Official Statistics

Electronic Monitoring Statistics Publication, England and Wales: September 2023

Published 19 October 2023

Main Points

This publication sets out statistics on the use of electronic monitoring from 30 September 2022 to 30 September 2023.

The number of individuals fitted with an electronic monitoring device increased by 22%	The total number of individuals fitted with an electronic monitoring device (a radio frequency device or location monitoring device) or an alcohol monitoring device as at 30 September 2023 was 18,859, an increase of 22% from 15,504 as at 30 September 2022.
Court bail orders remains the largest cohort of individuals fitted with an electronic monitoring device	The number of individuals fitted with an electronic monitoring device under a court bail order as at 30 September 2023 was 6,620, an increase of 11% from 5,976 as at 30 September 2022. Court bail accounted for 35% of all individuals fitted with an electronic monitoring device.
The number of individuals fitted with a location monitoring device (GPS) accounts for 47% of individuals fitted with a device	The number of individuals fitted with a location monitoring device (GPS) as at 30 September 2023 was 8,935, an increase of 55% from 5,750 as at 30 September 2022.
The number of individuals fitted with an alcohol monitoring device increased by 73%	As at 30 September 2023, 2,614 individuals were fitted with an alcohol monitoring device, a 73% increase from 1,515 as at 30 September 2022.

Statisticians comment

Between 30 September 2022 and 30 September 2023 the number of individuals fitted with an electronic monitoring device increased. This increase was driven by the increased use of GPS tags as well as the increased use of alcohol monitoring tags for the post release cohort.

Court bail orders remain the largest cohort of individuals fitted with an electronic monitoring device, accounting for 35% (6,620) of the 30 September 2023 caseload. The use of electronic monitoring for those on court bail increased sharply in early 2020 in response to the covid pandemic’s impact on the courts, reaching a peak in March 2021. Although numbers declined a little before stabilising, from June 2022 the numbers again increased and are now at record levels.

In the year ending 30 September 2023 there were 55,946 new order notifications, a 1% increase compared to the year ending 30 September 2022. In the same period there were 52,548 completed orders, a 1% increase on the previous period.

This release is part of the Electronic Monitoring Statistics publication series. Feedback on the content and format of the release is welcome, please see contact details section for further information.

Background

Electronic monitoring supports the police, courts, probation, prisons and the wider justice system in England and Wales. It is a way of remotely monitoring and recording information on an individuals whereabouts or movements and alcohol consumption, using an electronic tag which is normally fitted to a subjects ankle. Information about the compliance with an individuals order is monitored. Electronic monitoring may be used:

• as a condition of court bail;

• as a requirement of a court sentence, primarily community orders and suspended sentence orders;

• for Home Detention Curfew;

• as a licence condition following release from custody;

• as a condition of immigration bail, managed by the Home Office; or

• to intensively monitor a small number of individuals including: some of the highest risk offenders managed under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA); those granted bail by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC); and those made subject to Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (TPIMs).

Electronic monitoring was first introduced in 1999 to monitor compliance with curfews using radio frequency (RF) tags. This was expanded from November 2018 to introduce satellite enabled (GPS) location monitoring tags. The tags use GPS technology to record an individuals movements 24 hours a day. Roll out was fully completed in March 2021 when the provision of GPS monitoring was extended to under 18s.

GPS tags provide additional functionality, allowing the monitoring of:

• compliance with exclusion zones;

• attendance at a required activity or appointment;

• an offenders whereabouts (trail monitoring);

• multiple conditions or requirements if necessary, such as a combination of exclusion zones, curfew, monitored attendance and trail monitoring.

Since 2021 HMPPS has expanded the use of GPS tags for the following offender cohorts:

• acquisitive crime: From April 2021 they have been used as a licence condition for adult offenders convicted of an acquisitive crime as their principal offence and who have received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more and been released on licence. This is currently being piloted by 19 police forces. In late October 2022 this was expanded to those who had received a custodial sentence of 90 days or more and been released on licence.

• immigration expansion: The Immigration Act 2016 introduced a duty on the Home Office Secretary of State to impose an electronic monitoring condition on Foreign National Offenders and other non-UK citizens subject to deportation proceedings. Following this, in August 2021, HMPPS began using GPS monitoring for those individuals who had been released from Prisons or Immigration Detention under Immigration Bail on behalf of the Home Office. From 31 August 2022 this was extended to Scotland and Northern Ireland in December 2022. The Home Office also commenced a pilot in June 2022 to impose an electronic monitoring condition of immigration bail to non-FNO asylum claimants who arrive in the UK via unnecessary and dangerous routes.

• several small pilots for specific offender cohorts, such as Licence Variation, GPS Youth Rehabilitation, and Domestic Abuse Perpetrators on Licence.

Electronic monitoring using a non-fitted device was introduced in November 2022 for the immigration cohort. These devices utilise periodic biometric verification as an alternative to using fitted devices. Those with a non-fitted device have been included within the GPS cohort for the purposes of this analysis.

Alcohol monitoring was introduced to courts in Wales in October 2020 and expanded to courts in England on 31 March 2021 to support the new community sentencing option, the Alcohol Abstinence and Monitoring Requirement (AAMR). An AAMR may only be used when sentencing for alcohol-related criminal behaviour and it imposes a total ban on drinking alcohol for up to 120 days. Compliance with the ban is monitored electronically using an alcohol tag which continuously monitors for the presence of alcohol in offenders’ sweat.

