Official Statistics

Asset recovery annual statistical bulletin: methodology and data quality report

Published 7 September 2023

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

This report provides statistical information on the Asset Recovery Annual Statistical Bulletin including an overview of the Bulletin’s scope, the methodology and processes that are used to produce the statistics published in the Bulletin. The report also provides users of the statistics with information on the quality of data and outputs used to produce the statistics in the Bulletin.

This report is regularly reviewed and updated annually to reflect additions, and changes to the reporting of the statistics. Background context information on the Bulletin is provided separately in the Background Information Note.

1. Coverage

1.1 Overview, time period and geographic regions

The Asset Recovery Annual Statistical Bulletin provides data on the value and volume of proceeds of crime restrained, seized, detained, obtained and recovered through Criminal Confiscations, Forfeitures and Civil Recovery. It also includes statistics on the value of compensation paid to victims, the use of funds by Law Enforcement agencies (LEAs) received through the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS) and the ARIS Allocations distributed to these agencies.

The Bulletin series provides data from financial year 2011 to 2012 to present and cover asset recovery performance in England and Wales and Northern Ireland. This release does not include data covering Scotland.

The Bulletin is published on a yearly basis, information on the Publication Calendar can be found in Section 8.

1.2 Data splits provided in the publication

The statistics provide the following breakdowns on the value and volume of proceeds of crime recovered by:

• legislative powers under Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) 2002
• location of jurisdiction
• financial year
• offence type
• agency sector

Statistics on the ARIS Allocations distributed to POCA agencies is broken down by:

• financial Year
• law enforcement agency

Experimental Statistics on International Cooperation is broken down by:

• total value and value shared and or retained by the UK government
• financial year

Further information on Experimental Statistics can be found in Section 7.

1.3 Other asset recovery statistics

Other published Asset Recovery Statistics on (a) the collection of Civil Recovery and Taxation published by HM Revenue and Customs, (b) the Annual Report and Accounts published by NCA and (c) the Annual Unexplained Wealth Order Report published by Home Office. This report is a statutory requirement under the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 to report annually on the number of UWOs obtained for an applied each year. The first report will be published September 2023.

2. Uses of the reported statistics

The statistics are used by law enforcement and prosecution agencies to inform operational decisions and the Home Office alongside other government departments to inform asset recovery policy decisions with the aim of contributing to an increase in the value of proceeds of crime recovered.

It should be noted that these statistics are also used to respond to Parliamentary Questions and requests submitted under the Freedom of Information Act. We are interested in developing these statistics to meet user needs and welcome feedback from users. Further information on providing feedback can be found in Section 12.

3. Data sources and limitations

The data used to create these statistics are obtained from several administrative and operational databases, which are covered below. It should be noted the accuracy of the statistics are dependent on the recording and management of information stored on these databases.

3.1 Joint Asset Recovery Database (JARD) Data

Data on values and volumes of proceeds of crime included in the statistical release is taken from JARD which is an operational database that is managed by the National Crime Agency (NCA). It is a central database which stores information on the seizure, detention, and recovery of the proceeds of crime across all Law Enforcement agencies (LEAs). JARD is funded through the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS) which has a Top-Slice that is deducted from the total amount recovered from proceeds of crime under the POCA 2002 legislation to fund national projects focused on Asset Recovery.

Data is entered by accredited Financial Investigators (FIs) within LEAs which includes the police, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and local authorities. The operational nature of the data means that it is entered each day by these agencies. This in turn means that JARD data entries adjust to reflect changes in the progress of orders, the resolution of orders and the addition of new orders.

JARD data includes all orders reported in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, however it should be noted that this release does not include data covering Scotland as Scotland has its own separate asset recovery system. The orders recorded under JARD represent those which have been processed under all legislation which is available for recovering the proceeds of crime including POCA 2002.

Main limitations of JARD

The statistics have been produced using the live operational data recorded in JARD at a set point in time basis to identify annual changes in the proceeds of crime across the POCA 2002 legislative powers under the Criminal Confiscation system and the Civil system.

As the data are directly entered by law enforcement officers onto the live database, any errors in the imputation of data may therefore impact the accuracy of statistics produced for the value and volumes of proceeds of crime for each respective POCA 2002 power. Where known errors have been identified, corrective measures have been applied.

