Lancashire has among the highest proportion of sex offenders in the country with the number almost doubling in just 13 years.
There were 2,453 registered sex offenders living in the county’s police force area at the end of March 2024. This is the equivalent of one for every 562 people aged 10 and over.
Compared to March 2023, the number of sex offenders in Lancashire fell by 17% from 2,964, which was the highest on record. However, the number has risen by 94% over the past 13 years, since the police force level figures were first published at the end of 2010/11.
Back then, there were 1,283 registered sex offenders living here. Lancashire has the joint third highest rates of sex offenders out of all police forces in England and Wales.
Only County Durham (one for every 510 people) and Gwent (one for every 532 people) have more. The national average is one for every 763 people.
You can find out the proportion of sex offenders in your area in the interactive widget below
While the number of registered sex offenders in Lancashire is falling, that’s not the case nationally. There were a total of 70,052 in England and Wales as a whole in the year to March 2024, up from 68,357 a year earlier.
The figures, released in a report by the Ministry of Justice, cover offenders managed by Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) aimed at preventing further offences. Sex offenders are required to notify the police of certain details, with further notification required if any of those details change (sometimes referred to as ‘being on the sex offenders register’).
Surrey has the next lowest ratio, with one for every 1,266 people. London has one for every 1,099 people, while Thames Valley has one for every 1,064.
The report, released on October 31, 2024, states: “Published numbers today show the MAPPA population on 31 March continues to increase yearly, with latest figures showing increases in all categories of offender and in all levels of management from the previous year. Historically, these increases have been driven mainly by increases in the number of persons convicted of sexual offences and subject to notification requirements.
“We have seen large increases in convictions for sexual offences in the last couple of years, and these, in addition to efforts to increase prosecutions of rape cases under the Rape Review Action Plan, are likely to feed through into an increasing number of Category 1 offenders under MAPPA in the future.”
The Category 2 population saw an increase over the previous year. The increases in the number of Category 3 offenders over the last few years may reflect changes to the statutory MAPPA guidance to encourage practitioners to consider all domestic abuse cases for MAPPA Category 3 management.
“The Level 1 population continues to increase yearly, and latest figures also show increases in the number of offenders managed at both Level 2 and Level 3.The number of Serious Further Offence (SFO) charges against probation-managed eligible MAPPA offenders increased in the latest year, following a decrease to a decade low in the previous year.”
Areas with the most sex offenders relative to population
Category 1 offenders per 100,000 population – 2023/24
- County Durham: 196
- Gwent: 188
- Teesside: 178
- Lancashire: 178
- North Wales: 175
- Greater Manchester: 173
- Humberside: 172
- West Yorkshire: 165
- Merseyside: 158
- Northumbria: 155
- South Wales: 155
- Norfolk: 148
- South Yorkshire: 147
- Cheshire: 147
- Cumbria: 145
- West Midlands: 144
- Suffolk: 144
- Derbyshire: 140
- Staffordshire: 138
- Dyfed-Powys: 138
- Sussex: 137
- Nottinghamshire: 136
- Devon and Cornwall: 134
- Northamptonshire: 132
- Lincolnshire: 131
- West Mercia: 130
- Hampshire: 130
- North Yorkshire: 125
- Cambridgeshire: 124
- Dorset: 123
- Gloucestershire: 123
- Warwickshire: 121
- Wiltshire: 119
- Essex: 119
- Kent: 118
- Bedfordshire: 118
- Avon and Somerset: 115
- Leicestershire: 114
- Thames Valley: 94
- London: 91
- Surrey: 79
- Hertfordshire: 79
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