It may be imposed by the court as part of a community order or suspended sentence order where:

• the offence, or associated offence, for which the requirement is being imposed, is alcohol-related;

• the subject is not alcohol dependent or has an Alcohol Treatment Requirement (ATR) recommended or in place; and

• the subject is an adult (18 years or over)

For offenders being released from custody whose offending and risk is alcohol related, an Alcohol Monitoring on Licence (AML) additional licence condition was introduced in Wales in November 2021 and rolled out in England in June 2022. There are two licence conditions available for AML:

• requires total abstinence from alcohol, or

• requires the offender to comply with requirements specified by their Probation Practitioner to address their alcohol needs, this will include limiting alcohol use.

1. Overall Summary

An individual may be given several orders at the same time and/or over the course of a year, therefore there will be more active orders at any one time than there are people being monitored. If an individual has multiple orders, when looking at order notifications each will be counted separately. However, when counting individuals, the subject will be included in a order cohort once according to a defined formula. Please see the technical note for more details.

Between 30 September 2022 and 30 September 2023 the total number of individuals fitted with an electronic monitoring device (a radio frequency device or a location monitoring device) or an alcohol monitoring device increased from 15,504 people to 18,859, an increase of 22%.

Figure 1: Overall number of individuals fitted with an Electronic Monitoring or Alcohol Monitoring Device, England and Wales, as at month-end, from March 2017 to September 2023 (Source: Table 1.4)

However, the trend in the overall number of individuals fitted with an electronic device differs considerably by type of order:

• court bail orders make up the largest proportion (35%) of electronically monitored individuals. At 30 September 2023, 6,620 individuals had court bail as their primary order type, up by 11% on the previous year. The use of electronic monitoring for those on court bail increased sharply in early 2020 in response to the covid pandemic’s impact on the courts. Although numbers declined during 2021, from mid-2022 the numbers have again been increasing.

• post-release orders were the second largest group with 4,771 individuals (25% of the caseload), up by 32% when compared with the previous year. This increase is mainly due to the increased use of alcohol monitoring for this group.

• immigration orders were the third largest group with 4,316 individuals (23% of the caseload), up by 63% when compared with the previous year. The number of individuals in this cohort has steadily increased from August 2021 owing to the expansion projects.

• court sentences (community orders and suspended sentence orders) were the fourth largest group with 3,085 individuals (16% of the caseload), down by 4% on the same point in the previous year. Although the numbers recovered following a sharp decline in early 2020 as a result of pressure on courts from the covid pandemic, the numbers again declined in mid-2022. This decrease began from April 2022 and is likely to be associated with mandating domestic abuse and safeguarding checks in all cases where electronic monitored curfews are proposed, which was introduced from April 2022.

Figure 2: Individuals fitted with an Electronic Monitoring or Alcohol Monitoring device, by order type (excluding Specials), England and Wales, as at month-end, from March 2017 to September 2023 (Source: Table 1.4)

2. Location (GPS) Monitoring

Between 30 September 2022 and 30 September 2023 the number of individuals fitted with an electronic monitoring device and whose primary order was a GPS order increased from 5,750 people to 8,935, an increase of 55%. Over the same period the proportion of individuals whose primary order was a GPS order increased from 37% to 47%. As at 30 September 2023 GPS immigration bail accounted for 48% of all individuals whose primary order was a GPS order.

There were 2,137 new acquisitive crime orders imposed across England and Wales in the year ending 30 September 2023. Overall, 4,170 new acquisitive crime orders have been imposed since they were introduced.

Figure 3: Acquisitive Crimes Offenders and Foreign National Offenders, England and Wales, as at month-end, December 2018 to September 2023 (Source: Table 2.7)

3. Alcohol Monitoring

Between 30 September 2022 and 30 September 2023 the total number of individuals fitted with an alcohol monitoring device increased from 1,515 people to 2,614, an increase of 73%.

There were 10,412 new alcohol monitoring orders imposed across England and Wales in the year ending 30 September 2023. Overall 17,332 new alcohol monitoring orders have been imposed since their introduction.

Of the alcohol tags in use to monitor alcohol abstinence and monitoring requirements (AAMR) over the last quarter, between June 2023 and September 2023, the tags did not register a tamper or alcohol alert 97.7% of the days worn. Since their introduction in October 2020, the tags did not register a tamper or alcohol alert 97.2% of the days worn.

Figure 4: Overall number of individuals with an Alcohol Monitoring Order, England and Wales, as at month-end, October 2020 to September 2023 (Source: Table 3.4)

Further information

Accompanying files

As well as this bulletin, the following products are published as part of this release:

• Tables

• Technical note

Data Quality

The statistics in this bulletin are classified as official statistics. The Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 defines official statistics as all those statistical outputs produced by the UK Statistics Authoritys executive office (the Office for National Statistics), by central Government departments and agencies, by the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and by other Crown bodies (over 200 bodies in total). The statistics in this bulletin comply with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The Code encourages and supports producers of statistics to maintain their independence and to ensure adequate resourcing for statistical production. It helps producers and users of statistics by setting out the necessary principles and practices to produce statistics that are trustworthy, high quality and of public value.

This publication has been produced to the high professional standards as set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. However, the analysis is only as good as the data upon which it is based, and there is inherent uncertainty when the data is derived from diverse administrative data systems.

For further details on the methodology used to compile the report, please refer to the technical note.

Future publications

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.

Contact

Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office:
Tel: 020 3334 3536
Email: newsdesk@justice.gov.uk

Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to Data and Analysis at the Ministry of Justice:

HMPPS Electronic Monitoring Performance
Data and Analysis
Ministry of Justice
10th Floor
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ

Email: ppas_statistics@justice.gov.uk

Next update: January 2024

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