The statistics may not report timely figures on orders which are still active from previous historical years because it can take several years for an order to proceed from the asset denial stage to the asset recovery stage. For example, when an order is at the asset recovery stage, a criminal can make payments towards the order over several years after the initial seizure was made. Thus, the statistics presented might not report the asset denial and asset recovery stages for the same associated order within a given time period.

Moreover, the data recorded in JARD by law enforcement officers for the criminal offence types under the “Primary Offence type” field does not always provide a representative figure of the true criminal offence type for a given order. This is due to officers selecting an approximate offence type when recording an order on JARD if there is no specific criminal offence. Therefore, the statistics presented for criminal offence types might not report the true criminal offence type for a given order.

In summary, it is important that users take into consideration the following limitations:

• coverage: Reported statistics on the proceeds of crime in the bulletin are based on England and Wales and Northern Ireland; therefore, we do not capture any Scotland orders in the Bulletin on Asset Recovery, should users be interested in assessing the scale of proceeds of crime in Scotland
• accuracy: There are a number of users who can update entries of orders on JARD, so current orders and those which are still ongoing from previous historical years may be subject to revisions to correct for data errors, to update the scale of alleged proceeds of crime and the scale of recovered proceeds of crime following successful or unsuccessful criminal or civil procedural outcomes

Cash Seizures reporting issue

Following the release of the September 2022 edition of the Bulletin, further work on understanding trends observed for Cash Seizures was undertaken by the Home Office. This work looked at the different legislative powers used by law enforcement agencies when seizing cash recorded on JARD.

This work established that Cash Seizures were underreported, for both the volume and value of assets seized. Subsequent conversations have confirmed this reporting issue is prevalent across law enforcement agencies, primarily impacting just this seizure sub type, with the initial proceeds of crime seized being recorded under different legislation and the associated Forfeiture Order being recorded under POCA.

There is ongoing work to understand the scale of this data reporting issue across law enforcement and implement a solution for future reporting under this seizure sub type. Users should treat statistics presented for the Cash Seizures seizure sub type in this release with caution due to this problem and note revisions will be implemented in future statistical releases.

Variations in Data recorded

It should be noted there will be variations in the data recorded for each financial year due to revisions made in retrospection of the live administrative JARD system. Figures included in the latest statistical release supersede previous officially reported figures. Therefore, any direct comparisons of changes in asset recovery performance should not be made between the latest and previous releases of the Asset Recovery Annual Statistical Bulletin.

3.2 Civil recovery data

The data presented on Civil Recovery Orders is provided by the NCA. It includes Orders on proceeds of crime seized, detained, and recovered through Civil Recovery Orders. Data provided includes orders obtained by all Agencies including the NCA.

Data is collated by the NCA and is updated regularly to reflect changes in the progress of orders, the resolution of orders and addition of new orders.

3.3 Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS) data

ARIS Allocations data

The data presented for ARIS Allocations is extracted from an administrative database managed by Home Office. This database uses data recorded on JARD for Confiscation Orders and METIS data for Forfeiture Orders. This includes information on orders that have been processed under the POCA 2002 legislation within a given financial year and provides details such as lead agency and amount of assets recovered. Data has been cleansed by the ARIS team and the Home Office Finance team as part of the processes undertaken each quarter for calculating ARIS Allocations.

The statistics have been produced using a combination of live operational data recorded in JARD and financial data in METIS. Data which is recorded on both data sources are entered by either law enforcement officers or finance colleagues, which means there could be errors made at the imputation stage. Any errors in these original data sources which have been identified by POCA Agencies or the ARIS team during the allocation process will have had corrections implemented.

These statistics may not include figures for a POCA Agency in every financial year because they might not have processed any orders which fall under the remit of the ARIS Scheme. Hence, it might not be possible to make comparisons over time for a given agency.

The Use of ARIS Funds survey

The Use of ARIS Funds Survey is run by the Home Office and distributed online to POCA Agencies that participate in the ARIS Scheme. The Survey is designed to develop insights into how agencies spend the ARIS funds that are allocated to them. The survey questions ask agencies to outline how they spent their ARIS funds in the previous financial year. The lag of one financial year allows time for the agencies to receive all ARIS allocations and allows time to collate the necessary information.

Data on total annual ARIS spend is lower than total annual ARIS allocations in each year. This discrepancy may be due to a number of reasons including non-response, failure to disclose all expenditure, or because not all agencies are bound to spend ARIS allocations in the same financial year.

