Police powers and procedures: Other PACE powers, England and Wales, year ending 31 March 2023 (second edition)

Question 1

1.  Police Custody

Accepted Answer

Police custody statistics in this chapter are designated as Official Statistics in Development (previously experimental statistics).

In the year ending March 2023 (based on a subset of forces and excluding unknowns):

there were a total of 764,924 detentions in custody, of which 54,875 were children (aged 17 and under)
around a third (33%) of offences for which people were in custody, were ‘violence against the person’ offences
over three-quarters (78%) of people in custody were of a white ethnic background, excluding data from the Metropolitan Police Service, this was 84%
people aged 21 to 30 and 31 to 40 made up the largest proportions of people in custody (27% and 30% respectively)
an ‘appropriate adult’ was called for most children in custody (97%), for adults seen as vulnerable the proportion was much lower (48%)
an appropriate adult had either arrived with the detainee or had arrived within 1 hour of being called for half (51%) of children and almost two-thirds (64%) of vulnerable adults
42% of children taken into custody were detained overnight, the majority (79%) of which were detained pre-charge
the majority (80%) of individuals were detained one time in the year and 20% of individuals were detained on at least 2 occasions
there were 68,874 strip searches in custody, the equivalent of 9% of all detentions
there were 11 intimate searches carried out by police in the year ending March 2023, a decrease of 8 compared with the year ending March 2022
there were a total of 3,775 persons detained by police in England and Wales under part IV of Police and Criminal Evidence Act for more than 24 hours and subsequently released without charge; this represented a decrease of 7% compared with the previous year (based on data from 35 forces that were able to provide complete data for both years)
of those detained and subsequently released, 97% (3,663) were held for between 24 and 36 hours, a further 30 persons were held for more than 36 hours before being released without charge, and 82 persons were detained under warrant for further detention for up to 96 hours

1.1 Data collection and scope

It is important that both the Government and the public can fully understand the profile of those in police custody and the way that police powers are used. The custody data collection was introduced in the year ending March 2022 to increase transparency and bring detention related issues to the public’s attention.

The collection was developed alongside police forces in England and Wales, a number of stakeholders such as the Independent Custody Visiting Association, and views from national documents including:

Dame Elish Angiolini’s report into deaths and serious incidents in police custody
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Service custody expectations document
“Good Police Custody” research produced by Dr. Layla Skinns and Dr. Angela Sorsby

Changes to this publication in the year ending March 2023

As is standard practice for all new data collections, under the Annual Data Requirement (ADR), the police custody collection was introduced last year as a voluntary collection. This allowed police forces time to start using the new recording processes and make changes to their systems. In the year ending March 2022, a subset of 26 (out of 43) police forces provided data on detentions in police custody, and 28 provided data on strip searches.

This year, the data collections have been mandatory for all police forces to submit and as such, for the year ending March 2023 this publication includes data from 40 police forces on detentions in police custody, and data from 41 forces on strip searches (see section 1.2 for further information on forces where data has not been included). Due to the large change in number of forces who have submitted data, this publication does not make year-on-year comparisons at a national level.

This chapter continues to provide information and analysis on the following areas:

number of detentions in police custody broken down by age, sex, self-defined ethnicity, and details of all offences linked to the custody record (including notifiable and non-notifiable offences)
information on children detained in custody overnight
whether a detained adult was declared vulnerable
whether an appropriate adult was called for children and vulnerable adults
number of strip searches carried out, by age, sex and ethnicity
intimate searches carried out, by age, sex, ethnicity, and offence type (this data has been collected since year ending March 2002)
persons detained in custody under part 4 of PACE for over 24 hours and then released without charge (this data has been collected since year ending March 2002)

In addition, this publication includes information and analysis on the following areas for the first time:

time taken for an appropriate adult to arrive
where a child was detained overnight, whether the overnight detention was pre-charge or post-charge
number of unique individuals detained, including the number of individuals detained multiple times in the same year
number of unique individuals strip searched, including the number of individuals strip searched multiple times in the same year

Individuals may be detained in custody on multiple occasions through the year. In this data collection, a unique ID is collected for both the detention and for the individual. This allows for analysis of both number of detentions and number of unique individuals. This chapter primarily focuses on number of detentions (sections 1.4 to 1.7). Analysis of number of unique individuals is presented in section 1.8. Similarly, number of strip searches and number of unique individuals strip searched is presented in section 1.10.

1.2 Data quality – detentions and strip searches in custody

Devon and Cornwall and Humberside Police forces were not able to provide data on detentions or strip searches due to transitioning to new data management systems. Additionally, Greater Manchester Police were unable to provide data on detentions in custody due to issues in extracting data that meets the format set out in the Home Office Annual Data Requirement. Therefore data on detentions in custody is presented for 40 forces, and data on strip searches and intimate searches is presented for 41 forces.

Although forces already record information on who has entered custody, recording processes are not consistent across police forces and the data does not always easily match the ADR format. As this data collection is still relatively new, many forces reported data quality issues whilst they were still embedding new processes, or have not been able to provide data on all aspects of the ADR. Therefore, we have not made any year-on-year comparisons in this chapter. Any year-on-year comparisons should be made with caution.

The detentions and strip searches data has therefore been labelled as ‘Official statistics in development’ to indicate that there are data quality issues and should be treated with caution. The Home Office continues to work with forces and the National Policing Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to improve the quality and consistency of the data in this collection.

The intimate searches and detentions over 24 hours data collections are long-standing collections which are designated as accredited official statistics.

Data is collected for all offences linked to an individual’s custody record, including both notifiable and non-notifiable offences. Comparisons to the Police Powers and Procedures arrests data collection should be made with caution as that data series collects arrests for notifiable offences only.

The strip searches data in this chapter relates to those carried out in police custody only; those carried out further to a stop and search are not currently collected by the Home Office. Given recent high-profile cases in the media on strip searches following a stop and search, the Home Office has plans to expand on the information collected on the nature of a stop and search. Currently, the Home Office collects information on whether a person’s outer clothing was removed (this is collected on a voluntary basis). The Home Office is currently seeking to collect more detailed information on the level of search, including whether it was a More Thorough Search or Exposes Intimate Parts.

The user guide provides further details relating to definitions, legislation and procedures, and data quality.

1.3 Analysis of detentions in police custody

The following analysis presents the number of detentions in custody. Where an individual has been detained multiple times within the year, each occasion is counted separately.

As forces were not always able to provide all data requested, analysis in this chapter does not include records where information was unknown.

Based on a subset of 40 forces, in the year ending March 2023 there were 764,924 detentions in custody, for 1.43 million offences (including non-notifiable offences).

Over half (57%) of all detentions in custody were of people aged between 21 and 40. Those aged 17 and under made up 7% of all detainees and those aged 61 and over accounted for 3% of all detainees.

Table 1.1: Number of people detained in police custody, by age group and selected police forces, year ending March 2023

Age group	Number	Percentage of total	Census
10 to 17 years	54,875	7%	11%
18 to 20 years	56,573	8%	4%
21 to 30 years	206,601	27%	14%
31 to 40 years	224,009	30%	15%
41 to 50 years	129,855	17%	14%
51 to 60 years	60,811	8%	15%
61 and over	20,950	3%	26%
Unknown	11,250
Total	764,924

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; table D_04, Home Office and ONS 2021 Census

Notes:

Excludes Devon and Cornwall, Humberside and Greater Manchester police forces.
Data based on a subset of 40 forces, therefore the analysis should be interpreted with caution.
Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

The majority of detainees were male (84%), whilst 16% were female. A very small number (less than 0.1%) of detainees were reported as ‘other sex’. Similar proportions for male, female and other were seen for adults and children.

Over three-quarters (78%) of people detained in custody self-defined as belonging to a white ethnic group, 8% self-defined as being of black or black British background, 8% belonged to the Asian group, 4% were of a mixed ethnic background and 2% defined as belonging to any other ethnic background.

Children detained in custody had higher proportions of individuals belonging to ethnic minority backgrounds (excluding white minorities). 21% of children detained were from either a black or mixed ethnic background compared with 11% of adults, as shown in table 1.2.

Table 1.2: Ethnicity of people detained in custody, selected police forces, year ending March 2023

	All	Adults	Children	2021 census^{[footnote 1]}
Asian	8%	8%	5%	9%
Black	8%	8%	13%	4%
Mixed	4%	3%	8%	3%
White	78%	79%	72%	82%
Other	2%	2%	2%	2%

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; table D_01, Home Office and ONS 2021 Census

Notes:

Excludes records where ethnicity was unknown (14% of total).
Excludes Devon and Cornwall, Greater Manchester, and Humberside police forces, therefore should be interpreted with caution.
Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

Due to the more ethnically diverse population of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) compared with other police forces, the proportion of those detained in custody from ethnic minority backgrounds are lower in the remaining 39 police forces, as shown in table 1.3.

Table 1.3: Ethnicity of people detained in custody, selected police forces (excluding MPS), year ending March 2023

	All	Adults	Children	2021 Census excl. MPS
Asian	6%	7%	5%	7%
Black	5%	5%	7%	2%
Mixed	3%	3%	7%	2%
White	84%	84%	81%	87%
Other	1%	1%	1%	1%

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; table D_01, Home Office and ONS 2021 Census

Notes:

Does not include records where ethnicity was unknown (12% of total).
Excludes Devon and Cornwall, Greater Manchester, Humberside, and Metropolitan police forces, therefore should be interpreted with caution.
Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

1.4 Reason for being in custody

Of the 1.43 million offences for which people were detained in custody in the year ending March 2023, the offence type was not known for 8% of records. Not including ‘unknowns’, the most common offence was violence against the person (33% of all offences). Non-notifiable offences accounted for a fifth (20%) of all offences. Theft and drug offences accounted for 11% and 9% respectively.

One notable difference between adults and children was that children were more likely to be detained in custody for robbery offences, possession of weapons offences and theft offences, whilst they were less likely to be in custody for non-notifiable offences, suggesting that children were detained in custody for more serious offences, as shown in figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1: Detentions in custody by offence group, selected police forces, year ending March 2023

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; table D_05, Home Office

Notes:

Excludes Devon and Cornwall, Humberside, Greater Manchester and Lancashire police forces, therefore the analysis should be interpreted with caution.
Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

1.5 Appropriate adults

Appropriate adults (AAs) protect the welfare, rights and effective participation of children and vulnerable people who are detained or interviewed as suspects. The appropriate adult is expected to:

support, advise and assist the detained person when, in accordance with the PACE Codes of Practice, they are given or asked to provide information or participate in any procedure
observe whether the police are acting properly and fairly to respect their rights and entitlements, and inform an officer of the rank of inspector or above if they consider that they are not
assist them to communicate with the police whilst respecting their right to say nothing unless they want to as set out in the terms of the caution
help them to understand their rights and ensure that those rights are protected and respected

Further information is available on the National Appropriate Adult Network website.

It is a legal requirement for children (detainees aged 17 and under) to have an AA present when they are detained in custody.

A person may be considered vulnerable if they:

have difficulty understanding the full implications or significance or things they are told or questions they are asked
have difficulty communicating effectively about anything to do with their detention
are particularly prone to confusion or suggestibility

This may be due to a mental health condition or disorder, but this is not a requirement.

An individual is automatically considered to be vulnerable if they are aged 17 or under.

Due to varying recording practices between forces, forces have used different definitions and methodologies for reporting vulnerability for this data collection. The proportion of adults detained in custody recorded as vulnerable differs substantially between forces (ranging from 1% to 63%); caution should therefore be taken when interpreting these figures. The Home Office will work closely with police forces to better understand how vulnerability is recorded and the impact of this on analysis.

Some forces were unable to provide some of the following data. Please see footnotes for details of forces excluded from the analysis.

Around 1 in 6 (or 18%) of adult detainees were reported as vulnerable^{[footnote 2]}, and an AA was called in just half (48%) of cases where the adult was deemed to be vulnerable^{[footnote 3]}. For children, an AA was called in 97% of cases^{[footnote 4]}. In cases where an appropriate adult was not called, forces noted this may be because the detention was not authorised^{[footnote 5]}, or the person was taken to a hospital or mental health suite and did not return to custody.

Vulnerability by age ranged from 17% in the 31 to 40 age group to 20% in the 18 to 20, 51 to 60 and 61 and over age groups. A slightly higher proportion of females (22%) were deemed vulnerable compared with males (17%)^{[footnote 6]}.

If an appropriate adult was called for a child or vulnerable adult, police forces were also requested to report on the time taken for the appropriate adult to arrive, measured from the time they were called.

Half of children either had an AA arrive to custody at the same time as them (15%), or had an AA arrive within 1 hour (37%). 84% had an AA arrive within the first 6 hours.

The time taken for an AA to arrive for vulnerable adults followed a similar pattern to that of children. The main difference was that a higher proportion of vulnerable adults had an AA arrive with them (28% of vulnerable adults versus 15% of children)^{[footnote 7]}.

Figure 1.2: Proportions of children and vulnerable adults by time taken for appropriate adult to arrive, selected police forces, year ending March 2023

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; table D_06c and D_08b, Home Office

Notes:

Excludes unknowns.
Based on subsets of 17 forces for children and 16 forces for vulnerable adults.
An appropriate adult took over 24 hours to arrive for 7 (less than 0.1%) children and 68 (0.5%) adults.

1.6 Children detained overnight

The NPCC have stated that custody should only be used as a final option for children. Specialist conditions should be given to children in custody to meet their additional needs, as per the requirements of the Concordat on Children in Custody. See the chapter 9 of the user guide for more details.

Forces were asked to report whether any children kept in custody were detained overnight. For the purposes of this data collection, the definition of overnight means they must have spent a minimum of 4 hours in custody and that at least part of this period in custody must be between 12:00am and 08:00am. The definition in this ADR collection has been agreed with the National Police Chiefs’ Council. This definition has been changed from that used for the year ending March 2022 data collection (the person detained spent at least 4 hours in custody and at least part of that time was between 12:00am to 04:00am) therefore comparison cannot be made with the previous year.

