New figures confirm more than 12.5 million people in the UK have a criminal record

The Home Office have confirmed that 12,591,780 people in the UK have a criminal record.

The figures were provided in response to a freedom of information request made by Unlock, and relate to the number of criminal records on the Police National Computer (PNC) in April 2024.

Increase in criminal records

According to figures from the last five years, on average over 200,000 people are added to the PNC every year.

These latest figures show a slight increased rate – from 1.6% a year to 1.67% a year.

This means that every year, hundreds of thousands of people will face new challenges due to having a criminal record. They could be excluded from getting a job, finding somewhere to live or being able to get insurance.

Increase in people being excluded

Over a five year period (2018/9 to 2022/3), the number of criminal records checks carried out increased from 4.14 million to 7.54 million. Taken together, these increases paint an alarming picture. More checks are being made and more people will have data show up on those checks.

Despite a growing number of employers recognising the benefits of recruiting people with criminal records, there is still an increase in people being excluded rather than being enabled to move on positively.

Reforming the criminal records system

Jo Easton, Joint Interim CEO and Director of Policy and Advocacy at Unlock says that change is needed.

“These figures illustrate why it is more important than ever to reform the criminal record system, including considering the introduction of a process which allows criminal record information to be wiped from the PNC once it becomes irrelevant.

As part of our upcoming work on calling for a distinct criminal records system for childhood offences, we will be proposing that childhood offences are wiped from the PNC.

The main legislative structure governing the criminal record system is the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act – which is nearly 50 years old. So now is the time to review and reform the system – to make it effective in our modern society.”