Immigration/asylum status, nationality, country of birth and criminal justice outcomes: 1 January 2020 to October 2026

Dyddiad y datganiad:
21 October 2026

FOI reference: FOI-2026-3772

You asked

I am making a Freedom of Information request concerning the availability, collection, linkage and publication of national statistics relating to immigration/asylum status, nationality, country of birth and criminal-justice outcomes. 

Please provide the following recorded information for the period 1 January 2020 to the latest date for which information is available. 

1. Information held by ONS 

Please state which of the following variables the ONS currently holds in relation to individuals and/or criminal-justice data: 

  • nationality; 

  • country of birth; 

  • ethnicity; 

  • immigration status; 

  • asylum-seeker status; 

  • refugee status; 

  • humanitarian protection status; 

  • other protection status; 

  • Foreign National Offender status; 

  • age; 

  • sex; 

  • offence; 

  • arrest; 

  • charge; 

  • prosecution; 

  • conviction; 

  • sentence. 

Where a variable is not held, please state explicitly that it is not held. 

2. Published national statistics 

Please state whether ONS currently publishes, or is able to produce, national statistics linking criminal-justice outcomes with: 

  • nationality; 

  • country of birth; 

  • immigration status; 

  • asylum-seeker status; 

  • refugee/protection status; 

  • Foreign National Offender status. 

If such statistics can be produced, please provide the available statistics for 2020 onwards. 

Please specifically state whether equivalent statistics are available for rape and other sexual offences, as well as other offence categories. 

3. Data linkage 

  • Please state whether ONS has ever linked, or attempted to link, criminal-justice data with Home Office immigration/asylum data. 

If so, please provide: 

  • the datasets involved; 

  • the purpose of the linkage; 

  • the date or period during which it took place; 

  • the outcome; 

  • any assessment of the accuracy or completeness of the linkage; 

  • any reports, reviews or documentation relating to it. 

Please also state whether ONS currently has the technical capability to undertake such linkage. 

4. If the information is not available 

Where ONS cannot produce statistics linking criminal-justice outcomes with immigration/asylum status, please state precisely why. 

Please distinguish between information that: 

  • is not collected; 

  • is collected but held by another organisation; 

  • is collected but held in a separate database; 

  • is technically capable of being linked but has not been linked; 

  • cannot reliably be linked; 

  • could be linked but is not routinely analysed; 

  • is analysed internally but not published; or 

  • has never been collected. 

5. Why has this data not been developed? 

Please state whether the absence of comprehensive national statistics linking immigration/asylum status with criminal-justice outcomes is attributable to: 

  • technical limitations; 

  • incompatible or separate IT/database systems; 

  • limitations in data matching; 

  • legislation; 

  • data-protection requirements; 

  • information-governance requirements; 

  • a policy decision; 

  • concerns about discrimination, racism or equality implications; 

  • concerns that publication could be politically sensitive or inappropriate; 

  • historical decisions not to prioritise collection or integration of these data; or 

  • another reason. 

For each applicable reason, please provide the relevant recorded information, including policies, guidance, assessments, reviews, meeting minutes, correspondence, decision records or other documents. 

6. Previous FOI responses and data availability 

Please identify any ONS reviews, correspondence, internal guidance, reports or previous assessments concerning requests for statistics linking immigration/migration status with crime, offending, prosecutions or convictions. 

Please provide copies of any such recorded information that falls within the scope of this request. 

7. Equality and demographic data 

The UK Government routinely collects and publishes information concerning ethnicity and other demographic characteristics in a range of official statistics. 

Please state whether ONS has considered whether comparable national statistics should be developed for nationality, country of birth, immigration status or asylum/protection status in relation to criminal-justice outcomes. 

If this has been considered, please provide the relevant recorded information and the reasons for any decision reached. 

If it has never been considered, please confirm this explicitly. 

8. Government departments responsible for the missing information 

If ONS does not hold the relevant information, please identify, to the best of your knowledge, which government department or public authority holds each component of the information required to produce such statistics. 

In particular, please identify which organisation holds: 

  • immigration/asylum status; 

  • nationality; 

  • country of birth; 

  • arrests; 

  • prosecutions; 

  • convictions; 

  • sentences; 

  • Foreign National Offender status. 

9. Future plans 

Please state whether ONS currently has any project, programme, review or proposal to develop national statistics linking immigration/asylum status with criminal-justice outcomes. 

If so, please provide the relevant recorded information, including the proposed scope, timetable and responsible organisation. 

If no such work is planned, please confirm this.

We said

Thank you for your request.

1. The ONS are responsible for the collection and publication of data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), alongside information from the Home Office on the number of crimes reported and recorded by the police. 

The CSEW is a household victimisation survey that asks respondents about their experiences of crime, regardless of whether the incident was reported to the police. It collects some information from the respondent and/or victim on their country of birth, ethnicity, age and sex. 

We hold the following information in relation to individuals from 2021 Census records: 

  • nationality 

  • immigration status (some indicators to determine whether someone is in the country or not, visa types) 

  • asylum-seeker status, but only that they are an asylum seeker 

  • age 

  • sex

2. With regards to data the ONS publishes on breakdowns of criminal justice data, Table A1 of our Annual supplementary tables provides a breakdown of the proportion of people who were victims of CSEW headline crime by personal characteristics, including ethnicity and country of birth (split by born in the UK and not born in the UK).   

The ONS does not hold criminal justice outcome data, so this analysis is currently not possible.  

3. With regards to whether the ONS has ever linked, or attempted to link, criminal justice data with Home Office immigration and asylum data. We have not undertaken linkage of Home Office immigration and asylum data with criminal justice data. 

4. We have not attempted to undertake this work, so this question is not applicable. 

5. The ONS does not generally hold data or publish statistics on criminal justice outcomes, and consideration of developing such statistics would not normally fall within our remit. The Home Office and Ministry of Justice may be better placed to advise whether comparable statistics have been considered or developed. 

6. Previous FOI requests submitted regarding statistics linking immigration or migration status with crime, offending, prosecutions or convictions: 

The ONS has not produced any reviews, internal guidance, reports or previous assessments concerning requests for statistics linking immigration or migration status with crime, offending, prosecutions or convictions. 

7. The ONS does not generally hold data or publish statistics on criminal justice outcomes, and consideration of developing such statistics would not normally fall within our remit. The Home Office and Ministry of Justice may be better placed to advise whether comparable statistics have been considered or developed. 

8. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) are primarily responsible for data on offenders, prosecutions, convictions and sentences. They may be able to help you further with your enquiry and can be contacted at data.access@Justice.gov.uk. The MoJ publish statistics on the operation of the criminal and civil justice systems every quarter, which you may find useful.   

The Home Office publish statistics relating to illegal migration and quarterly immigration statistics. They also publish statistics relating to arrests which may be helpful to you. For further information they can be contacted at CrimeandPolicestats@homeoffice.gov.uk.  

9. The ONS does not currently have any project, programme, review or proposal to develop national statistics linking immigration or asylum status with criminal justice outcomes. The ONS does not generally hold data or publish statistics on criminal justice outcomes, and such work would not normally fall within our remit. The Home Office and Ministry of Justice may be better placed to advise on any related current or planned work.

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