The following analysis is based on a subset of 32 forces^{[footnote 8]}. In 1% of records from these 32 forces it was not known whether the child was detained overnight. Excluding these unknowns, under half (42%) of all children detained in custody were held overnight. This proportion was the same for both male and female children detained, however, the proportion of children detained overnight varied by ethnic group. Half (50%) of black children were detained overnight in contrast to 39% of white children.

The proportion of children detained overnight who identified as black was slightly higher than the proportion of all children in custody who identified as black (17% compared to 14%), whereas the proportion of children detained overnight who identified as white was slightly lower than all children in custody (68% compared to 72%). However, this analysis does not take into account the offence that the child had been detained for – the ethnic breakdown varied by offence group, and some offences may be more likely to lead to an overnight detention than others.

Table 1.4: Ethnicity of children detained overnight in custody compared with all children detained in custody, selected police forces, year ending March 2023

Proportions	Children detained overnight	All child detainees
Asian	5%	5%
Black	17%	14%
Mixed	8%	8%
White	68%	72%
Other	2%	2%

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; table D_10, Home Office

Notes:

Does not include records where ethnicity was unknown (13% for children detained overnight and 11% for total child detainees).
Data based on a subset of 32 forces, therefore the analysis should be interpreted with caution.
Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

If a child was detained overnight, police forces were also asked to provide data on whether the overnight detention was pre-charge, post-charge, or both (for example, the child was detained over 2 nights and was charged during the daytime in between). Whether the detention was pre or post charge was known in only 53% of overnight detentions, therefore data should be interpreted with caution. Around four-fifths (79%) of children detained overnight were detained pre-charge. 14% were detained post-charge, and 6% were detained both pre and post charge. For more information on the legislation of keeping children in custody, please see chapter 9 of the user guide.

1.7 Detentions analysis by person ID

The following analysis presents the number of unique individuals in custody. Where an individual has been detained multiple times by a single police force within the year, they are counted once. Since the person IDs supplied in this data collection are unique to each police force, if one individual has been detained on multiples occasions by different forces, each time will still be counted separately. Only detentions that occurred between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 have been counted.

Of the 764,924 detentions in custody, a person ID was provided for 741,581 detentions (97%). Where person ID was known, there were 542,359 unique individuals detained on one or more occasions, of which 35,462 were children. The majority (80%) of individuals were detained one time in the year. 20% of individuals were detained on at least 2 occasions. On average, people were detained 1.4 times (1.5 for children, 1.4 for adults).

Table 1.5: Proportion of individuals detained, by how many times they were detained, selected forces, year ending March 2023

Number of detentions in year ending March 2023	Number of individuals	Percentage of individuals
1	436,375	80%
2	64,364	12%
3	20,899	4%
4	9,238	2%
5 or more	11,483	2%

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; table D_01, Home Office

Notes:

Excludes data from Devon and Cornwall, Greater Manchester and Humberside.
Excludes detentions were person ID was not provided.

The proportion of individuals who were detained on at least 2 occasions was lower for all ethnic minority groups (excluding white minorities) compared to the white ethnic group (white 20%, black 16%, mixed 14%, Asian 13%, other 6%).

It was also lower for females (17%) than for males (20%), and adults (19%) compared to children (23%).

1.8 Strip searches in custody

Section 54 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) allows a person to be searched, if the custody officer considers it necessary, to allow them to find everything that the arrested person has with them. Clothes and personal effects may only be seized if the custody officer believes that the person from whom they are seized may use them to cause physical injury to themselves or any other person; to damage property; to interfere with evidence; or to assist them to escape.

A strip search in police custody is a search involving the removal of more than outer clothing (including shoes and socks). A strip search may take place only if it is considered necessary to remove an article which a detainee would not be allowed to keep and the officer reasonably considers the detainee might have hidden such an article. Conduct of these searches is covered by Code C of PACE. Strip searches shall not be routinely carried out if there is no reason to consider that articles are hidden.

The following analysis presents numbers of strip searches in custody. Where an individual has been strip searched multiple times within the year, each occasion is counted separately.

Excluding Devon and Cornwall and Humberside police forces who were unable to provide data, in the year ending March 2023, there were 68,874 strip searches in custody. This was 9% of all detentions in custody (based on the 40 forces who could provide both custody and strip search data) - 9% of adults and 6% of children in custody.

Of the strip searches in custody, 62% were carried out on those aged between 21 and 40. Almost a quarter (23%) were aged over 40 and a small proportion were aged 17 and under (5%). As a proportion of all people in custody within the same age group, those aged 18 to 20 had the highest proportion of people strip searched (12%) in custody, whereas only 2% of people aged 61 and over in custody were strip searched, as shown in table 1.6.

Table 1.6: Numbers of strip searches, by age group and selected police forces, year ending March 2023

Age group	Number	Percentage of total strip searches	Percentage of age group strip searched in custody
10 to 17 years	3,122	5%	6%
18 to 20 years	7,061	10%	12%
21 to 30 years	21,350	31%	10%
31 to 40 years	21,670	31%	9%
41 to 50 years	11,945	17%	9%
51 to 60 years	3,291	5%	5%
61 and over	414	1%	2%
Unknown	21
Total	68,874		9%

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; tables SS_04 and D_04, Home Office

Notes:

Strip search data excludes Devon and Cornwall and Humberside police forces.
Proportions of age group in custody are based on the 40 forces who could provide custody data.
Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

The majority of those strip searched were male (86%), with females accounting for 14%. Male representation was slightly higher among children (89%) compared with adults (85%).

70% of people strip searched in custody were of a white ethnic background (compared with 78% of all people in custody), 15% were from a black or black British background (compared with 8% in custody), 8% were of an Asian or Asian British background (same as overall in custody), 5% were of a mixed ethnic background (similar to 4% in custody) and 2% were from any other ethnic background (the same as for custody). However, this analysis does not take into account the offence that the person had been detained for – the ethnic breakdown of people detained in custody varied by offence group, and some offences may be more likely to lead to a strip search than others.

The most notable differences between adults and children strip searched were that higher proportions of children strip searched self-defined as being of black or mixed ethnic backgrounds compared with adults (37% compared with 19%); and only just over half (53%) of all children strip searched were of a white ethnic background, compared with 71% of adults strip searched (see figure 1.3 below).

Figure 1.3: Ethnicity of people strip searched in custody, selected police forces, year ending March 2023

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; table SS_03, Home Office

Notes:

Excludes Devon and Cornwall and Humberside police forces.
Does not include records where the ethnicity was not known (16%).
Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

Not including data from the MPS, the analysis shows higher proportions of people strip searched from a white ethnic background, although this was lower for children strip searched compared with adults (65% compared with 80% respectively). Proportions for minority ethnic groups (excluding white minorities) were lower once data from the MPS was taken out from the analysis, although still higher for children compared with adults for the black and mixed ethnic groups, see figure 1.4 below.

Figure 1.4: Ethnicity of people strip searched, selected police forces (not including MPS), year ending March 2023

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; table SS_03, Home Office

Notes:

Excludes Devon and Cornwall, Humberside and Metropolitan police forces.
Does not include records where the ethnicity was not known (11%).
Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

As a proportion of all detentions in custody, the ethnic group most likely to be strip searched were those from a black or black British background (16%). Smaller proportions were reported for all other ethnic groups: 12% of detentions involving someone from a mixed ethnic background reported a strip search, 9% of detentions for both the Asian group and those of any other ethnic background, and 8% of detentions for people from a white ethnic background.

A smaller proportion of children in custody were strip searched compared with adults across all ethnic groups. The biggest differences were in the mixed ethnic group (13% of adults strip searched compared to 7% of children), the black ethnic group (16% compared to 11%) and the white ethnic group (4% compared to 8%), as shown in figure 1.5.

Figure 1.5: Proportion of all people in custody strip searched, by self-defined ethnicity, selected forces, year ending March 2023

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; tables SS_03 and D_03, Home Office

Notes:

Excludes Devon and Cornwall, Humberside and Greater Manchester police forces.
Does not include records where the ethnicity was not known (16% of strip searches and 14% of detentions).
Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

1.9 Analysis of strip searches by person ID

The following analysis presents numbers of unique individuals strip searched in custody. Where an individual has been strip searched multiple times by a single police force within the year, they are counted once. Since the person IDs supplied in this data collection are unique to each police force, if one individual has been strip searched on multiples occasions by different forces, each time will still be counted separately. Only strip searches that occurred between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 have been counted.

Of the 68,874 strip searches in custody, a person ID was provided for 65,198 searches (95%). Where person ID was provided, there were 51,906 individuals strip searched on at least one occasion in the year ending March 2023, of which 2,388 were children. The majority (85%) of individuals were strip searched one time during the year. 15% of individuals were searched on at least 2 occasions. On average, people who were strip searched were strip searched 1.3 times in the year.

Table 1.7: Proportion of individuals strip searched, by how many times they were strip searched, selected police forces, year ending March 2023

Number of strip searches in year ending March 2023	Number of individuals	Percentage of individuals
1	43,865	85%
2	5,253	10%
3	1,593	3%
4	622	1%
5 or more	573	1%

Source: Police custody data collection, Home Office

Notes:

Excludes data from Devon and Cornwall and Humberside.
Excludes cases where a person ID was not provided.

Similar to the detentions data, the proportion of individuals who were strip searched on at least 2 occasions was lower for all ethnic minority groups (excluding white minorities) compared to the white ethnic group (white - 16%, black - 12%, Asian - 11%, mixed - 10%, other - 6%).

It was also lower for males (16%) than for females (20%), and children (12%) compared to adults (16%). This is opposite pattern to the detentions dataset where a higher proportion of repeat detentions were seen in the male and children groups.

1.10 Intimate searches

If an arrested person is believed to hide Class A drugs, or anything that could be used to cause physical injury, a suitably qualified person may carry out an intimate search under section 55 of PACE. This section includes data on the number of intimate searches carried out by police in England and Wales, as well as details of who conducted the search and why, on a financial-year basis. Further details can be found in the chapter 12 of the user guide.

Based on the 41 forces who provided data, there were 11 intimate searches carried out by police in the year ending March 2023, a decrease of 8 compared with the year ending March 2022, in which 19 intimate searches were carried out. All 11 of the intimate searches in the latest year were carried out by a medical practitioner or other suitably qualified person.

All but one of the intimate searches were made in an attempt to find Class A drugs (10 out of 11 or 91%), with the other one conducted to find harmful articles. This is consistent with breakdowns for recent years, where around 80% to 90% of searches were conducted to find Class A drugs. Of the 10 searches made for drugs in the year ending March 2023, Class A drugs were found in 2 cases, a similar proportion to the year ending March 2022. A harmful article was not found in the 1 search conducted to find them.

Ten intimate searches were undertaken on males and 1 on a female. One of the people searched (a male) was aged 17 or under.

Seven of the intimate searches were undertaken on people who self-defined their ethnicity as white, 3 were black, and 1 person did not state their ethnicity.

Of the 41 police forces in England and Wales who supplied data to the Home Office, 9 had carried out intimate searches in the year ending March 2022. Leicestershire and Suffolk forces carried out 2 intimate searches each, and the remaining 7 forces carried out 1 each.

1.11 Detentions in custody over 24 hours

Under section 42 of PACE, police may detain a suspect before charge, usually for a maximum of 24 hours, or for up to 36 hours when an alleged offence is an indictable one. From 20 January 2004, powers were introduced which allowed an officer of the rank of superintendent or above to authorise continued detention for up to 36 hours following an arrest. Additionally, police may apply to the Magistrates’ Court to authorise warrants of further detention, extending the detention period to a maximum of 96 hours without charge. Further details can be found in the user guide.

This section provides information on the number of persons detained for more than 24 hours who were then released without charge. It also provides details on the number of warrants for further detention that were applied for and that led to charges. Data is requested by the Home Office from the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales on a financial-year basis, though not all forces have been able to provide data due to technical issues and data quality concerns.

In the year ending March 2023, based on the 38 forces who were able to provide data, there were a total of 3,775 persons detained by police, in England and Wales under part IV of PACE, for more than 24 hours and then released without charge. This was a decrease of 7% compared with the year ending March 2022, based on data from 35 forces who were able to provide complete data for both years (from 3,994, in the year ending March 2022 to 3,711 in the year ending March 2023).

Of those detained and then released without charge, 97% (3,663) were held for between 24 and 36 hours. A further 30 persons were held for more than 36 hours before being released without charge and 82 were detained under warrant for further detention (before being released without charge).

In the year ending March 2023, police in England and Wales (based on the 38 forces who provided data) applied to magistrates for 386 warrants of further detention. Of these applications 8 were refused, meaning warrants were granted in 98% of cases, a similar proportion to previous years. The majority of extensions were granted for an additional 24 to 36 hours (279 out of 378 warrants granted).

When a warrant of further detention was granted, this led to a charge in 62% of cases (234 cases). This proportion is up slightly compared to last year (58%) but is similar to the 4 years before this, where 60-63% of warrants of further detention led to a charge.

Source: Other PACE powers data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; tables D_01 to D_04, Home Office

1.12 Data quality – detentions over 24 hours

The presented statistics in this section are correct at the time of publication.

Cheshire, Devon and Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley police forces were unable to provide complete detentions data for the year ending March 2023. The reason for this was normally that accurate data could not be retrieved from their record management systems.

These forces, along with those who could not provide complete data for the year ending March 2022, have been excluded from any year-on-year comparisons, as outlined in the footnotes accompanying the ‘Other PACE powers data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023’.

The user guide provides further details relating to definitions, legislation and procedures, and data quality.

Question 2

2.  Detentions under the Mental Health Act 1983

Accepted Answer

Statistics in this chapter covering section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 are designated as Accredited Official Statistics (National Statistics).

