Proportion of prison leavers housed after release falls again
The proportion of prison leavers housed on the night after their release has fallen for a third consecutive year, new Ministry of Justice figures show.
Some 83.3 per cent of offenders in England and Wales were in settled or temporary accommodation on the night following release in the year to March 2026, down from 84.0 per cent the previous year.
The latest figure continues a decline in accommodation outcomes since 2021/22, according to the MoJ’s annual Offender accommodation outcomes statistics.
The figures cover prison leavers across England and Wales and do not specifically identify those released early under the Government’s emergency measures to ease pressure on the prison estate.
However, their publication comes as the Government continues to release some prisoners early amid concerns over prison capacity.
The MoJ said the number of cases in scope for the accommodation measure had increased by 29.1 per cent, from 73,975 in 2019/20 to 95,490 in 2025/26.
‘Housed’ includes settled or temporary accommodation but does not include shelters, emergency hostels, campsites, squatting or rough sleeping.
The figures show that 82.9 per cent of prison leavers in England were housed on the night after release, down from 83.5 per cent the previous year.
There were significant differences between probation regions. The East Midlands recorded the largest fall, with 80.7% of offenders housed after release, down 3.7 percentage points on the previous year. By contrast, the North West recorded the largest improvement, with 87.9% housed, up from 84.2%.
The Government has committed to halving the proportion of prison leavers under probation supervision who are released with no fixed abode on their first night by the end of the current Parliament.
The latest figures also show that 81 per cent of offenders were in settled accommodation three months after release in the year to March 2026.
This compares with 80.6 per cent in the previous reporting period, although the MoJ cautioned that the earlier figure covered only 11 months of data and should not be directly compared with the latest full-year figure.
The figures are published as police and other criminal justice agencies continue to deal with the consequences of the Government’s early-release programme, introduced to alleviate overcrowding in prisons.