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Produced by the Sentencing Academy

Snapshot 9

Failure to Surrender to Bail

Bringing together relevant statistics and trends relating to sentencing

by Annalena Wolcke

Last updated: Aug 2026

Overview

  • Sentencing Council guideline range: discharge to a 26-weeks prison sentence
  • Maximum sentence in Magistrates’ Court: 3-months’ imprisonment
  • Maximum sentence in Crown Court: 12-months’ imprisonment
  • Convictions fell significantly between 2015 to 2020 (from over 7,700 to less than 2,400), but increased again slightly in recent years.
  • Convictions in 2025: 2,968
  • This snapshot summarises key trends over the past 5 years

Sentences Imposed

Figure 1: Sentences for Failure to Surrender to Bail, 2021-2025

  • 32% of convictions resulted in a fine.1
  • A further 21% resulted in a Community Order.2

Figure 2: Sentences Imposed for Failure to Surrender to Bail, 2021-2025

  • Over the last 5 years, Community Orders decreased by 27%, and fines decreased by 29%.
  • ‘Other’ sentencing outcomes – not further defined in the available data – increased by 100%.

Immediate Prison Sentence Lengths

Figure 3: Prison Sentence Lengths, Failure to Surrender to Bail, 2025

  • The most frequent sentence range is up to 1 month, accounting for 85% of all immediate custodial sentences.
  • Approximately 15% of prison sentences are over 1 month.

Sentencing Outcomes by Sex

Figure 4: Sentencing Outcomes by Sex, Failure to Surrender to Bail, 2025

  • Female (n=553); Male (n=2,341)
  • In 2025, the custody rate for failure to surrender to bail was slightly higher for men (15%) than for women (12%).

These rates do not account for various factors that influence sentencing decisions, such as the offender’s criminal history and the seriousness of the specific offence. Additional research would be needed to determine whether gender affected the sentence imposed.

This Snapshot 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. Data source for all figures: Data calculated from 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 ↩︎
  2. ‘Other sanctions’ include: absolute discharge, and the category ‘otherwise dealt with’ ↩︎