Statistics covering section 135 of the Mental Health Act 1983 are designated as Official Statistics in Development (previously Experimental Statistics).

Police forces in England and Wales regularly interact with people experiencing mental ill health. Sometimes these interactions may result in the need to remove a person and take them to a place of safety, under sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983.

In the year ending March 2023:

there were 34,685 detentions under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983. This was a 3% decrease compared with the previous year (excluding Devon and Cornwall and Dyfed-Powys who were unable to provide complete data in both years)
where the details were known, 52% were detentions of males, 93% of cases were adults aged 18 or over and 87% were detentions of people from the white ethnic group
where the details were known, the person being detained was taken to a health-based place of safety in 58% of cases. 39% of detainees were taken to Accident and Emergency as a place of safety, and 1% (314 people) were taken to a police station

2.1 Detentions under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983

Under section 136 of the Mental Health Act a police officer may remove a person from any public place, other than a private dwelling, to a place of safety if, in the officer’s judgement, that person appears to be suffering from a mental disorder and needs immediate care or control, in the interests of their safety or that of others to be assessed by an approved mental health professional and an approved s12 doctor^{[footnote 9]}. The maximum period for which a person can be detained at a place of safety under sections 135 or 136 is usually up to 24 hours, with the possibility of this period being extended by a further 12 hours if a person could not be assessed for clinical reasons.

2.1.1 Data Collected

Following concerns about the quality and transparency of police data in this area, at the Policing and Mental Health Summit in October 2014, the then Home Secretary announced that the Home Office would work with the police to develop a new data collection covering the volume and characteristics of detentions under the Mental Health Act 1983.

A data collection was developed which requests forces to provide information on the age, sex and ethnicity of people detained, as well as the place of safety used (including, where applicable, the reason for using police custody), and the method of transportation used (including, where applicable, the reason for using a police vehicle).

In this report, we refer to the sex of people detained. We are reporting the data in the format it is collected and we are working to bring this data in line with Government Statistical Service sex and gender harmonisation standards.

This section summarises the findings on detentions under section 136 from police forces in England and Wales, as well as the British Transport Police, for the year ending March 2023. Prior to the year ending March 2017, data on the total number of section 136 detentions was collected and published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).

Devon and Cornwall were not able to supply data for the year ending March 2023, due to a change in record management system. Additionally, Dyfed-Powys provided partial data for the year ending March 2022. They are therefore not included in year-on-year comparisons of the total number of detentions under section 136. Devon and Cornwall accounted for 3% of section 136 detentions in the year ending March 2022 and Dyfed-Powys account for 1% of section 136 detentions in the year ending March 2023.

2.1.2 Detentions under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983

In the year ending March 2023 there were 34,685 detentions under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983.

Excluding Devon and Cornwall and Dyfed-Powys, this was a decrease of 3% compared with the year ending March 2022. Detentions under section 136 had been increasing over the past 5 years except for a slight decrease during the year of the pandemic ending March 2021^{[footnote 10]}.

Excluding cases where the person’s sex was unknown or ‘Other’ (3%), 52% were male detainees.

The majority of cases (93%) involved adults aged 18 or over (excluding those cases where the age of the person being detained was unknown).

Both self-defined ethnicity and ethnic appearance (the person’s ethnicity as judged by the police officer) are collected as part of the Annual Data Requirement (ADR). However, due to the nature and circumstances of a detention under the Mental Health Act it may not be appropriate for an officer to ask for a person’s self-defined ethnicity, therefore some police forces only collect ethnic appearance.

Self-defined ethnicity was reported in 51% of cases. Where self-defined ethnicity was known:

87% were white
5% were black, African, Caribbean or black British
5% were Asian or Asian British
2% were of mixed or multiple ethnic groups
the remaining 1% of people detained were of another ethnic group

Substituting in ethnic appearance where the self-defined ethnicity is unknown increases the ethnicity completion to 87%. Using this combined measure:

83% were white
9% were black
6% were Asian
1% were mixed or multiple ethnicities
2% were of other ethnicities

Figure 2.1: Ethnicity of people detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983, England and Wales, year ending March 2023

Source: Detentions under the Mental Health Act (1983) data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; tables MHA_03a and MHA_03b, Home Office

Notes:

Uses ethnic appearance (ethnicity as judged by officer) where self-defined ethnicity was unknown.
Does not include 4,336 cases (13%) where neither self-defined ethnicity or ethnic appearance was known.

2.1.3 Method of transport to a place of safety

Some forces were not able to distinguish the method of transport used to transport a person to a place of safety. This 5% of cases are recorded as “not known”. Excluding these “not known” cases, a police vehicle was used in 61% (20,006) of cases. An ambulance was used in a further 11,515 cases, or just over a third (35%), and the remaining 5% were ‘None (already at a place of safety)’, ‘Other health vehicle’, or ‘Other’^{[footnote 11]}.

In the year ending 31 March 2023 there has been an increase in the number and proportion of cases where a police vehicle was used, compared with the previous 5 years. With the exception of the year ending March 2021 (during the COVID-19 pandemic), when the proportion was lower, it had been between 51% and 54% in each of the previous 5 years. Corresponding with this, the proportion of cases where an ambulance was used was lower in the latest year than in previous 5 years, where it had been between 41% and 45% (except during the COVID-19 pandemic). The most common method of transport used varied greatly by police force area. For example, a police vehicle was used in 8% of detentions in West Midlands, but for over 90% of detentions for Welsh forces (Dyfed-Powys, Gwent, North Wales, South Wales).

In the case where a police vehicle was used to transport the person to a place of safety, police forces are requested to give a reason why. In the 20,006 cases where a police vehicle was used, the reason why was not known in 3,615 cases (18%). Of those cases where the reason for using a police vehicle was recorded, 45% were because an ambulance was not available in 30 minutes. In a further 23% (3,817) of cases, an ambulance was not requested. There were also 4,825 cases (29%) where a risk assessment concluded the person being detained should be transported in a police vehicle due to their behaviour. The remaining cases (2%) were for other reasons, including where an ambulance was no longer available due to a higher priority call and when an ambulance crew refused to convey.

Figure 2.2: Reasons for using a police vehicle to transport a detainee to a place of safety, England and Wales, year ending March 2023

Source: Detentions under the Mental Health Act (1983) data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; table MHA_04b, Home Office

Notes:

Does not include cases (3,615) where the reason for using a police vehicle was not known.
‘Other’ includes cases where an ambulance was no longer available due to a higher priority call and when an ambulance crew refused to convey.

2.1.4 Place of safety

Following a detention under section 136 of the Mental Health Act, a place of safety was recorded in 94% of cases. Of the cases where the place of safety was known, 58% of detainees were taken to a health-based place of safety (HBPoS). This proportion has been falling in recent years, and is down from 68% in the year ending March 2022, and 85% in the year ending March 2018. The second most common place of safety people were taken to was Accident and Emergency, which made up 39% of cases in the year ending March 2023. This has increased from 29% in the year ending March 2022 and 8% in the year ending March 2017 (first year data was mandatory for all forces).

Figure 2.3: Proportion of people detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act (1983) who were taken to a Health Based Place of Safety, England and Wales, years ending March 2017 to 2023

Source: Detentions under the Mental Health Act (1983) data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; table MHA_06, Home Office

Notes:

Excludes unknowns.
In some years data was not received by all forces. Additionally, some forces have reported improvements to recording practices over time. Therefore, changes over time should be interpreted with caution.

314 people (1%) were taken to a police station after being detained under section 136). The reason for individuals being taken to a police station were (excluding cases where the reason was not known)^{[footnote 12]}:

following arrest for committing an offence, 68%
because conditions in Regulations were met^{[footnote 13]}, 23%
for another reason, 9%

Figure 2.4: Reasons for the detainee being taken to a police station, England and Wales, year ending March 2023

Source: Detentions under the Mental Health Act (1983) data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; table MHA_05b, Home Office

Notes:

Does not include those cases where the reason for using a police station was not known.

The Policing and Crime Act 2017 aimed to improve outcomes for people in mental health crisis, was introduced on 11 December 2017. The Act bans the use of police cells for those aged 17 and under in mental health crisis and makes sure that they can only be used as a place of safety for adults in genuinely exceptional circumstances. Where age and place of safety were reported, there was one case where an individual aged 17 and under was taken to police custody as a place of safety in the year ending March 2023.

2.1.5 Other data sources

As part of its annual Mental Health Bulletin, NHS Digital (formerly the Health and Social Care Information Centre) publishes data on inpatients detained in hospitals in England under the Mental Health Act 1983. Although these numbers will include some cases where the police initially detained the individual, they will also include a large number of other cases where the police were not involved.

Data on the number of occasions where a HBPoS was used can differ between the NHS Digital data and the NPCC data, due to the different data sources used.

2.2 Detentions under section 135 of the Mental Health Act 1983

Under section 135 a magistrate may issue a warrant, on application by a mental health professional, authorising a police officer to enter specific premises in respect of a mentally disordered person, believed to be in need of care or control, and to remove that person from those premises if necessary. Incidents are only recorded by the police under section 135 if an officer enters a private premise under the warrant (including by force if necessary) and/or removes the person from the premises to a place of safety in accordance with the terms of the warrant.

Either or both of these powers must be used by an officer for it to be counted as a section 135 detention for the purposes of this data collection. Therefore, incidents where an officer attends a private premise in response to ad-hoc requests for assistance or other reasons but does not carry out either part of a section 135 warrant, are not recorded in this data set.

Data analysis on detentions under section 135 of the Act is based on data received from 33 out of 43 police forces ^{[footnote 14]} for the year ending March 2023. British Transport Police does not use section 135 legislation.

Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in Development. Therefore, data in this chapter give an indication only, and should be treated with caution.

In this report, we refer to the sex of people detained. We are reporting the data in the format it is collected and we are working to bring this data in line with Government Statistical Service sex and gender harmonisation standards.

2.2.1 Main findings

In the year ending March 2023, there were 2,899 detentions under section 135 of the Mental Health Act. Comparing forces that provided data in both years^{[footnote 15]}, this was very similar (a 0.4% decrease) from the year ending March 2022.

Excluding cases where the sex of the person was unknown or ‘Other’ (3%), 59% were male detainees.

The vast majority (over 99%) of cases were detentions of adults aged 18 or over (not including those cases where the age of the person being detained was not recorded).

Self-defined ethnicity was known in 28% of detentions. This is a lower proportion than for section 136 since the Metropolitan Police only collect ethnic appearance and they account for a greater proportion of section 135 detentions (56%) than section 136 detentions (18%).

Substituting ethnic appearance where self-defined ethnicity was not available increases the ethnicity completion to 87%. Using this combined measure:

56% were white
31% were black, African, Caribbean or black British
9% were Asian or Asian British
0.4% were mixed or multiple ethnic groups
4% were of other ethnicities

The proportion of detentions of ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) may reflect the proportion of detentions accounted for by the Metropolitan Police which is a much more ethnically diverse police force area compared to other forces in England and Wales^{[footnote 16]}. People from ethnic minority backgrounds (excluding white minorities) make up 46% of the population of the Metropolitan Police area, in contrast to 18% of the population of England and Wales.

Excluding the Metropolitan Police, the ethnic breakdown (substituting ethnic appearance where self-defined ethnicity was not available) of people detained under section 135 was as follows:

82% were white
9% were black, African, Caribbean or black British
5% were Asian or Asian British
1% were mixed or multiple ethnicities
3% were of another ethnicity

Question 3

3.  Breath tests

Accepted Answer

Breath tests statistics included in this chapter are designated as Accredited Official Statistics (National Statistics).

In the year ending December 2022 there were 249,542 breath tests carried out by police (not including the Metropolitan Police), an 8% increase compared with the year ending December 2021 (when comparing data for 40 forces who were able to provide full data in both years).

This is the first year-on-year increase in the number of breath tests since the year ending December 2012, but the volume of breath tests remains well below the peak of 647,380 breath tests in 2009.

3.1 Data collection and scope

Under the Road Traffic Act 1988, police may conduct a breath test at the roadside to determine whether motorists are driving with alcohol in their body, beyond the legal limit.

This section includes data on the number of breath tests carried out by police in England and Wales (excluding British Transport Police). It presents data on a calendar-year basis up to and including 2022. The data show the number of:

breath tests carried out by police in England and Wales
positive or refused breath tests
breath tests conducted per 1,000 population in each police force across England and Wales

Further details relating to definitions, legislation and procedure are given in the user guide.

3.2 Trends in breath tests

The Metropolitan Police were not able to provide data on the total number of breath tests between January 2017 and June 2022. Therefore, they are not included in the national totals presented in this chapter and they have also been excluded from previous years’ totals. Partial data on the number of breath tests between July 2022 and December 2022 is included in table BT_01 of the breath tests summary tables. Furthermore, the Metropolitan Police were only able to provide data on breath tests that were positive or refused between July 2022 and December 2022. This data has been used to estimate the number of positive or refused breath tests in January to May 2022. The data provided by the Metropolitan Police and the estimates are included in table BT_01 of the breath tests summary tables, and used in the trends in positive or refused breath tests in this chapter, as they have been able to provide complete data on positive or refused breath tests in all previous years.

Cambridgeshire Constabulary and Hertfordshire Constabulary were not able to provide accurate breath test data for 2021, due to technical issues with their breath test database. Although both forces have provided complete data for 2022, their data is not included in year-on-year comparisons.

There were 249,542 breath tests undertaken in 2022 (not including the Metropolitan Police). When comparing the 40 forces that provided full breath test data in both 2021 and 2022, there was an 8% increase compared with the previous year (from 223,031 in 2021 to 241,463 in 2022).

Police forces gave several reasons for conducting a higher number of breath tests in 2022 compared with 2021. These reasons included drink driving campaigns aligned with the FIFA World Cup in November and December 2022, the levels of people on the roads returning more towards normal following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and also an increase in roads policing officer numbers.

