Thousands of offenders are not wearing tags, report warns

Thousands of criminals required to wear electronic tags in England and Wales are not being monitored, an audit has warned.

A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) warned that as of March this year, prison authorities were examining 8,900 cases of people recorded as having active monitoring orders but not tags.

The Ministry of Justice (Ministry of Justice) disputed this figure, reporting a total number of unmonitored persons of approximately 5,450 persons. It is understood that the figure suggested by the NAO refers to the number of offenders examined to check that they are not being monitored.

The NAO warned that HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) “does not have an accurate understanding of the number of people who need to be monitored and those who are not (‘unmonitored’), but that the number could be significant.”

The Ministry of Justice has been urged to fix existing problems in the system before there is a significant increase in demand from September, when the government plans to introduce its latest early release scheme to ease overcrowding. Some criminals may be released after serving 33 percent of their sentences instead of the current 40 or 50 percent; many of these will need electronic monitors.

Electronic monitoring or tagging is used in England and Wales to monitor curfews and court or prison order conditions. People deemed at risk, including rapists and murderers, are fitted with ankle tags so their movements can be tracked.

Since January 2021, HMPPS has rapidly expanded electronic monitoring. In March this year, the number increased from 13,400 to 28,700.

The NAO reported that between August 2024 and July 2025, thousands of people were not properly labeled due to early supplier performance issues, meaning authorities were not notified of potential violations in a timely manner. Although performance has improved since then, the NAO warned that improvements alone were not enough to ensure the wider system worked as intended.

Experts warned that the NAO’s report raises questions about whether the rapid expansion of electronic monitoring is being appropriately resourced, particularly as probation services are understaffed.

Pia Sinha, chief executive of the Prison Reform Foundation, said: “Electronic monitoring can play an important role in supporting people in the community safely, but only if it is appropriately resourced and also focuses on rehabilitation as well as compliance. “The findings that thousands of people are not being actively monitored, that breaches are not always responding effectively and that probation services are significantly understaffed should be cause for concern.

“As ministers look for ways to manage overcrowding in prisons, there is a risk of viewing electronic monitoring as a panacea. Technology can support better outcomes, but it cannot replace skilled probation staff, effective community services and specialized support that help people move away from crime. Expanding the use of tagging without addressing wider pressures risks undermining both public trust and public safety.”

“The government must take the NAO’s findings seriously and ensure that further expansion is accompanied by investment in probation, robust safeguards and a clear understanding of what success looks like. Electronic monitoring can be an effective tool, but only when they are part of a well-functioning system that allows people to rebuild their lives and reduce reoffending.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “This government inherited a failed labeling system with record backlogs. “As this report shows, we have worked hard to fix this and upload rates have increased by almost 50 per cent since 2024.

“Protecting the public is our priority, which is why we are investing £100 million in electronic monitoring, tagging offenders before they are released for the first time and strengthening victim protection through new warning systems – all of which will help reduce the number of offenders going untraceable.

“This is in addition to our record £700 million investment in probation, including the recruitment of 2,300 trainee probation officers in the last two years and a further 1,300 this year – ensuring the probation service has the resources it needs to keep dangerous offenders under closer supervision than ever before.”