The Bulletin now makes clear that years in the figures and chart refer to the year the expenditure took place. In previous bulletins this was presented as the year the allocation was received. Most POCA Agencies are not bound by rules that the funds must be spent in the same financial year, so expenditure could be related to allocations from previous years.

The annual response rate will vary between years, as it is based on the proportion of POCA Agencies that received ARIS allocations in the past and have submitted their returns for the survey. It is possible that some agencies did not receive an invite in some years, this could have further limited the response.

ARIS Top Slice

The data presented for ARIS Top Slice is extracted from an administrative database managed by the Home Office. This database includes information on agencies that have been allocated ARIS Top Slice funding for projects that support national and regional capabilities or improve asset recovery processes and performance.

This data is entered regularly by the Home Office and reflects projects and funding as and when there are any changes.

This experimental release of ARIS Top Slice data focuses only on the most recent financial year. Data from previous financial years will be reviewed and assessed for future release suitability by the Home Office.

3.4 International asset recovery data

The data presented on International Cooperation and Asset Return is taken from administrative databases which are managed by the Home Office. The data provides information on the orders executed by law enforcement in England and Wales, or Northern Ireland on behalf of another country, or vice versa. Data is also recorded on orders where funds recovered in the UK are returned to another country. This data is entered regularly by the Home Office and reflects the progress of orders as and when there are any changes. The data entered on the database has been quality assured against other data sources managed by POCA Agencies including JARD.

Data has not been provided prior to the financial year 2019 to 2020 due to quality issues which mean it is difficult to identify when assets were recovered for orders.

To supplement the internally managed administrative data, data presented in this report on grand corruption has been requested from agencies in a reporting exercise conducted by the Home Office. This exercise involved requesting a return on grand corruption workload from all agencies known to have seized and / or recovered assets from grand corruption cases in the past. Data was returned to Home Office by NCA’s International Corruption Unit, NCA’s International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre, NCA, Serious Fraud Office and Crown Prosecution Service.

The statistics presented will only represent those agencies which have provided a return for this reporting exercise and not necessarily the entire group of agencies who engage in this work. The accuracy of the statistics is dependent on the recording and management of information held by the respective agencies. Where possible, the data entered has been quality assured against other data sources managed by POCA Agencies including JARD.

Data for grand corruption has not been provided prior to the financial year 2022 to 2023 due to collation and quality issues which mean it is difficult to identify or be consistent when assets were recovered for an order, especially as earlier statistics were compiled with differing methodologies.

4. Methodology

The information below outlines the main processes involved in producing the statistics used in the Asset Recovery Annual Statistical Bulletin including data extraction, statistics production, and quality assurance.

4.1 Data extraction

Data used in the release are extracted annually in July. It should be noted that the data includes those orders which use the legislative powers under POCA 2002 for restrain, seizure, detention, and recovery of proceeds of crime. These reported statistics are presented on a financial year basis.

In a financial year, the recorded data covers the time period between the 1st April until the 31st March. For example, the financial year ending 2018, reports the period starting from the 1st April 2017 until 31st March 2018.

Civil recovery statistics

Statistics on the proceeds of crime recovered from Civil Recovery Order receipts were extracted from an operational NCA database. These statistics are reported on a financial year basis covering the years 2017 to 2018 until 2022 to 2023.

International asset recovery statistics

Experimental Statistics on the assets realised from cooperating with other countries were extracted from an administrative Home Office database. These statistics are reported on a financial year basis covering the financial years 2019 to 2020 and 2022 to 2023.

Data has not been provided prior to the financial year 2019 to 2020 due to quality issues which made it difficult to identify where assets were recovered.

Experimental Statistics for the value of proceeds of crime restrained, seized or frozen from grand corruption cases and total value of proceeds of crime recovered from grand corruption cases were provided using several administrative databases managed by Home Office and operational partners. Data was returned to Home Office by NCA International Corruption Unit, NCA International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre, NCA, Serious Fraud Office and Crown Prosecution Service.

Data presented in this report was requested from Agencies in a reporting exercise conducted by the Home Office between March and June. This exercise will be conducted on an annual basis and involves all agencies known to conduct grand corruption work.

Experimental Statistics on the funds returned to other countries were extracted from an administrative Home Office database. These statistics are reported for the latest financial year included in the statistical bulletin.