Figure 3.1 shows that, although the increase in breath tests in 2022 is the first year-on-year increase in the volume of breath tests since 2012, the volume remains well below the peak of 647,380 breath tests in 2009 (not including the forces who could not provide complete breath tests data for each year between 2002 and 2022).

Figure 3.1: Number of breath tests carried out by police in England and Wales, 2002 to 2022

Source: Breath test statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 December 2022; table BT.03, Home Office

Notes:

Does not include Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Metropolitan, Norfolk, Suffolk and Sussex Police, who could not supply complete data for all years.

In 2022, there were 47,233 positive or refused breath tests (recorded across all 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales). Based on the 41 forces who supplied complete data for both 2021 and 2022, there was an 8% increase in the number of positive or refused breath tests in 2022 (from 40,780 to 44,116).

The number of positive or refused breath tests in 2021 represents 17% of the total number of breath tests, similar to the previous 2 years. The proportion of breath tests that were positive or refused gradually fell from 19% in 2003 to 10% in 2013. From 2014 to 2020 there has been a gradual increase in the proportion of breath tests that were positive or refused, from 10% to 17%.

Figure 3.2: Proportion of positive or refused breath tests carried out by police in England and Wales, 2002 to 2022

Source: Breath test statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 December 2022; table BT.03, Home Office

Notes:

Does not include Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Metropolitan, Norfolk, Suffolk and Sussex Police, who could not supply complete data for all years.

3.3 Seasonal variation

This section does not include data for Metropolitan Police, who were not able to provide data on number of breath tests performed for January to May 2022. Additionally, comparisons between 2021 and 2022 also do not include data for Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Hertfordshire Constabulary and City of London Police, as they were unable to provide complete data in 2021.

In 2022, as in previous years, more breath tests were carried out in December than any other month (39,627). This coincided with the annual national Christmas drink and drug driving campaign, and also the FIFA World Cup in 2022. In total, 16% of breath tests in 2022 took place in December, the same proportion as in December 2021. However, December 2022 had the lowest proportion of tests that were positive or refused (11%). February had the lowest number of breath tests (16,239) in 2022.

The largest monthly increase in 2022, compared with the corresponding month in 2021, was in January. In January 2022, there were 20,310 breath tests conducted, an increase of 28% compared with January 2021.

Figure 3.3: Number of breath tests carried out by police in England and Wales, by month, 2021 and 2022

Source: Breath test statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 December 2022; table BT.04, Home Office

Notes:

Does not include City of London Police who were not able to provide data for January to April 2021 and Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Hertfordshire Constabulary and Metropolitan Police, who were not able to provide data on the number of tests in 2021.
Includes estimated data for Surrey Police in November and December 2022.

Not including data from December, in which only 11% of tests were positive or refused, the percentage of tests which were positive or refused varied between 16% and 21% in each month. This is similar to previous years.

Figure 3.4: Proportion of positive or refused breath tests carried out by police in England and Wales, by month, 2022

Source: Breath test statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 December 2022; table BT.04, Home Office

Notes:

Does not include the Metropolitan Police.
Includes estimated data for Surrey Police in November and December 2022.

3.4 Geographical patterns

In 2022, not including data from Metropolitan Police who were unable to supply complete data, 5 breath tests were conducted per 1,000 population^{[footnote 17]} across England and Wales. The rate for Wales (8 per 1,000 population) was greater than that for England (5 per 1,000 population), which has been the same for recent years.

Dyfed-Powys Police had the highest rate of breath tests per population in England and Wales (10 per 1,000 population). In England, Cumbria Police had the highest rate with 8 tests per 1,000 population, whereas Hertfordshire Constabulary had the lowest rate with 2 tests per 1,000 population. The proportion of breath tests that were positive or refused ranged from 10% in Humberside to 42% in Cambridgeshire Police Force Area.

3.5 Data quality and interpreting the figures

Results of breath alcohol screening tests can only show the level of alcohol present in a sample of breath and are not used to determine whether or not a driver was above or below the legal limit to drive. Only at a police station or hospital can specimens be used to determine a person’s actual alcohol concentration, using pre-calibrated evidential devices, making sure the sample has not been affected by any interfering substances, or that blood or urine specimens may be taken for further laboratory analysis. These are not included in the breath test statistics.

From April 2008, new digital recording equipment is used by forces. The devices can record exact breath alcohol readings and the result of individual tests, as well as reason for test, time of day, day of week and age and gender profiles of those tested, and results are downloaded to data systems on a monthly basis and provided to the Department for Transport (DfT).

Data presented here has been sourced from annual statistical returns received from the 43 police forces in England and Wales. By 2011, a large number of police forces in England and Wales had made greater use of the digital breath test devices, in comparison with previous years. However, the manual recording systems are still used by some police forces. The figures presented here are based on the combined results of both systems. Negative breath test data supplied to the Home Office may have been under-reported based on the old system and it is likely that moving to the digital services has led to improvements in data recording practices by forces. This appears to have been reflected in the decrease in the proportion of positive or refused tests of total breath tests, since the beginning of 2008.

The user guide provides further details relating to data quality and interpreting the figures.

3.6 Other data sources

Analysis of reported roadside breath alcohol screening tests, based on data from digital breath testing devices, is published by the Department for Transport (DfT). Latest figures were included within DfT’s Reported road casualties in Great Britain: 2022 annual report.

Question 4

4.  Fixed penalty notices and other outcomes for motoring offences

Accepted Answer

Statistics included in this chapter are designated as Accredited Official Statistics (National Statistics).

A fixed penalty notice (FPN) is a financial penalty which may be issued to a motorist as an alternative to prosecution. They can be issued for a limited range of motoring offences, such as speeding offences and using a handheld mobile phone while driving. An FPN can be endorsable (accompanied by points on a driving licence) or non-endorsable (not accompanied by points on a driving licence).

In the year ending December 2022, excluding the Metropolitan Police Service and 405,909 cancelled cases:

there were 2,437,789 motoring offences recorded which resulted in a fixed penalty notice or another outcome, an increase of 0.7% compared with the previous year (2,421,681)
compared with 2019 (pre-pandemic) there was a 0.9% increase in motoring offences
over four-fifths (87%) of recorded motoring offences were for speed limit offences (2,115,058), down 0.5% on the previous year (2,125,933) and similar value to 2019 (2,115,501, pre-pandemic)
half (50%) of driving offences resulted in driver retraining, while a fine was paid in a further 36% of cases and 13% of cases involved court action (excluding those subsequently cancelled), similar proportions to 2021

4.1 Data Collection and scope

Data in this section is taken from the PentiP system, a central database, which replaced the Vehicle Procedures and Fixed Penalty Office system in 2011. Vehicle Procedures and Fixed Penalty Office data was previously supplied to the Home Office by individual police forces. Further information can be found in the user guide.

In 2020 the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) adopted a new system for recording fixed penalty notices for camera-detected motoring offences. As MPS no longer exclusively use the PentiP system, the data collected from the MPS is recorded under different categories and is not directly comparable to other forces’ data. For 2021 an interim solution was found to incorporate the MPS data into the national figures, however, following data quality assurance of the 2022 data it was decided that the MPS data should remain separate. For this reason, analysis in this chapter excludes the MPS. However, data provided by the MPS from their new FPN system (Dome) and from the PentiP system is reported separately in section 4.6. The Home Office is working with the Metropolitan Police Service to obtain fully comparable data.

In 2017 the Home Office increased data collections for motoring offences to include cases where a driver retraining course, such as a speed awareness course, was attended by the individual, as well as cases where an individual faced court action. A full time-series back to 2011 including these additional outcomes was published^{[footnote 18]}.

However, information on the outcome of those summoned to court is not provided and therefore data do not contain the number of individuals prosecuted for motoring offences.

Since PentiP is an administrative dataset used by police forces, data for previous years can be amended as case details are updated. Furthermore, there is a process where some outcomes (particularly cancelled FPNs) are removed from the system after 6 months. During the COVID-19 pandemic several forces reported suffering staff shortages and a backlog in cases that required finalising. As such, the number of motoring offences that are currently recorded as having an outcome of ‘incomplete’ (that is, not assigned an outcome) is higher than pre-pandemic levels. But these cases only comprise a small proportion of all motoring offences (0.3% or 6,190 cases in 2022 compared with 0.1% or 3,311 cases in 2019). It is expected that the count and outcomes of some motoring offences will be updated between publications.

This section contains data on the outcomes for motoring offences (as recorded on the PentiP system) for the territorial Police Force Areas (PFAs) in England and Wales on a calendar-year basis. Data is broken down by the number of motoring offences:

that resulted in an FPN (endorsable and non-endorsable)
where the driver attended a driver retraining course
that resulted in court action
where a FPN is cancelled

The data also contains information on the types of motoring offences which led to these outcomes, whether or not the offence was camera-detected, whether or not a fine was paid (where the offence resulted in an FPN) and the month in which the offence occurred (from 2020 onwards).

The Home Office is aware that not all forces will exclusively use the PentiP system to record motoring offences. For example, several police forces, including Durham, North Wales, South Wales, Gwent, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire, do not record all outcomes of motoring offences on the PentiP system. Therefore, it is likely that the data published is not a complete record of all motoring offences that occur in England and Wales and is potentially an undercount.

The data does not contain offences for driving under the influence, or dangerous driving. Statistics on drink and drug driving can be found in the ‘Road Accident and Safety Statistics’ published by the Department for Transport. Dangerous driving is a notifiable offence and is therefore included in the ONS ‘Crime in England and Wales’ statistics.

Data on FPNs and other outcomes for motoring offences in England and Wales is presented in the FPN and other outcomes data tables.

Further information, including information on data quality, can be found in the user guide.

4.2 Trends in FPNs and other outcomes of motoring offences

Excluding cancelled cases^{[footnote 19]} (405,999 cases) and cases recorded by the Metropolitan Police Service, the PentiP system recorded 2,437,789 motoring offences in 2022, which resulted in an FPN or another outcome. This is an increase of 0.7% compared with the year ending December 2021, and a 0.9% increase on 2019 (pre-pandemic levels). Specifically, in 2022:

800,140 cases resulted in the driver receiving an endorsable FPN (33%)
97,654 cases resulted in a non-endorsable FPN (4%)
an individual attended a driver retraining course in 1,214,697 cases (50%)
325,298 cases resulted in court action (13%)

The number of endorsable FPNs declined sharply between 2012 and 2013, corresponding with a large increase in driver retraining outcomes. The number of endorsable FPNs issued remained stable between 2014 and 2019, but following a decline in 2020 (to 765,346 during the COVID-19 pandemic, a period in which road usage fell) the data showed an increase in 2021 (to 833,108), before declining by 4% in 2022 (to 800,140).

The number of non-endorsable FPNs had fallen year-on-year from 2011 to 2018, but increased in 2019. With the exception of a fall in 2020 (likely due to the pandemic), the number of non-endorsable FPNs has remained fairly stable since 2019 (98,321 in 2019, compared with 97,544 in 2021 and 97,654 in 2022), as shown in figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1: Number of motoring offences resulting in an endorsable or non-endorsable FPN, England and Wales, 2011 to 2022

Source: Fixed penalty notices (FPNs) and other outcomes for motoring offences statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 December 2022; table FPN_01, Home Office

Notes:

Does not include FPNs which were subsequently cancelled.
Does not include motoring offences which were dealt with via other outcomes, such as cases where the individual attended a driver retraining course or faced court action.
Does not include British Transport Police and Metropolitan Police Service.

4.3 FPNs and other outcomes by offence type

Over four-fifths (87%) of the motoring offences recorded on PentiP were for speed limit offences (2,115,058), which were down 0.5% compared with the year ending December 2021 (when there were 2,125,933 offences). This is a similar number of speeding offences to 2019 (the year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic), in which there were 2,115,501 speeding offences. Between 2011 and 2022, the number of speed limit offences has increased at a faster rate than the amount of road traffic in England and Wales. Since 2011, only 2020 has seen a noteworthy year-on-year decline in speeding offences, likely due to the pandemic (figure 4.2).

Figure 4.2: Number of speed limit offences recorded on the PentiP system, England and Wales, 2011 to 2022

Source: Fixed penalty notices (FPNs) and other outcomes for motoring offences statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 December 2022; table FPN_02, Home Office

Notes:

Does not include FPNs which were subsequently cancelled.
Includes cases where the individual attended a driver retraining course or faced court action.
Does not include British Transport Police and Metropolitan Police Service.

Following the reported reduction in traffic volumes due to the pandemic in 2020, the majority of offences showed an increase in detection in 2021. In 2022, the change in the volume of different types of offences was more mixed, with 7 out of 13 offence types increasing in volume and 6 decreasing in volume.

Use of a handheld mobile phone while driving had the largest percentage increase, up 80% from 15,427 in 2021 to 27,756 in 2022. This is likely due to a change to mobile phone legislation in March 2022, which incorporated wider “use” of a hand-held device whilst driving, giving officers more opportunities to report offenders. There was also a 36% increase in neglect of traffic signs and directions and of pedestrian rights, from 58,908 in 2021 to 79,934 in 2022.

The largest percentage decrease was for obstruction, waiting and parking offences, which decreased by 18% from 14,030 in 2021 to 11,509 in 2022. The largest absolute decrease was for speed limit offences, which decreased by 0.5% from 2,125,933 to 2,115,058.

