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Produced by the Sentencing Academy

Pre-Sentence Reports

Key Facts and Statistics

by Annalena Wolcke & Raphael Freund

Last updated: Jul 2026

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Fact 1

Pre-Sentence Reports (PSRs) are prepared by the Probation Service and contain information about a defendant to assist the court at sentencing.

104,264

PRE-SENTENCE REPORTS WERE ISSUED IN 20251

Fact 2

The Sentencing Council States:

“When considering a community or custodial sentence,
the court must request and consider a pre-sentence
report (PSR) before forming an opinion of the
sentence, unless it considers that it is unnecessary to
obtain a pre-sentence report.”

49%

A pre-sentence report was prepared in

49% of cases where the court imposed a custodial sentence or community order in 2025.2

Fact 3

The proportion of relevant cases where a PSR was issued fell between 2015 and 2020, but has since increased again.3

Note: The steep drop in 2020 is likely attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fact 4

PSRs are slightly more common for men than women.4

In 2025, men accounted for 80% of all sentences
and 86% of pre-sentence reports.


By contrast, women accounted for 20% of all sentences,
but only 14% of pre-sentence reports.

Note: This comparison does not account for gender differences in offending, which may affect the use of a PSR.

Fact 5

In recent years, there has been a significant shift away from the longer, standard written reports (Standard PSRs) towards shorter PSRs (Fast Delivery and oral reports). While standard PSRs can take up to three weeks to be completed, Fast Delivery reports can be completed within five days, and oral PSRs can potentially be delivered on the day of request.

Between 2015 and 2025, the use of written Fast Delivery PSRs increased by 50%.5

Fact 6

Relationship between Sentence Proposed in a PSR and Sentence Imposed by the Court6



Sentences Imposed		Sentence Proposed by PSR (2025)
Immediate custodyCommunity OrderFineDischarge
Immediate Custody87%16%2%1%
Suspended Sentence Order9%35%18%12%
Community Order3%47%15%18%
Fine0%2%57%24%
Discharge0%1%5%42%

Note: Sentence concordance refers to the frequency with which sentence
outcomes (rows in the above table) match the PSR’s proposed sentence (columns). For instance, in 87% of cases where a PSR recommended immediate custody, the court ended up sentencing the offender to immediate custody. In 9% of cases where immediate custody was recommended, the court settled on a suspended sentence order. As can be seen, the concordance is greatest when the PSR recommends immediate custody, lowest when the PSR recommends a discharge.

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This infographic is one of a series on sentencing trends in England & Wales. Others can be found here. For further information, contact Annalena Wolcke at [email protected]

  1. Robinson, G. & Wolcke, A. (2025). Pre-Sentence Reports. Sentencing Academy. https://www.sentencingacademy.org.uk/sentencinghub/research-policy/pre-sentence-reports/;

    Data calculated from Ministry of Justice (2026). Offender Management Statistics Quarterly: October to December 2025. Probation: 2025. Table 6.25. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2025. ↩︎
  2. Sentencing Council (2025). Imposition of community and custodial sentences, published September. https://sentencingcouncil.org.uk/guidelines/imposition-of-community-and-custodial-sentences/#header_4;

    Data calculated from Ministry of Justice (2026). Offender Management Statistics Quarterly: October to December 2025. Probation: 2025. Table 6.25. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2025. ↩︎
  3. Data calculated from Ministry of Justice (2026). Offender Management Statistics Quarterly: October to December 2025. Probation: 2025. Table 6.25. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2025. ↩︎
  4. Data calculated from:
    Ministry of Justice (2026). Offender Management Statistics Quarterly: October to December 2025. CSV dataset and variable guide. PSR2025. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69f21b98b0c3a4023e5d6e76/CSV.zip.

    Ministry of Justice (2026), Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly: December 2025, published 30th of April. Outcomes by offence data tool, Table 2. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly-december-2025. ↩︎
  5. Data calculated from Ministry of Justice (2026). Offender Management Statistics Quarterly: October to December 2025. Probation: 2025. Table 6.25. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2025. ↩︎
  6. Data calculated from Ministry of Justice (2026). Offender Management Statistics Quarterly: October to December 2025. Probation: 2025. Table 6.26. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2025. ↩︎