Use of ARIS Funds Statistics

The data presented on the Use of ARIS Funds is taken from the annual Use of ARIS Funds Survey. Data from the Use of ARIS Survey is cleansed by Home Office to ensure only those who have received ARIS funds are included, and missing entries are removed. The most recent survey was carried out in March 2023 collecting data for 2021 to 2022.

Data on the Use of ARIS Funds for financial year 2022 to 2023 will be presented in the next statistical release.

ARIS Allocations Statistics

Statistics presented on ARIS Allocations were extracted from an administrative Home Office database. It includes information on the allocations under the ARIS Scheme which are distributed across LEAs within a given financial year. These statistics are reported on a financial year basis covering the financial years 2017 to 2018 until 2022 to 2023.

Average metrics used for long term comparisons

The statistical release includes an average metric which is used to understand trends within the data over a longer period. This metric is presented for the values and volumes for the respective POCA powers. It provides a measure of whether current performance is in line with the overall trend observed for the respective POCA power. An average metric can remove some volatility observed in a given financial year and provide a measure more reflective of the data.

In releases prior to September 2021, the mean average was used for comparisons on performance over the longer term. After a review by the statistical team and consultation with users, the decision was taken to use the median average in subsequent releases. This is because the median is less impacted by outliers in the underlying data.

Accounting for inflation

Following a review of current methodologies, the statistical team have provided figures in real values for the first time for the following sections: Main Headlines and ARIS Allocations. These statistics have been included to reflect changes in the wider economy that affect the value of money which can be invested into the system by POCA agencies. Prior to this release, there were consultations with stakeholders on the presentation of these figures.

The latest GDP Deflator series produced by HM Treasury at the time of production for this statistical release will have been used to produce figures presented in real terms.

5. Statistics production

This section details the method used to produce the statistics for each POCA power under the Criminal Confiscation and Civil system for asset recovery.

5.1 Value and volume of proceeds of crime statistics

The statistics presented on the value and volume of proceeds of crime restrained, seized, detained, frozen and recovered through Criminal Confiscation or Civil powers are produced using aggregations of live operational data recorded in JARD except for Civil Recovery, Taxation and International Asset Recovery.

It is used to produce the corresponding reported statistics covering the period from the financial year 2017 to 2018 until financial year 2022 to 2023.

This method uses live JARD data to monitor changes in asset recovery by the value and volumes of each respective legislative power mentioned above, therefore the statistics presented may be revised because the criminal and civil orders are subject to retrospective revision.

This is also the same for the values and volumes of proceeds of crime statistics by the 7 main criminal offence types for Criminal Confiscation powers and Civil powers. A breakdown of the 7 main defined criminal offence type groups for the purposes of asset recovery reporting in relation to economic crime is provided in Table 5.1 below. The criminal offence type groups are based on the JARD “Primary Offence type” field for entries by criminal offence types for orders submitted by Financial Investigators. Orders without a recorded entry for the criminal offence type have been grouped under the ‘Unassigned’ group.

Table 5.1: Primary criminal offence type group on JARD and the defined criminal offence type group

Primary criminal offence type group on JARD	Defined criminal offence type group
Drug Trafficking	Drugs
Money Laundering - Drugs	Drugs
Other Fraud / Embezzlement / Deception / Crimes of dishonesty	Fraud
Tax and Benefit Fraud	Fraud
VAT Fraud	Fraud
Excise Duty Fraud	Fraud
Trading Standards Offences	Fraud
Money Laundering - Other	Money Laundering
Burglary / Theft	Theft
Robbery	Theft
Handling Stolen Goods	Theft
Human Trafficking	Modern Slavery
Slavery / Servitude / Forced or Compulsory Labour	Modern Slavery
Organised Immigration Crime (OIC)	Other
Other Crime	Other
Counterfeiting / Intellectual Property / Forgery	Other
Pimps and Brothels / Prostitution / Pornography	Other
Intellectual Property Crime	Other
Arms Trafficking	Other
Unknown	Other
Bribery and Corruption	Other
Terrorism	Other
Vehicle Offences	Other
Blank	Unassigned

The main methodology is summarised below.