Table 4.1: Number of motoring offences resulting in fixed penalty notices, driver retraining, or court action by offence type, England and Wales, 2019 to 2022

Offence Description	2019	2020	2021	2022
Speed limit offences	2,115,501	1,834,157	2,125,933	2,115,058
Licence, insurance and record-keeping offences	74,735	82,415	75,182	72,577
Neglect of traffic signs and directions and of pedestrian rights	66,154	51,424	58,908	79,934
Vehicle test and condition offences	38,748	29,359	38,106	36,428
Seat belt offences	34,870	40,951	42,854	40,584
Obstruction, waiting and parking offences	29,033	19,417	14,030	11,509
Use of handheld mobile phone while driving	23,468	14,330	15,427	27,756
Careless driving offences (excl. use of handheld mobile phone while driving)	19,795	23,689	33,388	34,324
Work record or employment offences	3,710	2,185	2,269	2,645
Other offences	5,811	7,386	10,282	11,274
Lighting and noise offences	3,712	4,477	4,730	5,097
Miscellaneous motoring offences (excluding seat belt offences)	420	377	534	568
Operator’s licence offences	12	24	38	35
Total	2,415,969	2,110,191	2,421,681	2,437,789

Source: Fixed penalty notices (FPNs) and other outcomes for motoring offences statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 December 2022; table FPN_02, Home Office

Notes:

Does not include FPNs which were subsequently cancelled.
Includes offences were an FPN was issued or the individual attended driver retraining or court action.
Does not include British Transport Police and Metropolitan Police Service.
The ‘other offences’ offence grouping includes load offences and offences peculiar to motor cycles.

Since 2020 the Home Office has collected a monthly breakdown of motoring offences to allow analysis of trends within a calendar year. In 2022, there was a large increase in the number of ‘use of a mobile phone while driving’ offences from March through to Autumn, following a change in the law on using a mobile phone while driving, as shown in figure 4.3. The number of offences peaked at 4,189 in June 2022, an increase of 137% compared with June 2021, in which there were only 1,768 offences. Although there was a decline in the number of offences following the peak in June 2022, every month since March 2022 had a higher number of use of a mobile phone while driving offences than the equivalent month in 2021.

Figure 4.3: Trends in use of mobile phone offences during the last 2 years

Source: Fixed penalty notices (FPNs) and other outcomes for motoring offences statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 December 2022; table FPN_05, Home Office

Notes:

Does not include FPNs which were subsequently cancelled.
Includes offences were an FPN was issued or the individual attended driver retraining or court action.
Includes Metropolitan Police Service, but does not include British Transport Police.

There was some also slight variation throughout the year for other offences. For example, a higher number of speed limit offences are recorded in the Summer, with a peak in July of 234,753 cases compared with the winter months, with November and December having the lowest number of cases (187,535 and 151,176 cases respectively). Similarly, the number of seatbelt offences peaks in June and July (6,897 and 5,075 cases, or 14% and 10% all seatbelt offences respectively) and is lowest in December and January (2,306 and 2,988 cases, or 5% and 6% of all seatbelt offences respectively). The number of careless driving offences (excluding use of handheld mobile phone while driving) fluctuates throughout the year ranging from 2,853 cases in December to a peak of 4,343 cases in March for this offence type.

4.4 Camera-detected offences

Offences that come under ‘neglect of traffic directions’ (for example, failure to adhere to traffic signs such as ‘right of way’) and ‘speed limit offences’ may be detected by the police, or by traffic enforcement cameras. In 2022, the PentiP system recorded 2,115,058 ‘speed limit offences’ and 79,934 ‘neglect of traffic directions’ offences, 87% and 3% of all non-cancelled FPNs respectively. The majority of ‘speed limit offences’ (97%) were detected by a camera, a similar proportion as the 2021 and pre-pandemic levels. Additionally, close to two-thirds (65%) of ‘neglect of traffic direction’ offences were detected by a camera, an increase from 60% in 2020 and 59% in 2021, but lower than 2014 to 2019 in which 66% to 77% of these offences were camera detected.

Table 4.2: Number of ‘speed limit offences’ and ‘neglect of traffic directions’ offences and proportion that were camera-detected, England and Wales, 2019 to 2022

		Calendar year
Offence type	2019	2020	2021	2022
Speed limit offences	2,115,501	1,834,157	2,125,933	2,115,058
of which Camera-detected (%)	98%	96%	97%	97%
Neglect of traffic directions	59,309	44,962	51,400	71,224
of which Camera-detected (%)	67%	60%	59%	65%

Source: Fixed penalty notices (FPNs) and other outcomes for motoring offences statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 December 2022; table FPN_04, Home Office

Notes:

Does not include FPNs which were subsequently cancelled.
Includes offences were an FPN was issued or the individual attended driver retraining or court action.
Does not include British Transport Police and Metropolitan Police Service.

4.5 Outcomes following motoring offences

After an individual is found to have committed a motoring offence there are a number of possible outcomes:

attend a driver retraining course
receive an FPN and pay a fine
court action which may lead to prosecution

In 2022 there was an increase (5%) in the number of people attending a driver retraining course as an alternative outcome to paying a fine, from 1,155,297 in 2021 to 1,214,697 in 2022, the highest number of people attending driver retraining courses since comparative records began in 2011, and 5% higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019 (1,162,313). In 2011, 14% of individuals found to have committed a motoring offence (not including cases which were then cancelled) attended a driver retraining course. This proportion showed a large increase between 2011 and 2014 to 46% and has since remained relatively stable, with 50% of individuals having attended a driver retraining course in 2022. The initial increase between 2011 and 2014 can be attributed to an increase in the number of police forces joining NDORS^{[footnote 20]}, which was set up in 2010 as an alternative to prosecution, and therefore increasing the recorded data available on the PentiP system.

The use of driver retraining courses is at the discretion of the police and the use of such courses can differ by PFA. An individual can only attend a driver retraining course once in a 3-year period for committing the same offence. Therefore, if the individual reoffends and commits the same offence within a 3-year period, having previously attended a driver retraining course, they cannot attend again and will be subject to other sanctions. In light of the COVID-19 restrictions, virtual (online) courses were offered for driver retraining as a replacement for physical attendance. Several courses still offer online courses in virtual classrooms as alternatives to in-person attendance and may allow for a greater number of persons to attend courses as they can do so from home.

In 2022, a fine was paid in around just over a third (36%) of cases (excluding those subsequently cancelled) and the remaining 13% of cases involved court action, similar proportions to 2021. These statistics do not provide the outcome of those summoned to court.

The Ministry of Justice publishes quarterly statistics on court outcomes including the number of individuals successfully prosecuted for motoring offences.

4.6 Metropolitan Police Service

In 2020 the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) stopped processing some camera-detected fixed penalty notices for motoring offences within the PentiP system. As such, the Home Office received partial 2020 to 2022 data from PentiP for the MPS and, instead, the MPS provided data from their new system (Dome).

This system change is likely to affect the total number of FPNs and the way in which outcomes are recorded (especially cancelled FPNs). Some motoring offences will be recorded on both PentiP and Dome, whilst an effort has been made to remove any duplicated offences from the combined data set, some duplication may still occur. Furthermore, some categories may differ between the PentiP and Dome systems.

This section therefore presents the MPS data separately from the rest of England and Wales and represents a combination of the MPS data from their Dome system and data from the PentiP system. It is likely that the data is not a true representation of all FPNs issued by MPS and therefore comparisons with previous years and other forces should be made with caution. The Home Office is working with the Metropolitan Police Service to better understand data recorded outside of Pentip to obtain a fully comparable set of data for future publications.

In 2022, excluding cancelled cases (233,859 cases), the PentiP and Dome systems recorded 514,895 motoring offences which resulted in an FPN or another outcome by the MPS. This was an increase of 47% compared with the previous year, continuing a year-on-year increase for the force since 2014 (figure 4.4). However, the long-term change should be interpreted with caution, due to the system change.

Figure 4.4: Number of cases resulting in FPNs or other outcomes Metropolitan Police Service, 2011 to 2022

Source: Fixed penalty notices (FPNs) and other outcomes for motoring offences statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 December 2022; table FPN_01b, Home Office

Notes:

Includes offences were an FPN was issued or the individual attended driver retraining or court action. Excludes FPNs which were subsequently cancelled.
Data for 2020 is not comparable to previous years as it includes data from the Metropolitan Police Service own recording system.

Looking at the MPS data by offence type, close to four-fifths (79%) of motoring offences recorded were for speed limit offences (407,499), a lower proportion of the total than the rest of England and Wales (87% of motoring offences). The number of speed limit offences increased by 66% in 2022, from 245,880 to 407,499, and is now close to 3 times higher than the number of offences recorded before the pandemic (138,447). This may be in-part due to the Vision Zero action plan, in which the MPS and Transport for London are seeking to reduce harm on London’s roads through different initiatives such as the introduction of lower speed limits.

Similarly to the rest of England and Wales, the largest percentage increase was in the offence of ‘use of a handheld mobile phone while driving’, which increased by 141% from 4,187 offences up to 10,101 offences. This is likely also due to the change to mobile phone legislation in March 2022. Additionally, the MPS stated that there has been an increase in traffic incidents reported to them via the single-online home platform^{[footnote 21]}, which has contributed to the substantial increase in the recording of use of a handheld mobile phone while driving offences.

Looking at the MPS data by outcome, in 2022, 160,343 cases resulted in a driver receiving an FPN (31%), an individual attended a driver retraining course in 245,045 cases (48%) and 109,507 cases resulted in court action (21%). The volume of each of these outcomes increased in 2022 compared with 2021, with the largest percentage increase being for individuals attending a driver retraining course, which increased by 58% from 155,378 to 245,045.

4.7 Other data sources

Ministry of Justice publishes data in its Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly publication on:

penalty notices for disorder (PNDs); these follow similar principles to FPNs and can be issued for low-level summary offences, for example, being drunk and disorderly, petty theft, and possession of cannabis prosecutions and convictions for motoring offences

The Department for Transport (DfT) publishes a number of Road Accident and Safety Statistics including data on:

road casualties
drink and drug driving
self-reported mobile phone use while driving

Question 5

5.   Pre-charge bail and released under investigation

Accepted Answer

Statistics included in this chapter are designated as Official Statistics in Development (previously Experimental Statistics).

Pre-charge bail

In the year ending 31 March 2023:

there were 172,453 individuals whose pre-charge bail (based on 41 forces who provided data) had concluded within the financial year
a 10% increase in individuals whose pre-charge bail concluded was seen, compared with the year ending March 2022, based on the 38 forces that were able to provide data for both years (up from 152,144 to 167,320)
the pattern across forces was mixed; 25 forces reported an increase compared with the year ending March 2022, and 13 forces reported a decrease compared with last year
Where bail concluded in the financial year, just under three-quarters (73% or 125,401) of individuals (where the bail duration was known) were under pre-charge bail conditions for less than 3 months
there were 296,615 offences linked to individuals on pre-charge bail, half (50%) of these were for violence against the person, and 10% were sexual offences (excluding unknown offences)
over a quarter (29%) of individuals whose pre-charge bail concluded were aged between 31 and 40 years old and 26% were aged between 21 and 30, while those aged 20 and under accounted for 17% of individuals.

Released under investigation

In the year ending 31 March 2023:

there were 140,997 individuals (based on 30 forces) who had been released under investigation (RUI) and whose RUI had concluded within the financial year.
a 9% decrease in individuals RUI was seen compared with the year ending March 2022, based on the 23 forces that were able to provide data for both years (down from 131,410 to 119,323)
just over two-thirds (71%) of individuals were RUI for 3 months or more (where duration is known)
there were 233,685, offences linked to individuals RUI, of these 30% were violence against the person offences, and 17% related to drug offences (when unknown offences were excluded)
those aged 21 to 30 accounted for 29% of individuals RUI, while almost a quarter (23%) of individuals released under investigation were aged 20 and under.

5.1 About pre-charge bail

Pre-charge bail, also known as police bail, is granted by the police under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) to individuals that have been arrested on suspicion of a criminal offence, but where there are no grounds to keep them in detention while the investigation continues. The main purposes of pre-charge bail are:

the protection of victims and witnesses primarily linked to conditions applied to pre-charge bail, such as no contact with the alleged victim
investigative management, allowing investigations to progress to obtain evidence
suspect management, including reducing the risk of offending

Applying pre-charge bail conditions means that the police can manage a suspect effectively within the community while further investigations progress. Pre-charge bail can be made subject to conditions under the Bail Act 1976. Conditions may be necessary in order to make sure that the suspect:

surrenders to custody at the end of the pre-charge bail period
does not commit an offence while on pre-charge bail
does not interfere with witnesses
does not otherwise obstruct the course of justice

Conditions may typically include:

a ban on leaving the country, including a requirement to surrender a passport
not being allowed to enter a certain area, such as the home of the alleged victim
not being allowed to communicate with certain people, for example, victims, witnesses or known associates

If an individual breaches their conditions of pre-charge bail, they can be arrested and taken to a police station. Under PACE, the police have power of arrest where an officer has reasonable grounds for believing that conditions imposed on pre-charge bail have been breached. A breach of pre-charge bail conditions is not a criminal offence and carries no criminal penalty, although the behaviour which led to the breach may amount to a separate offence. If there is sufficient evidence at the time of the breach, officers may charge the individual for the original offence for which they are under investigation, or any later offence, and either detain them before their appearance at a magistrates’ court or release them on post-charge bail.

Following an arrest for a notifiable offence, an alternative route to pre-charge bail is to release the suspect from police custody under investigation whilst the investigation continues. Unlike pre-charge bail, suspects “released under investigation” (RUI) are not subject to any conditions, nor is there a time limit on when they must return to the police station. A police force may also ask a person of interest to voluntarily attend a police station or other location to assist police with the investigation of an offence. They will be interviewed voluntarily under caution, as opposed to being arrested and then interviewed. The purpose of these interviews is to question the individual for evidence about their suspected involvement in an offence. If an individual voluntarily attends interview, they are allowed to leave unless arrested on suspicion of committing the offence.

Recent changes to the pre-charge bail system

The pre-charge bail system was reformed through the Policing and Crime Act 2017 to address concerns that individuals were being kept on pre-charge bail for long periods. This act introduced the presumption that suspects should be released under investigation (RUI), unless pre-charge bail is deemed both necessary and proportionate. Stricter controls on bail periods were also introduced, including the introduction of a limit on pre-charge bail to an initial period of 28 days as well as raised authority levels to extend this pre-charge bail period.

