Thousands of offenders not wearing electronic tags, report says
A National Audit Office report reveals that thousands of offenders in England and Wales are missing required electronic monitoring tags. The Ministry of Justice disputes the scale of the issue, citing ongoing system reviews and investments in technology.
Why it matters
The failure to monitor offenders raises significant public safety concerns and questions the efficiency of the criminal justice system.
By Sima Kotecha Senior UK correspondent Published 16 minutes ago Almost 9,000 people in England and Wales required to have an electronic monitoring tag do not have one, a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) has found.
They are likely to include violent offenders and prisoners released from jail who need to be checked on.
The NAO said, as of March 2026, prison authorities were reviewing around 8,900 cases of individuals recorded as having an active monitoring order but no tag.
However, the Ministry of Justice has disputed the figure, saying its own review puts the number of unmonitored individuals at 5,450.
It said the NAO figure referred to the total number of cases they are checking to see if they need monitoring.
The NAO called the current system "inefficient".
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