Value of Proceeds of Crime Statistics

For Criminal Confiscation powers we have the following:

• the value of proceeds of crime restrained from Restraint Orders is based on the estimated order value; this represents the predicted amount of monies to be restrained from the defendant once a Restraint Order is imposed; it is calculated using the amount of monies which the defendant is deemed to have benefited from criminal activity
• the value of proceeds of crime imposed from a Confiscation Order Imposition is based on the order amount; it represents the amount of monies which have been denied from the defendant once a Confiscation Order has been imposed
• the main measure for the value of proceeds of crime confiscated is based on the distributed amount associated with a Confiscation Order; the distributed amount represents the value of proceeds of crime in receipts which have been recovered from the defendant following a Confiscation Order being imposed

For Civil powers we have the following:

• the value of proceeds of crime seized from Account Freezing Orders (AFOs), Cash Seizures and Listed Asset Orders is based on the finalised order amount; it represents the value of proceeds of crime that will be seized from the defendant given the civil proceedings have been completed
• from September 2022, the main measure for the value of proceeds of crime recovered from Forfeiture Orders is based on the original order amount for a Forfeiture Order once it has been granted; the original order amount represents the value of proceeds of crime in receipts which will be recovered from the defendant at the point where the civil proceedings have been completed
• the main measure for the value of proceeds of crime recovered from Civil Recovery Orders is based on the finalised order amount; the finalised order amount represents the value of proceeds of crime in receipts which will be recovered from the defendant given the civil proceedings have been completed

For International Cooperation we have the following:

• the value of proceeds of crime recovered from International Cooperation is the full value of proceeds of crime recovered from a respondent as a result of International Cooperation
• the value of proceeds of crime shared with the UK Government is defined as the proceeds of crime recovered from the respondent which is retained by the UK Government

For grand corruption we have the following:

• the value of proceeds of crime restrained, seized or frozen from grand corruption cases is based on the estimated order value for restraint orders associated with grand corruption and the finalised order amount for Account Freezing Orders (AFOs), Cash Seizures and Listed Asset Orders associated with grand corruption; the value of prohibition orders is the estimated value of assets at the time the order was granted and does not include interest incurred on the associated assets; figures are presented in financial years based on the date when the seizure took place unless this field is not recorded then the date when the order is granted, or for cases outside of court, the date of the agreement will be used to determine which financial year the proceeds of crime were restrained, seized or frozen

• the value of proceeds of crime recovered from grand corruption cases is based on the distributed amount associated with a Confiscation Order presented in the financial year that receipts were recovered from the defendant; for Forfeiture Orders, this value presents the value of proceeds of crime in receipts which will be recovered from the defendant at the point where the civil proceedings have been completed presented in financial years based on the date the original order amount is granted; Civil Recovery Orders is based on the finalised order amount
• the value of Proceeds of crime returned to foreign government is based on the total amount transferred to the foreign state and presented in the financial year the funds were transferred

Volume of Proceeds of Crime Statistics

For Criminal Confiscation powers we have the following:

• the main measure for the volume of proceeds of crime restrained and confiscated is based on the number of orders processed for each respective power; the volume of orders represents the number of processed orders for each respective power where proceeds of crime will be restrained, withheld, or recovered from the defendant following either a Restraint Order or Confiscation Order being imposed

For Civil powers we have the following:

• the main measure for the volume of proceeds of crime seized, frozen, and recovered from a type of order, such as a Seizure, Freezing Order or Forfeiture Order is based on the number of orders where a type of Order has been seized, frozen or recovered; the volume of orders represents the number of processed orders where proceeds of crime will be seized, frozen, and recovered from the defendant given the civil proceedings have been completed
• the main measure for the volume of proceeds of crime recovered from Civil Recovery Orders represents the number of processed orders where proceeds of crime will be recovered from the defendant given the civil proceedings have been completed

For International cooperation we have the following:

• the main measure for the volume of proceeds of crime recovered through international cooperation represents the number of orders where the UK has engaged in asset sharing and the funds recovered under asset recovery powers will be divided between countries

5.2 Main methodology changes

Any revisions to the figures included in the Asset Recovery Annual Statistical Bulletin will be announced in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics once a solution to this issue has been identified.