The pre-charge bail system has since been further reformed through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, implemented on 28 October 2022. This Act seeks to rebalance the use of pre-charge bail and release under investigation in order to encourage greater use of pre-charge bail in every case where it is necessary and proportionate. As individuals released under investigation (RUI) are not subject to any conditions, nor is there a time limit on when they must return to the police station, these changes have been introduced to provide greater protection for both victims and suspects of crime.

The Act also made changes to the timescales and authorisation levels for periods of bail, including extending the initial applicable bail period (see glossary in the user guide accompanying these statistics) from 28 days to 3 months. Further information on these changes and applicable bail periods is included in the pre-charge bail statutory guidance.

Figures for the year ending 31 March 2023, therefore include cases handled under both the old and new pre-charge bail processes.

5.2 Data collected and scope

Data on the number of pre-charge bails by pre-charge bail length was collected on a voluntary basis for the first time in the year ending March 2018. This data collection was introduced to understand to what extent forces were using pre-charge bail following the reforms to conditions of the power as anecdotal evidence suggested that their use had declined.

In response to requests for more detailed data from users, and in line with ‘V4:Innovation and Improvement’ of the Code of Practice (CoP) for Statistics, for the year ending March 2021, the Home Office increased the pre-charge bail collection from aggregate-level data to incident-level data. This means that as well as pre-charge bail duration, the Home Office now receives information on the age, sex, ethnicity, offence type and outcome for each instance of pre-charge bail. The collection was also increased to include information on released under investigation (RUI), breaches of pre-charge bail conditions and voluntary attendance to an interview.

This is the third year that this data has been collected. Initially collected on a voluntary basis to allow forces sufficient time to make necessary changes to data recording systems, pre-charge bail data became a mandatory collection from the year ending March 2023. Data on RUI, voluntary attendance to an interview and bail breaches continue to be collected on a voluntary basis. Once the data is deemed to be of high enough quality these collections will move to a mandatory collection.

The analysis in this chapter is based on data received from 41 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales. However, whilst 41 forces provided data on pre-charge bail, a subset of 30 police forces provided data on RUI. 24 police forces provided data on voluntary attendance to interview, and 21 police forces provided data on breaches of pre-charge bail conditions. Some of these forces identified quality concerns with their data, including partial returns.

The data collected on numbers of pre-charge bails, RUI, and voluntary attendance is intended to capture those which have concluded within the financial year and are therefore not an indication of cases which are still live or ongoing. This publication does not include data on post-charge or court bail^{[footnote 22]}.

5.2.1 Data quality and interpreting figures

The figures presented are correct at the time of publication and each year include revisions submitted by forces for any previous years.

Due to the changes made to the data collection in the year ending March 2021 and the voluntary nature of this collection, the data is somewhat incomplete, and several forces have not been able to provide complete data on pre-charge bail, RUI, voluntary attendance to interview, or breaches of pre-charge bail conditions.

Devon and Cornwall and Humberside Police were unable to provide any data for the year ending March 2023 due to transitioning to new data management systems. To make sure data is consistent and comparable, data from these forces is not included in yearly comparisons in the data tables and commentary.

When compiling the return for the year ending March 2023, several forces expressed difficulty with extracting the data, and as such were not able to provide certain aspects of the return, such as linked offence type or demographic details of the individual. Consequently, as parts of the collection are voluntary, the analysis presented in this chapter and in the accompanying data tables is based on partial data from forces. Therefore, data in this chapter give an indicative picture only, and should be treated with caution.

Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as ‘Official Statistics in Development’, to acknowledge that further development is ongoing to improve data quality. The Home Office continues to work with forces to understand the issues they face with this data collection and will consider whether any changes to the data return are needed.

Further details of specific data quality issues can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

5.3 Analysis of pre-charge bail statistics

5.3.1 Number of individuals whose pre-charge bail concluded

In the year ending March 2023, based on a subset of 41 police forces in England and Wales, 172,453 individuals’ pre-charge bail was concluded. This is 27% of the 647,662 arrests^{[footnote 23]} made during the same period by the same 41 forces. Comparisons should be made with caution however between these 2 datasets, given that an individual included in the pre-charge bail dataset may have been arrested prior to this financial year.

Based on 38 forces^{[footnote 24]} who could provide data in both years, this is an increase of 10% (or 15,176 instances of bail), up from 152,144 in the year ending March 2022 to 167,320 in the year ending March 2023. The pattern across forces was mixed, 25 forces reported an increase in the number of individuals whose pre-charge bail had concluded, and 13 forces reported a decrease compared with the year ending 31 March 2022).

The Metropolitan Police Service accounted for the largest proportion of individuals whose pre-charge bails had concluded (13%) and similarly are the force with the highest number of arrests (15% of all arrests made by the 41 forces who provided pre-charge bail data). West Yorkshire Police accounted for the next largest proportion of pre-charge bails concluded (8%), slightly higher than the proportion of arrests made by the force (6%).

Across the 41 forces who provided pre-charge bail data, there were 27 individuals whose pre-charge bail had concluded for every 100 arrests in the year ending March 2023. This differed substantially by force from 9 (North Wales) to 45 (Warwickshire).

5.3.2 Pre-charge bail by duration

An individual can be released on pre-charge bail for multiple offences at one time (for example, if an individual was arrested for possession of weapons and drug offences they may be released on pre-charge bail for both offences). In this data collection this would be recorded as 1 individual with 2 linked offences (2 rows of data with the same custody reference number). Although it is possible for each offence to have a different duration, most forces have recorded the same duration for all linked offences (likely based on the most serious offence). These have therefore been treated as the same instance of pre-charge bail and in the few instances where different pre-charge bail lengths were recorded for the same individual, the longest duration has been used for the following analysis. There may be inconsistencies between how forces record duration, particularly where individuals move between pre-charge bail and released under investigation. Further information about the quality of this data can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

Not including records where the duration was unknown (1,826) and based on a subset of 40 police forces^{[footnote 25]} who provided data on duration, in the year ending March 2023, there were 170,627 instances of concluded pre-charge bail, of which:

39% of individuals were released under pre-charge bail conditions for 28 days or less
73% of individuals were released under pre-charge bail conditions for less than 3 months
28% of individuals were released under pre-charge bail conditions for 3 months or more

Following the introduction of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 , the initial applicable bail period (see glossary in the user guide accompanying these statistics) has been changed^{[footnote 26]}.

Until 28 October 2022, custody officers were able to authorise an initial bail period of up to 28 days. One extension of up to 3 months could be authorised by a senior police officer at superintendent level or above. In circumstances where the police need to keep an individual on bail for longer, they would have to apply to a magistrate for further bail extensions.

From 28 October 2022, an initial bail period of up to 3 months can be authorised by a custody officer. If the necessary conditions are met, a first extension may be authorised for a further 3 months by an officer ranked inspector or above. A further, second extension of an additional 3 months (bringing the total bail period to 9 months) may be granted by an officer ranked superintendent or above. Additional extensions require the police force to apply to a Magistrates’ court for an extension. Figures for the year ending 31 March 2023, therefore include cases handled under both the old and new pre-charge bail processes. Due to this change, comparisons of duration with previous years should be done so with caution.

Further information, including necessary conditions that must be met to extend pre-charge bail is published in the pre-charge bail statutory guidance.

Compared with the year ending 31 March 2022, the proportion of individuals released on pre-charge bail for a duration of 28 days or less has fallen from 46% (based on 37 forces who were able to provide data on duration). The proportion of individuals released on pre-charge bail for between 29 days and 3 months has increased from 29% in the year ending 31 March 2022 to 35% in the year ending 31 March 2023. This year-on-year change is likely partly impacted by the legislative changes to the pre-charge bail process, however caution must also be taken in comparing between these years due to improvements in the completeness of duration data. For example duration breakdowns published for the year ending 31 March 2022 did not include the Metropolitan Police Service who were not able to provide duration data.

Table 5.1: Pre-charge bail durations, selected police forces, year ending March 2023

Pre-charge bail duration	Individuals released on pre-charge bail	Proportion (%)
0 to 7 days	7,338	4%
8 to 14 days	8,645	5%
15 to 21 days	15,187	9%
22 to 28 days	35,363	21%
29 days to 3 months	58,868	35%
3 to 6 months	29,099	17%
6 to 12 months	11,985	7%
More than 12 months	4,142	2%
Unknown	1,826
Total	172,453

Source: Pre-charge bail statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2023; table PCB_01, Home Office

Notes:

Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in Development.
Does not include Devon and Cornwall and Humberside police who did not provide data for the year ending March 2023.
Durham police force was not able to provide data on duration.

5.3.3 Pre-charge bail by offence type

Analysis in this section is based on all linked offences to an individual’s pre-charge bail. Due to the way in which forces record offence data and pre-charge bail data, not all forces were able to provide offence type detail for all occurrences of pre-charge bail. Of the 41 forces who provided pre-charge bail data, 9 forces were only able to provide offence type of the principal offence linked to the bail record. Therefore figures presented in this section are an undercount of the true number of offences relating to pre-charge bail. Further information can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics. Additionally, Dyfed Powys were unable to provide the offence type for any of the offences linked to instances of pre-charge bail.

In the year ending 31 March 2023, 296,615 offences were linked to instances of pre-charge bail. Not including records where the offence type was not known (2,402 records, or 1%) the most common offence for which an individual was on pre-charge bail for was violence against the person (50%), followed by sexual offences (10%) and theft offences (9%), similar proportions to the year ending 31 March 2022 (52%, 9% and 8% respectively).

Figure 5.1 shows the proportion of individuals on pre-charge bail by offence type.

Figure 5.1: Proportion of concluded pre-charge bails by offence type, selected police forces, year ending March 2023

Source: Pre-charge bail statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2023; table PCB_05, Home Office

Notes:

Due to rounding percentages may not total 100%.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in Development.
Based on data from 40 police forces.
Does not include 2,402 unknown offences. Dyfed-Powys were not able to provide any details of the offence type for which persons were on pre-charge bail.
An individual can be released on pre-charge bail for multiple offences under one instance of pre-charge bail. These are counted separately in this section.

The breakdown by offence type for pre-charge bail shows some differences to the arrests data. For example, whilst only 5% of pre-charge bails related to drug offences, they accounted for 9% of arrests. Additionally, 6% of arrests were for sexual offences, but they accounted for the second highest proportion of all pre-charge bails (10%). Table 5.2 shows the proportion of pre-charge bails and arrests by offence type.

Table 5.2: Proportion of concluded pre-charge bails and arrests by offence type, selected police forces year ending March 2023

Offence type	Pre-charge bails	Arrests
Violence against the person	50%	46%
Sexual offences	10%	6%
Theft offences	9%	13%
Criminal damage and arson	8%	6%
Public order offences	7%	8%
Drug offences	5%	9%
Miscellaneous crimes against society	5%	6%
Possession of weapons offences	3%	3%
Robbery	3%	2%
Fraud offences	1%	1%
Total	100%	100%

Source: Pre-charge bail statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2023; table PCB_05, Home Office and Arrests summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; table PCB_05, Home Office

Notes:

Due to rounding, percentages may not total 100%.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in Development.
Based on data from 40 police forces who provided details on the type of offence associated with pre-charge bail records. Dyfed-Powys were not able to provide details of the offence type for which persons were on pre-charge bail. Devon and Cornwall and Humberside Police were not able to provide pre-charge bail data for the year ending 31 March 2023.
An individual can be released on pre-charge bail for multiple offences under one record of pre-charge bail, therefore, an individual instance of pre-charge bail may appear multiple times within the table.

Direct comparisons between the 2 series should be made with caution since pre-charge bails can relate to multiple offences, whilst arrests relate to the principal offence. For example, an offender may be arrested for committing 2 or more crimes (such as shoplifting and possession of drugs) but only one arrest and offence will be recorded. Within the pre-charge bail dataset, in this example both offences would be recorded and linked to the individual on pre-charge bail. Furthermore, if someone was arrested for example in the year ending March 2022 and put under pre-charge bail conditions which came to an end in the following financial year, the individual would be recorded in a different financial year within the pre-charge bail dataset.

5.3.4 Pre-charge bail by sex

Excluding the 294 records that did not include information on sex, the majority of individuals (87%) released on pre-charge bail in the year ending March 2023 were male, similar to the proportion recorded in March 2022 (88%). This is slightly higher than the proportion of males arrested (85% of arrests)^{[footnote 27]}. For both males and females, the most common offence groups associated with pre-charge bail was violence against the person (48% and 59% respectively, excluding unknown offence types) which made up similar proportions to the year ending March 2022 (50% and 60% respectively). But, for males, sexual offences are the second most common offence group (11%) and for females theft offences (9%) make up the second biggest offence group. Males make up the majority of individuals on pre-charge bail for all offence types. However, the proportions vary. Pre-charge bail for fraud offences had the highest proportion of females (22%), and sexual offences the lowest (2%).

5.3.5 Pre-charge bail by age

Forces are asked to provide the age of the individual at the point at which they were arrested for the offence that they are on bail for. However, there may be some inconsistences in how forces record the age of individuals released on pre-charge bail due to differences in which point of time their age is recorded. For a small number of records (38) the individual’s age was not known and have therefore been excluded from the analysis below. Further information can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

Table 5.3 shows the number of individuals whose pre-charge bail concluded in the year ending March 2023 by age group. The majority of individuals released on pre-charge bail were aged 21 and above. Over a quarter (29%) of individuals released on pre-charge bail were aged between 31 and 40, and another 26% were aged between 21 and 30. A small proportion (17%) were aged 20 and under. These proportions are similar to the year ending 31 March 2022.

