Ministry of Justice · 9 June 201713 December 2019

Custody rate during the Conservative 2017–2019 government

Year ending March 2017Year ending March 2019 · 2 periods

6.8%0.5% percent

Custody rate fell by 6.8% over the period, from 7.3% percent (Year ending March 2017, the level when the government took office) to 6.8% (Year ending March 2019, the last complete period before it left office).

  1. Inherited level Year ending March 2017: 7.3%
  2. Level when it left Year ending March 2019: 6.8%
  3. method: latest complete period before start / before end

Changes during this period do not by themselves show what the government caused. Statistics reflect many influences, including earlier decisions, the economy and how the data is collected.

Custody rate: Year ending March 2016 to Year ending March 2026ConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabourLabour0%2%4%6%201620182020202220242026Year ending March 2016: 7.2% percent · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2017: 7.3% percent · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2018: 7.4% percent · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2019: 6.8% percent · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2020: 6.4% percent · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2021: 7.7% percent · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2022: 6.5% percent · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2023: 6.2% percent · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2024: 6.5% percent · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2025: 6.9% percent · published 30 July 2026Year ending March 2026: 7.5% percent · published 30 July 2026

Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

Definition and caveats

The percentage of offenders sentenced at criminal courts in England and Wales in the twelve months ending March who received an immediate custodial sentence, across all offence types.

Doesn’t measure: The custody rate for any one offence type (the all-offence rate is dominated by summary motoring offences, which rarely lead to custody), or sentence length.