You asked
Please could I get a breakdown of the number of suicides since January to the present (or to as recently as possible) vs the same period last year?
We said
Thank you for your enquiry
We will be unable to begin reporting on suicide deaths that occurred during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic until late 2020 or early 2021.
Most of these deaths are subjected to an inquest, where a coroner must investigate the death. The amount of time it takes to hold an inquest causes a lag between the date of death and the date of death registration, referred to as a registration delay. Registration delays for deaths caused by suicide tend to be five to six months on average.
We produce provisional suicide data for England on a quarterly basis, with the latest update including deaths from January to June 2020. This is for deaths registered in 2020, and because of the registration delay described above, most of these deaths would have occurred in 2019.
Our statistics are based on the date of registration. You can also find data for deaths registered in 2019 as part of our annual Suicides in the UK release.