taken because the median can better account for outliers in the underlying data sources. An assessment of the difference between using the mean and the median as the metric for long term comparisons is provided in the Methodology and Data Quality Report. Further updates on how future releases of the Bulletin will be further developed will be included in the Methodology and Data Quality Report

5.2 Quality assurance

There are a number of quality assurance procedures which are completed for each annual statistical release and involves checking:

• consistency in data recorded across different systems and management information (MI) data

• reliability and completeness of specific variables

• trends and variations in specific variables, timeseries and the geographical breakdowns

• checks for retrospection against previous annual datasets

• identification of outliers within the data

• updates from policy and operational stakeholders on changes to legislation and reporting procedures that might affect the data

Further to these checks, several rounds of quality assurance are undertaken by the statistics team and analysts who are required to complete a Quality Assurance (QA) checklist, to ensure the statistics reported are of high quality.

6. Presentation of data and revisions

6.1 Rounding

Figures presented in the statistical release on the value of proceeds of crime and the volumes of proceeds of crime restrained, detained, seized, and recovered from orders are rounded. The rounding applied to these figures is dependent on the magnitude of the figure shown and is presented in the table below.

In instances where rounded data are presented, users should be aware that the individual figures might not sum to the total figures shown due to rounding. Any associated percentages will be capped at 100% of the total.

Percentages have been rounded to the nearest percent based on the round-half-away-from-zero method. It should be noted that percentages are calculated using figures that were not rounded.

Table 6.1: Statistical release rounding policy range

Statistical release rounding policy range	Rounded to nearest
0 – 1,000	10
1,001 – 10,000	100
10,001 -100,000	1,000
100,001 – 1,000,000	10,000
1,000,001 – 10,000,000	100,000
10,000,001 – 100,000,000	1,000,000

6.2 Revisions

The departmental approach to revisions and corrections for all of its statistical releases can be found here.

The statistics presented may be revised because the criminal and civil orders are subject to retrospective revision. This could be due to proceeds of crime being re-frozen to reflect changes in the value /or volumes of proceeds of crime that can be recovered from the offender. Revisions can also occur when the proceeds of crime restrained, seized, frozen, imposed or recovered have been recorded in retrospection by a FI following an outcome. This means earlier statistics would not include those figures and would not capture the total proceeds of crime restrained, seized, frozen, imposed and recovered in that time period.

It should be noted the latest time periods are most likely to have revisions applied to them than those time periods which are further back in time.

7. Status of the statistics

7.1 Official Statistics

National, Official and Experimental Statistics are produced in a way which is compliant with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. In the development of the Annual Statistical Bulletin on Asset Recovery, the Home Office has acted in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics and its supporting Principles.

Experimental statistics – international asset recovery

The statistics on international asset recovery are badged as experimental because they are not fully developed. It is anticipated as the systems for recording International Asset Recovery are introduced and become stable, these statistics will provide better coverage and a fixed methodology.

The Home Office together with partners in the International Proceeds of Crime (IPOC) Group plan to develop these statistics to provide a sufficient level of better coverage and a methodology compliant with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The plans to develop these statistics will also depend on the wider developments on a new informational technology system for asset recovery.

What are experimental statistics?

Experimental statistics are statistics that are in the testing phase and not yet fully developed, which may be due to the following reasons:

• they are being produced part way through a well-defined development programme, whether these statistics are new or changed versions of existing statistics

• the statistics are new but still subject to testing in terms of their volatility and ability to meet customer needs

• the statistics do not yet meet the rigorous quality standards of National Statistics

• a rich variety of new measures is available from a new set of statistics, with components that have considerable immediate value to users; these users are aware of the statistics’ theoretical quality and can use them before we have completed all operational testing – the testing is designed to fully validate the measures to the standard expected of National Statistics

Further information on experimental statistics can be found on the UK Statistics Authority’s website.

8. Future publications

Publications will be released on the first Thursday of September every year.

Future releases of this Statistical Bulletin are pre-announced on the Statistics release calendar. These releases are produced and released in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

It is also published on the Publication Hub for UK National Statistics.

9. Pre-release access

This Statistical Bulletin is compliant with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics in line with other Home Office publications. Details on pre-release access for Home Office statistical publications can be found here.

The pre-release access list for this statistical release can be found here.

10. Accessibility and previous releases of this bulletin

Previous releases of this bulletin covering the financial years from 2011 to 2012 until 2020 to 2021 can be found here. It should be noted that previous releases might not be in accessible formats because they were released before 23 September 2020.

Any subsequent releases of this bulletin after September 2020 will be published in an accessible format. This is in line with The Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 legislation.

Users which are interested in receiving a specific statistical bulletin in a different format can request this. If you have any enquiries please email public.enquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk.

The statistics provided in this bulletin have been assessed by the UK Statistics Authority against the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

11. Development of these statistics

The Asset Recovery Annual Statistical Bulletin was developed to improve the level of transparency on Asset Recovery legislation by the Home Office. It was produced in response to a report published by the Public Account Committee (PAC) in July 2016 which outlined recommendations focused on developing information published on government performance for confiscation of property associated with criminal activity.

12. Further information, contacts, and feedback

12.1 Feedback

The Home Office welcomes feedback from users on its statistical releases and we are always looking to improve the accessibility of our documents.

If you have any feedback or enquiries about this statistical release, please contact the Asset Recovery Performance team by email POCAPerformance@homeoffice.gov.uk.