Table 5.3: Proportion of concluded pre-charge bails by age, selected police forces year ending March 2023

Age group	Individuals released on pre-charge bail	Proportion
10 to 17	16,727	10%
18 to 20	13,203	8%
21 to 30	45,669	26%
31 to 40	49,678	29%
41 to 50	28,732	17%
51 to 60	13,527	8%
61 and over	4,879	3%
Age unknown	38
Total	172,453

Source: Pre-charge bail statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2023; table PCB_05, Home Office

Notes:

Due to rounding, percentages may not total 100%.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in Development.
Based on data from 41 police forces who provided pre-charge bail data. Devon and Cornwall and Humberside Police were not able to provide pre-charge bail data for the year ending 31 March 2023.

The proportions varied by offence group, for example, despite making up just 17% of all individuals released on pre-charge bail, those aged 20 and under made up 61% of all linked offences related to robbery (48% of which were aged 17 and under), 27% of all linked drug offences and 35% of possession of weapons offences. Furthermore, individuals aged 51 and over made up 11% of all individuals on pre-charge bail but made up 16% of those arrested for sexual offences.

5.3.6 Pre-charge bail by ethnicity

When an individual is arrested and released on pre-charge bail, they are asked to define their ethnicity. For the purpose of this analysis, these are grouped into the following 6 categories:

white (including white minorities)
black (or black British)
Asian (or Asian British)
mixed ethnicity
other ethnic group
not stated

Table 5.4 shows the number of individuals whose pre-charge bail concluded in the year ending March 2023 by ethnicity. Not including records where the ethnicity was not known (10% of all individuals released on bail), 77% of individuals on pre-charge bail were white (including white minorities), 8% were black (or black British), and 8% were Asian (or Asian British). The remaining individuals considered themselves either of mixed ethnicity (5%) or any other ethnic group (2%). The proportion of individuals released on pre-charge bail across each ethnic group was similar to (within 1 percentage point for each group) the arrests^{[footnote 28]} collection, and with the year ending 31 March 2022 (when comparing the same police forces).

Table 5.4: Proportion of concluded pre-charge bails by self-defined ethnicity, selected police forces year ending March 2023

Ethnicity	Individuals released on pre-charge bail	Proportion
White	118,772	77%
Black (or black British)	12,872	8%
Asian (or Asian British)	12,749	8%
Other ethnic group	3,061	2%
Mixed	7,072	5%
Not stated / unknown	17,927
Total	172,453

Source: Pre-charge bail statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2023; table PCB_04, Home Office

Notes:

Due to rounding, percentages may not total 100%.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in Development.
Based on data from 41 police forces who provided pre-charge bail data. Devon and Cornwall and Humberside Police were not able to provide pre-charge bail data for the year ending 31 March 2023.

The ethnic breakdown of individuals released on pre-charge bail varied across offence groups. For all offence groups white individuals (including white minorities) made up the majority of pre-charge bails. However, black (or black British) individuals accounted for noticeably larger proportions of pre-charge bails for robbery (24%), drug offences (15%), and possession of weapons offences (14%), despite accounting for only 8% of all individuals on pre-charge bail. This is similar to the proportion of black (or black British) individuals arrested for the same offence types (22%, 15% and 14% respectively). A similar discrepancy was seen for mixed ethnicity individuals who made up 9% of all persons on pre-charge bail for robbery offences and 8% of drug offences, which is almost double the proportion of all individuals from a mixed ethnic background on pre-charge bail (5%) and is slightly higher than the proportion of mixed ethnicity individuals arrests for robbery offences (8%) and drug offences (6%).

5.3.7 Pre-charge bail by outcome

When an individual is released on pre-charge bail there can be multiple offences related to their pre-charge bail record which can each have a different outcome assigned to it. For example, if an individual is released on pre-charge bail for possession of weapons and drug offences they may be charged for the possession of weapons offence and receive no further action for the drug offence. Although it is possible for each offence linked to an individual to have a different outcome, the following analysis is based on the principal outcome assigned to an individual.

Some forces have expressed difficulty in providing outcomes data and there are likely inconsistencies in recording between forces. For example, many forces expressed difficulty with identifying when an instance of pre-charge bail is transferred to RUI and vice versa. Further information about these difficulties can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

The following analysis is based on 40 forces^{[footnote 29]}, and does not include 5,076 records (or 3% of pre-charge bails) where an outcome was not recorded.

The most common principal outcome for an individual whose pre-charge bail concluded in the year ending March 2023, was no further action (63% or 104,671 individuals who received this outcome), followed by a charge (15% or 24,725 individuals) and transferred to released under investigation (14% or 24,063 individuals). Compared with the year ending 31 March 2022, the proportion of individuals released on pre-charge bail with an outcome of no further action has increased slightly (from 60% to 63%) whilst the proportion transferred to released under investigation (RUI) has fallen (from 19% to 14%). This may be in part due to legislative changes under the Policing, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Act 2022 which set out to rebalance the use of pre-charge bail and RUI, in favour of pre-charge bail. Figure 5.2 shows the proportion of pre-charge bails by outcome.

Figure 5.2: Proportion of pre-charge bails concluded, by principal outcome, year ending March 2023

Source: Pre-charge bail statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2023; table PCB_06, Home Office

Notes:

Due to rounding percentages may not total 100%.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in Development.
Based on data from 40 police forces.
Does not include 5,076 unknown outcomes. South Yorkshire Police were not able to provide details on the outcome of their pre-charge bail records due to issues with their data recording system. Devon and Cornwall and Humberside police forces were not able to provide any pre-charge bail data for the year ending 31 March 2023.
‘Other’ includes transfer to pre-charge bail (3,206), transfer to other law enforcement agency (178), and transfer to other police force (558).

5.3.8 Breaches of pre-charge bail conditions

Data on breaches of pre-charge bail conditions is based on a subset of 21 police forces who were able to provide data.

Breach of pre-charge bail conditions is not a notifiable offence^{[footnote 30]}. As such, several forces expressed concerns with the data quality, reporting that they do not formally record breaches in a retrievable format, or that it is held on a separate system. This means data on breaches of pre-charge bail conditions is likely to be an undercount and for several forces the data only reflects instances where an individual is arrested for breach of pre-charge bail conditions. Consequently, the data is largely incomplete, so should be treated with caution.

Based on the limited data available, in the year ending March 2023, 2,767 individuals breached their pre-charge bail conditions, 3% of individuals released on pre-charge bail.

5.4 Released under investigation

5.4.1 Number of individuals released under investigation

The Home Office has collected data from police forces on a voluntary basis on individuals released under investigation since the year ending March 2021. Data in this section is based on a subset of police forces in England and Wales and should therefore be treated with caution. The following analysis is based on individuals who had been released under investigation but it came to a conclusion in the year ending March 2023.

Based on 30 forces who provided information, in the year ending March 2023, 140,997 individuals were released under investigation (RUI). This equated to 27% of the 524,463 arrests made during the same period by the same 30 forces.

Comparing the 23 forces who were able to provide data for both the year ending 31 March 2023 and the year ending 31 March 2022, there has been a 9% decrease in individuals released under investigation (from 131,410 to 119,323). This decrease is despite a 5% increase in arrests made by these 23 forces over this same period (from 424,163 to 447,442).

This decrease coincides with legislative changes to the pre-charge bail process, introduced from 28 October 2022 to encourage greater use of pre-charge bail over releasing individuals under investigation (see section 5.1). During this same period use of pre-charge bail by the same 23 forces increased by 7% (from 110,698 to 118,582). Due to the incomplete nature of this data set these trends should not be used to draw conclusions about national year-on-year trends (for example, the remaining 20 forces who were unable to submit data made up 34% of arrests in the year ending 31 March 2023).

When looking at each individual Police Force Area, the year-on-year trend is mixed, with 10 forces (including the Metropolitan Police Service) seeing a decrease in individuals released under investigation and 13 forces seeing an increase compared with the year ending March 2022.

5.4.2 Released under investigation by duration

An individual can be RUI for multiple offences at one time, and each offence can have a different duration of release before an outcome is assigned. For example, if an individual was RUI for shoplifting and a drug offence, in this data collection this would be recorded as 1 individual RUI with 2 linked offences (2 rows of data with the same custody reference number). Although it is possible for each offence to have a different length of time, most forces have recorded the same amount of time for all linked offences (likely based on the most serious offence). These have therefore been treated as the same instance of bail and in the few instances where different bail lengths were recorded for the same individual, the longest amount of time has been used for the following analysis. There may be inconsistencies between how forces record duration, particularly where individuals move between pre-charge bail and released under investigation. Further information about the quality of this data can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

Not including the 8,782 ^{[footnote 31]} individuals where RUI length was not known and based on a subset of 28 police forces in England and Wales in the year ending March 2023:

11% were released under investigation for 28 days or less
29% were released under investigation for less than 3 months
71% were released under investigation for 3 months or more

Table 5.5: Concluded released under investigation durations, selected police forces, year ending March 2023

RUI duration	Number of individuals released under investigation	Proportion (%)
0 to 7 days	5,477	4%
8 to 14 days	2,978	2%
15 to 21 days	2,971	2%
22 to 28 days	2,939	2%
29 days to 3 months	23,783	18%
3 to 6 months	31,115	24%
6 to 12 months	32,147	24%
More than 12 months	30,805	23%
Unknown	8,782
Total	140,997

Source: Pre-charge bail statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2023; table RUI_01, Home Office

Notes:

Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in Development
Includes data from a subset of 28 police forces. Durham and Leicestershire were unable to provide data on the duration of RUI.

5.4.3 Released under investigation by offence type

Analysis in this section is based on all offences linked to an individual’s record for release under investigation.

Of the 30 forces who provided RUI data, 8 forces were only able to provide offence type of the principal offence linked to the bail record. Therefore figures presented in this section are an undercount of the true number of offences relating to RUI. Further information can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

Additionally, Dyfed Powys were unable to provide the offence type for any of the offences linked to instances of pre-charge bail.

In the year ending March 2023 there were 233,685 offences linked to individuals RUI; almost a third (30%) of these were related to violence against the person, 17% for drug offences, and 14% for theft offences, excluding unknown offences (1% of all offences related to RUI). Figure 5.3 shows the proportion of individuals released under investigation by offence type.

Figure 5.3: Proportion of concluded released under investigation by offence type, year ending March 2023

Source: Pre-charge bail statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2023; table RUI_01, Home Office

Notes:

Due to rounding percentages may not total 100%.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as experimental statistics.
Based on data from 29 police forces, 13 forces were not able to provide data on individuals released under investigation, whilst Dyfed-Powys police were not able to provide data on type of offence.
Does not include 2,030 records with an unknown offence type.
An individual can be released under investigation for multiple offences under one instance of pre-charge bail. These are counted separately in this section.

The proportions across offence groups were similar to the year ending March 2023 arrests data with the exception of violence against the person and drug offences when comparing the 29 police forces^{[footnote 32]} that provided data on offence type. Whilst 45% of arrests were related to violence against the person, three-tenths (30%) of individuals RUI were for violence against the person offences. This may reflect the fact that RUI does not have any conditions attached to an individual’s release, and police forces may find it more appropriate to use pre-charge bail.

Direct comparisons between the 2 series should be made with caution since RUI can relate to multiple offences, whilst arrests data submitted to the Home Office relates to the principal offence. For example, an offender may be arrested for committing 2 or more crimes (such as shoplifting and possession of drugs) but only one arrest and offence will be recorded in the data collection. Conversely, one RUI will be recorded but there can still be 2 offences associated with the RUI record. Furthermore, if someone was arrested for example in the year ending March 2022 and was released under investigation which came to an end in the following financial year, the individual would be recorded in a different financial year within the RUI dataset.

The proportion of RUI and pre-charge bails differ across several offence groups when comparing the same 29 police forces. Violence against the person accounts for a lower proportion of RUI (30%) in comparison to pre-charge bail (50%), more consistent with the arrests collection (45%). However, theft (14%) and drug offences (17%), and miscellaneous crimes against society (8%) related to a higher proportion of RUI than pre-charge bail (9%, 5%, and 5% respectively).

5.4.4 Released under investigation by sex

Not including records where an individual’s sex was unknown (0.2% of RUI), 86% of individuals on RUI were male, similar to both the arrests and pre-charge bail data (85% and 87% of males respectively). The most common offence related to RUI for both males (28% or 56,829 offences) and females (42% or 13,120 offences) was violence against the person. Males consistently accounted for the majority of RUI across all offence types.

However, despite accounting for 14% of all RUI offences, females accounted for under a quarter (23%) of fraud offences and 19% of violence against the person offences. However, they only accounted for 2% of RUI for sexual offences, consistent with the pre-charge bail collection.

5.4.5 Released under investigation by age

The Home Office asks forces to provide the age of an individual at the time of arrest, however inconsistences in how forces calculate the age of individuals released under investigation may still exist where some forces are only able to calculate based on other points in time. Further information can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

Not including the 41 records where the age was unknown (or missing), almost a quarter (23%) of individuals RUI were aged 20 and under, and a further 29% were aged between 21 and 30. Those aged 51 and above made up the smallest proportion (9%). Despite accounting for 13% of all RUI offences, individuals aged 17 and under accounted for 45% of robbery, 22% of possession of weapons offences, and 20% of criminal damage and arson offences.

5.4.6 Released under investigation by ethnicity

Not including records where the ethnicity was not stated (13%), the majority of individuals RUI defined their ethnicity as white (73%, including white minorities), 11% as black (or black British), and 9% as Asian (or Asian British). The remaining 7% defined their ethnicity as mixed (5%) or as any other ethnicity (2%). The proportions of individuals released under investigation, released on pre-charge bail and arrested by ethnicity differed slightly when comparing the same subset of 30 police forces. For example, the white group made up a smaller proportion of RUI (73%) compared with pre-charge bail (76%) and arrests (77%). Conversely, black individuals made up a greater proportion of RUI (11%) compared with pre-charge bails and arrests (both 9%). Proportions among Asian, other and mixed groups were broadly similar between RUI, pre-charge bail and arrests.

