Management of Registered Sex Offenders (RSOs)

Date of request: 3 August 2026
Reference: 17826652

Request

Please provide the following data broken down by year, capturing the snapshot date of 1st January for each year from 2016 to 2026 inclusive (or the closest available operational date to that window):

1. Staffing & Caseload Tiers
A) The total Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) headcount of dedicated police officers and staff (e.g., MOSVO, SOMU, or VISOR teams) whose primary, dedicated role is the active community management and supervision of Registered Sex Offenders (RSOs).

B) The total number of Registered Sex Offenders (RSOs) actively managed by your force on that snapshot date.

Enforcement and Outcomes
For each full calendar year prior to the snapshot dates (i.e. 1st January to 31st December for each year from 2016 through 2025 inclusive), please provide:
A) The total number of recorded offences under HO Code 066/17 (Breach of Notification Requirements / failure to comply with notification requirements under Section 91 Sexual Offences Act 2003), and the number of those offences that resulted in a Charge / Summons outcome.
B) The total number of recorded offences under HO Code 068/08 (Breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order / SOPO), and the number of those offences that resulted in a Charge / Summons outcome.

Precedent Note on Section 31:
Please note that multiple territorial police forces have already fulfilled this exact request in full’including providing the aggregate FTE headcount for Question 1A’without citing statutory exemptions under Section 31 (Law Enforcement). As this request seeks a single, force-wide aggregate figure rather than local unit rotas or operational deployments, there is clear precedent that disclosing this high-level metric does not prejudice law enforcement or public safety.

Advice and Assistance (Section 16):
If providing the full 10-year historical dataset for any specific question exceeds the statutory cost limit under Section 12, please prioritize the data starting from the most recent year (2026) and work backwards as far as the cost limit allows, rather than issuing a blanket refusal.

Response

I have copied each question again in bold, with our responses following each question.

1A) The total Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) headcount of dedicated police officers and staff whose primary, dedicated role is the active community management and supervision of Registered Sex Offenders (RSOs), as at 1 January each year from 2016 to 2026 (or nearest operational date).

Following enquiries with relevant departments, Avon and Somerset Police does not hold recorded information for the majority of the period requested. Relevant organisational structures and recorded role hierarchies have changed over time and historical records identifying staff whose primary and dedicated role was the active community management and supervision of RSOs could not be located. Searches and enquiries were undertaken with the relevant business area; however, no recorded information has been identified for most years requested.

The only recorded information located is:

Date	FTE
November 2023	37 MOSOVO offender managers and 5 supervisors
April 2025	44 MOSOVO offender managers and 7 supervisors
June 2026	46 MOSOVO offender managers and 7 supervisors

Avon and Somerset Police therefore does not hold recorded information capable of providing annual snapshot figures for the full period 2016 to 2026.

1 B) The total number of Registered Sex Offenders (RSOs) actively managed by the force on the snapshot date.

The earliest available historic data held by the MOSOVO unit dates from July 2018. We do not hold equivalent information for 2016 or 2017 and retrospective searches cannot be conducted on ViSOR. The figures below represent the closest available operational data to the requested dates and relate to community-managed RSOs.

Year	RSOs actively managed
2016	Information not held
2017	Information not held
2018	1,585
2019	1,627
2020	1,424
2021	1,475
2022	1,749*
2023	1,436
2024	1,506
2025	1,703
2026	1,801

* The business area has advised that the 2022 figure is likely to be overstated due to a counting methodology issue subsequently identified and corrected.

The business area has also advised that recording practices changed over the period. Earlier figures may have included categories subsequently recorded separately, such as “not yet registered”, “wanted” and “abroad inactive”. Accordingly, caution should be exercised when making direct comparisons between years.

2 A) Total number of offences recorded under Home Office Code 066/17 (Breach of Notification Requirements), and number resulting in a Charge/Summons outcome.

The table below shows the number of offences recorded under the following offence code in each year from 2016 to 2025, and the number of those offences that resulted in a charge/summons outcome:

066/17, Sex offenders register – fail comply with notification requirements – SOA 2003 (recordable)

Year	Recorded offences	Charge/Summons outcomes
2016	85	49
2017	110	58
2018	142	67
2019	113	54
2020	94	36
2021	141	43
2022	231	57
2023	272	69
2024	316	64
2025	361	80

2 B) Total number of offences recorded under Home Office Code 068/08 (Breach of SHPO / SOPO etc.), and number resulting in a Charge/Summons outcome.

The table below includes results for the following related offence descriptions returned under the same Home Office Code in each year from 2016 to 2025, and the number of those offences that resulted in a charge/summons outcome:

068/08, Breach SHPO / interim SHPO /SOPO / interim SOPO/ Foreign travel order or fail to comply with a requirement Under Sec 103D (4)

068/08, Breach SHPO/interim SHPO/SOPO/Interim SOPO/Foreign travel order or fail to comply with a req under sec 103D(4) (recordable)

Year	Recorded offences	Charge/Summons outcomes
2016	3	2
2017	15	10
2018	64	36
2019	58	31
2020	78	43
2021	100	51
2022	161	87
2023	162	81
2024	165	62
2025	174	66