• in previous reports from September 2017 to September 2020, the main measure for the value of proceeds of crime recovered from Forfeiture Orders was based on the current order amount associated with a Forfeiture Order; this represented the value of proceeds of crime deemed to be recoverable from the defendant whilst the civil proceedings are being completed; the current order amount is a figure which could change following the completion of civil proceedings
• in the report for September 2021, the main measure for the value of proceeds of crime recovered from Forfeiture Orders was based on the order amount under a Detention Order; this represents the value of proceeds of crime seized from the defendant whilst civil proceedings were ongoing; the order amount under a Detention order could change following the completion of civil proceedings
• from September 2022, the main measure for the value of proceeds of crime recovered from Forfeiture Orders will be based on the original order amount for a Forfeiture Order once it has been granted; the original order amount represents the value of proceeds of crime in receipts which will be recovered from the defendant at the point where the civil proceedings have been completed
• in the report for September 2021, the main measure for the volume of proceeds of crime recovered from Confiscation Orders was based on a proxy estimate, the volume of Confiscation Order Impositions; this represented the volume of Confiscation Orders imposed where the orders are granted but not where the corresponding full amount has been paid by the defendant
• from September 2022, statistics on the volume of proceeds of crime recovered from Confiscation Orders will not be reported because the data recorded on JARD does not accurately capture this information; the data available on JARD for Confiscation Orders can include multiple payments made against an order for a given period; as these payments are against all orders, not just those imposed within the reporting period this is therefore an ineffective measure of performance and does not directly link to orders imposed within the reporting period; for this reason, releases from September 2022 will not report statistics on the volume of proceeds of crime (payments) recovered from Confiscation Orders, only the values; previous releases before September 2021 will not be affected as the volume of payments recovered from Confiscation Orders was not previously presented
• from September 2022, the value and volume of proceeds of crime seized from Account Freezing Orders (AFOs), Cash Seizures and Listed Asset Orders will be presented in financial years based on the date when the seizure took place unless this field is not recorded; for orders where this field is not recorded, the date when the order is granted will be used to determine which financial year the proceeds of crime were seized
• from September 2022 statistical releases will use the median as the metric for long term comparisons on value and volumes under the respective POCA powers; this decision has been taken because the median can better account for outliers in the underlying data sources
• from September 2022, the ‘Order (decision) date’ field will be used for cases with no recorded ‘Cash seizure date’ for all Seizure powers; this approach has been approved with operational partners
• from September 2023, the statistical release has implemented the use of the ‘Case Jurisdiction’ variable to record the location of jurisdiction for cases under Forfeiture Orders where no ‘Jurisdiction of Court Making Order’ is recorded; this approach has been approved with operational partners
• from September 2023, the methodology used to calculate the Use of ARIS survey response rate has been revised; the Use of ARIS survey response rate is now calculated based on the proportion of POCA Agencies that received ARIS allocations in the years up to and including the financial year questioned in the survey; as a result of the changes, response rate reported in this release will be incomparable to those previously released; we will not retrospectively update the response rates for previous years; response rates for the Use of ARIS survey have been consistently low and we therefore recommend treating findings from previous bulletins with caution

5.3 Quality Assurance

There are a number of quality assurance procedures which are completed for each annual statistical release and involves checking:

• consistency in data recorded across different systems and management information (MI) data
• reliability and completeness of specific variables
• trends and variations in specific variables, timeseries and the geographical breakdowns
• checks for retrospection against previous annual datasets
• identification of outliers within the data
• updates from policy and operational stakeholders on changes to legislation and reporting procedures that might affect the data

Further to these checks, several rounds of quality assurance are undertaken by the statistics team and external analysts who are required to complete a Quality Assurance (QA) checklist, to ensure the statistics reported are of high quality.

6. Presentation of Data and Revisions

6.1 Rounding

Figures presented in the ODS tables will be unrounded.

Figures presented in the statistical bulletin on the value of proceeds of crime and the volumes of proceeds of crime restrained, detained, seized, and recovered from orders are rounded. The rounding applied to these figures is dependent on the magnitude of the figure shown and is presented in the table below.

In instances where rounded data is presented, users should be aware that the individual figures might not sum to the total figures shown due to rounding. Any associated percentages will be capped at 100% of the total.

Percentages have been rounded to the nearest percent based on the round-half-away-from-zero method. It should be noted that percentages are calculated using figures that were not rounded.

Table 6.1: Statistical release rounding policy range

Statistical release rounding policy range	Rounded to nearest
0 – 1,000	10
1,001 – 10,000	100
10,001 -100,000	1,000
100,001 – 1,000,000	10,000
1,000,001 – 10,000,000	100,000
10,000,001 – 100,000,000	1,000,000

6.2 Revisions

The Departmental approach to revisions and corrections for all of its statistical releases can be found here.