White individuals (including white minorities) accounted for the majority of all individuals across all offence groups. For example, they accounted for 80% of all individuals RUI (where ethnicity is known) for both criminal damage and arson and theft offences.

Despite representing 11% of all RUI offences, black (or black British) individuals accounted for 23% of RUI related to robbery, 18% of RUI related to possession of weapons offences and 15% of RUI related to drug offences. These proportions are similar to the arrests collection (24%, 15%, and 16% of arrests respectively).

Moreover, Asian (or Asian British) individuals make up 15% of fraud RUI offences, and 12% of sexual offences, slightly higher than the proportion of all Asian (or Asian British) individuals RUI (9%). This is similar to the proportion of Asian (or Asian British) individuals arrested for fraud offences (14%) and sexual offences (9%).

5.4.7 Released under investigation by outcome

When an individual is RUI there can be multiple offences related to their RUI record which can each have a different assigned outcome. For example, if an individual is released on RUI for robbery and drug offences, they may be charged for the drug offence and receive no further action for the drug offence. Although it is possible for each offence linked to an individual to have a different outcome, the following analysis is based on the principal outcome assigned to an individual.

Some forces have expressed difficulty in providing outcomes data and there are likely inconsistencies in recording between forces. For example, many forces expressed difficulty with identifying when an instance of pre-charge bail is transferred to RUI and vice versa. Further information about these difficulties can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

Not including records where the individual’s outcome for RUI was not known (2,535 or 2%) and based on a subset of 30 forces^{[footnote 33]}, the majority (67%) of individuals on RUI were assigned a principal outcome of no further action, followed by charged (20%). A small proportion of individuals received an out-of-court disposal (5%). The remaining 7% resulted in other outcomes including transfer to pre-charge bail (0.8%) or another police force (2%). Figure 5.4 shows the proportions of RUI by outcome.

Figure 5.4: Proportion of concluded released under investigation by outcome, selected police forces, year ending March 2023

Source: Released under investigation data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2023; table RUI_06, Home Office

Notes:

Due to rounding percentages may not total 100%.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in Development.
Based on data from 30 police forces.
Does not include 2,535 records with an unknown outcome.
‘Other’ includes transfer to other law enforcement agency (253), and transfer to other police force (2,095), and released under investigation (2,821).

5.5 Voluntary attendance

5.5.1 Number of voluntary attendance interviews

In the year ending March 2023, based on data from a subset of 24 police forces^{[footnote 34]} in England and Wales, 80,961 interviews were conducted following voluntary attendance. Not including records where the interview location was not known (58%), the majority (88%) of these interviews occurred at a police station. The remaining 12% occurred at another location such as a prison or home.

It should be noted that many forces stated that there is no system in place to record voluntary interviews that do not occur within a police station (such as a home). As such, the total number of voluntary interviews are likely to be inaccurate and the breakdown of location of voluntary interviews should be treated with caution as it may not reflect the locations of all interviews that occur.

Additionally, some forces expressed difficulty in identifying whether there are duplicates in their data as they did not have enough detail on records to determine if an individual was interviewed again or whether the record is duplicated in their system. Furthermore, several forces reported that they may interview multiple separate individuals several times in connection with a single offence under one custody record.

5.5.2. Voluntary attendance by offence type

In the year ending March 2023, based on the 20 force^{[footnote 35]} that provided data on offence type, two-fifths (42%) of voluntary interviews were related to violence against the person. The second most common offence group was sexual offences (12%), followed by theft (11%) and drug offences (8%). Figure 5.5 shows the proportion of voluntary attendance of interview by offence type.

Figure 5.5: Proportion of voluntary attendance of interview by offence type, year ending March 2023

Source: Voluntary attendance to interview data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2023; table VA_05, Home Office

Notes:

Due to rounding percentages may not total 100%.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in development.
Based on data from 20 police forces.
Does not include 17,284 records where the offence type was unknown.
An individual can voluntarily attend interview for multiple offences under one record of voluntary interview, therefore, in this example each offence would be counted as a separate occurrence in the data.

5.5.3 Voluntary attendance by sex

Not including records where the sex was unknown (10% of interviews), the majority (74%) of individuals who voluntarily attended interview were male and this pattern was seen across all offence types.

Although females accounted for 25% of all voluntary interviews, around a third (34%) of persons attending interview for violence against the person were female, and they also accounted for 38% of voluntary interviews for fraud offences. In contrast, only 5% of individuals who attended voluntary interview for sexual offences were female, and 13% for possession of weapons offences.

5.5.4 Voluntary attendance by age

The Home Office asks forces to provide the age of an individual at the time of arrest, however inconsistences in how forces calculate the age of individuals who voluntarily attended interview may still exist where some forces are only able to calculate based on other points in time. Further information can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

A quarter (26%) of individuals who voluntarily attended interview were aged 20 and under, and a further 21% were aged 21 to 30 years old, (not including records with an unknown age, 10% of interviews). However, these proportions differed across each offence type. For example, although those aged 17 and under accounted for 19% of all offences linked to voluntary interviews, they accounted for 66% of interviews for robbery, and 46% of interviews for possession of weapons offences. Moreover, those aged 18 to 20 years old accounted for just 7% of all offences linked to voluntary interviews but made up 15% of interviews for drug offences.

The ethnic breakdown of the general population varies between adults and children. Younger age groups within the general population are more ethnically diverse. The ethnic breakdown for people aged 18 and over in England and Wales is as follows: Asian 9%, black 4%, mixed 2%, white 84%, other 2%. The breakdown for children aged 10 to 17 is: Asian 12%, black 6%, mixed 6%, white 74%, other 3%. These breakdowns are for the whole of England and Wales and do not exclude Police Force Areas who were unable to provide custody data, therefore caution should be taken when comparing to table 1.2. ↩
Based on 29 forces. 7 forces were unable to provide data on vulnerability. A further 7 forces could only provide “Vulnerable” or “Unknown”, therefore have also been excluded from the analysis. ↩
Based on data from 31 forces. 10 forces were unable to provide data on whether an AA was called for a vulnerable adult. A further 2 forces could only provide “AA called” or “Unknown”, therefore have also been excluded from the analysis. ↩
Based on 28 forces. 9 forces were unable to provide data on whether an AA was called for a child. A further 6 forces could only provide “AA called” or “Unknown”, therefore have also been excluded from the analysis. ↩
A custody record must be opened for all detainees who arrive at the police station. If the custody officer believes that there are insufficient grounds for detention, they must record the reasons and release the detainee. Further information can be found on the College of Policing website. ↩
Based on 29 forces. 7 forces were unable to provide data on vulnerability. A further 7 forces could only provide “Vulnerable” or “Unknown”, therefore have also been excluded from the analysis. ↩
Based on subsets of 17 forces for children and 16 forces for vulnerable adults. ↩
7 forces were unable to provide data on overnight detentions. A further 4 forces were only able to provide data “detained overnight” or “unknown”, therefore have also been excluded from analysis. ↩
A medically qualified doctor who has been recognised under section 12(2) of the MHA as having specific expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorder. ↩
Source: Detentions under the Mental Health Act (1983) data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023; table MHA_06. In some years complete data was not received by all forces. Additionally, 9 forces have reported improvements to their data reporting processes over time. Therefore, although there is a general upward trend, the data is not directly comparable across years. ↩
‘Other’ method of transport includes people who walked or were transported in a private vehicle. ↩
Comparisons have not been made with previous years due to small numbers. ↩
The conditions in the regulations that need to be met for police custody to be used as a place of safety are: 1. The person is aged 18 and above. 2. The behaviour of the adult poses an imminent risk of serious injury or death to that person or others. 3. Because of the risk posed, no place of safety other than a police station can reasonably be expected to detain the adult. 4. So far as is reasonably practicable, a healthcare professional is present and available to the detainee throughout the period in which they are detained at the police station. The Department of Health and Social Care and Home Office publish joint guidance for police forces. ↩
Data was not provided by Cheshire, Cleveland, Derbyshire, Devon and Cornwall, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Nottinghamshire, Merseyside, North Yorkshire, or Sussex. ↩
Excludes Cheshire, Cleveland, Derbyshire, Devon and Cornwall, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Nottinghamshire, Merseyside, North Yorkshire, and Sussex, who did not provide data in the year ending March 2023, plus Dyfed Powys, who did not provide complete data in the year ending March 2022. ↩
Regional ethnic diversity statistics are available on GOV.UK. ↩
Calculated using ONS 2022 mid year population estimates for England and Wales. ↩
Ministry of Justice publishes data in its Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly publication on prosecutions and convictions for motoring offences. ↩
Examples of cancelled FPNs include cases where the police were unable to identify the driver of the vehicle, or when the vehicle belonged to the emergency services. ↩
NDORS (National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme) is a scheme run in England and Wales that has been in place since 2010 whereby drivers who have committed a road traffic offence can be offered a driver retraining course as an alternative to prosecution. ↩
The single-online home is a digital contact platform that allows the public to report crimes online any time of day.. ↩
Post-charge or court bail is given when an individual is released from custody awaiting a court hearing or trial. ↩
Information on the number of arrests by Police Force Area for the year ending March 2023 is published in Police Powers and Procedures Statistics: Stop and search and arrests, year ending March 2023. ↩
Excludes Devon and Cornwall and Humberside, who did not provide data in the year ending March 2023 and City of London, Lancashire, Wiltshire, who could not provide data in the year ending March 2022. ↩
Does not include Devon and Cornwall and Humberside police, who did not provide data for the year ending March 2023. Durham were not able to provide data on duration. ↩
The applicable bail period is the period of time for which a suspect can be subject to pre-charge bail. ↩
Information on the number of arrests by sex, age, ethnicity, principle offence (reason for arrest) and Police Force Area for the year ending March 2023 is published in the Arrests open data tables accompanying Police Powers and Procedures Statistics: Stop and search and arrests, year ending March 2023. ↩
Information on the number of arrests by sex, age, ethnicity, principle offence (reason for arrest) and Police Force Area for the year ending March 2023 is published in the Arrests open data tables accompanying Police Powers and Procedures Statistics: Stop and search and arrests, year ending March 2023. ↩
Devon and Cornwall and Humberside Police were not able to provide any pre-charge bail data for the latest year, while South Yorkshire were not able to provide outcomes data. ↩
A notifiable offence is a crime which is recorded by the police that they are required to report to the Home Office. Also known as recorded crime. ↩
Does not include 13 police forces that could not provide data on released under investigation, and Durham and Leicestershire Police, who could not provide duration data. ↩
Does not include 13 forces that did not provide data on released under investigation and excludes Dyfed-Powys, who could not provide data on offence type of RUI records. ↩
Does not include 13 forces that did not provide data on released under investigation. ↩
19 police forces could not provide data on voluntary attendance to interview ↩
19 forces could not provide data on voluntary attendance to interview, and Dyfed-Powys, Essex, Warwickshire, West Yorkshire were not able to provide data on offence type. ↩

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Applies to England and Wales

Section 1: Detentions in police custody

Section 2: Detentions under the Mental Health Act 1983

Section 3: Data on breath tests

Section 4: Fixed penalty notices and other outcomes for motoring offences

Section 5: Pre-charge bail and released under investigation

1. Police Custody

1.1 Data collection and scope

Changes to this publication in the year ending March 2023

1.2 Data quality – detentions and strip searches in custody

1.3 Analysis of detentions in police custody

1.4 Reason for being in custody

1.5 Appropriate adults

1.6 Children detained overnight

1.7 Detentions analysis by person ID

1.8 Strip searches in custody

1.9 Analysis of strip searches by person ID

1.10 Intimate searches

1.11 Detentions in custody over 24 hours

1.12 Data quality – detentions over 24 hours

2. Detentions under the Mental Health Act 1983

2.1 Detentions under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983

2.1.1 Data Collected

2.1.2 Detentions under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983

2.1.3 Method of transport to a place of safety

2.1.4 Place of safety

2.1.5 Other data sources

2.2 Detentions under section 135 of the Mental Health Act 1983

2.2.1 Main findings

3. Breath tests

3.1 Data collection and scope

3.2 Trends in breath tests

3.3 Seasonal variation

3.4 Geographical patterns

3.5 Data quality and interpreting the figures

3.6 Other data sources

4. Fixed penalty notices and other outcomes for motoring offences

4.1 Data Collection and scope

4.2 Trends in FPNs and other outcomes of motoring offences

4.3 FPNs and other outcomes by offence type

4.4 Camera-detected offences

4.5 Outcomes following motoring offences

4.6 Metropolitan Police Service

4.7 Other data sources

5. Pre-charge bail and released under investigation

Pre-charge bail

Released under investigation

5.1 About pre-charge bail

Recent changes to the pre-charge bail system

5.2 Data collected and scope

5.2.1 Data quality and interpreting figures

5.3 Analysis of pre-charge bail statistics

5.3.1 Number of individuals whose pre-charge bail concluded

5.3.2 Pre-charge bail by duration

5.3.3 Pre-charge bail by offence type

5.3.4 Pre-charge bail by sex

5.3.5 Pre-charge bail by age

5.3.6 Pre-charge bail by ethnicity

5.3.7 Pre-charge bail by outcome

5.3.8 Breaches of pre-charge bail conditions

5.4 Released under investigation

5.4.1 Number of individuals released under investigation

5.4.2 Released under investigation by duration

5.4.3 Released under investigation by offence type

5.4.4 Released under investigation by sex

5.4.5 Released under investigation by age

5.4.6 Released under investigation by ethnicity

5.4.7 Released under investigation by outcome

5.5 Voluntary attendance

5.5.1 Number of voluntary attendance interviews

5.5.2. Voluntary attendance by offence type

5.5.3 Voluntary attendance by sex

5.5.4 Voluntary attendance by age

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