The statistics presented may be revised because the criminal and civil orders are subject to retrospective revision. This could be due to proceeds of crime being re-frozen to reflect changes in the value /or volumes of proceeds of crime that can be recovered from the offender. Revisions can also occur when the proceeds of crime restrained, seized, or recovered have been recorded in retrospection by a FI following an outcome. This means earlier statistics would not include those figures and would not capture the total proceeds of crime restrained, detained, seized, and recovered in that time period.

It should be noted the latest time periods are most likely to have revisions applied to them than those time periods which are further back in time.

7. Status of the statistics

7.1 Official statistics

National, Official and Experimental Statistics are produced in a way which is compliant with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. In the development of the Annual Statistical Bulletin on Asset Recovery, the Home Office has acted in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics and its supporting Principles.

7.2 Experimental Statistics

The statistics on the Use of ARIS are considered as experimental due to the quality of the survey from which the statistics have been produced. The design and reporting of the survey is still under review by Home Office. Home office plan to improve the low response rate to capture a larger proportion of POCA agencies receiving ARIS funding and provide better coverage of agency ARIS spends.

The statistics on ARIS Top Slice funding are considered as experimental due to the quality of the administrative dataset which has been used in their production and the limited period the dataset captures. It is anticipated as the systems for recording ARIS Top Slice are developed and retrospectively cleansed by Home Office, these statistics will provide better coverage and a fixed methodology.

The statistics on International Asset Recovery are badged as Experimental because they are not fully developed. It is anticipated as the systems for recording International Asset Recovery are introduced and become stable, these statistics will provide better coverage and a fixed methodology.

The Home Office together with partners in the International Proceeds of Crime (IPOC) Group to develop these statistics to provide a sufficient level of better coverage and a methodology compliant with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The plans to develop these statistics will also depend on the wider developments on a new informational technology system for asset recovery.

What are Experimental Statistics?

Experimental Statistics are statistics that are in the testing phase and not yet fully developed, which may be due to the following reasons:

• they are being produced part way through a well-defined development programme, whether these statistics are new or changed versions of existing statistics
• the statistics are new but still subject to testing in terms of their volatility and ability to meet customer needs
• the statistics do not yet meet the rigorous quality standards of National Statistics
• a rich variety of new measures is available from a new set of statistics, with components that have considerable immediate value to users; these users are aware of the statistics’ theoretical quality and can use them before we have completed all operational testing – the testing is designed to fully validate the measures to the standard expected of National Statistics

Further information on Experimental Statistics can be found on the UK Statistics Authority’s website

8. Future publications

Publications will be released on the second Thursday of September every year.

Future releases of this Statistical Bulletin are pre-announced on the Statistics release calendar. These releases are produced and released in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

It is also published on the Publication Hub for UK National Statistics.

9. Pre-release Access

This Statistical Bulletin is compliant with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics in line with other Home Office publications. Details on pre-release access for Home Office statistical publications can be found here.

The Pre-release access list for this statistical release can be found here.

10. Accessibility and previous releases of this Bulletin

Previous releases of this Bulletin covering the financial years from 2011 to 2012 until 2022 to 2023 can be found here. It should be noted that previous releases might not be in accessible formats because they were released before 23 September 2020.

Any subsequent releases of this Bulletin after September 2020 will be published in an accessible format. This is in line with The Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 legislation.

Users which are interested in receiving a specific Statistical Bulletin in a different format can request this. If you have any enquiries please email [email protected]. The statistics provided in this Bulletin have been assessed by the UK Statistics Authority against the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

11. Development of these Statistics

The Asset Recovery Annual Statistical Bulletin was developed to improve the level of transparency on Asset Recovery legislation by the Home Office. It was produced in response to a report published by the Public Account Committee (PAC) in July 2016 which outlined recommendations focused on developing information published on government performance for confiscation of property associated with criminal activity.

12. Further information, contacts, and feedback

Feedback

The Home Office welcomes feedback from users on its statistical releases and we are always looking to improve the accessibility of our documents.

If you have any feedback or enquiries about this statistical release, please contact the Asset Recovery Statistics team by emailing: [email protected]