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Produced by the Sentencing Academy

Assault of an Emergency Worker

Snapshot 1

Bringing together relevant statistics and trends relating to sentencing

by Annalena Wolcke

Published: 23 Jul 2025
Last updated: Jul 2025

Overview

  • Sentencing Council guideline range for common assault and battery: discharge to a 26-weeks prison sentence
  • Assault of an emergency worker is considered an aggravating factor
  • Maximum sentence: 2-years’ imprisonment (1 year’s custody for offences committed before 28 June 2022)
  • Since it became an offence in 2018, convictions have increased significantly from 348 in 2018 to over 14,000 in 2024
  • This snapshot summarises key trends over the past 5 years

Sentences Imposed

Figure 1: Sentences for Assault of Emergency Worker, 2020-2024

  • Over 22% of convictions resulted in a term of immediate imprisonment.1
  • The majority of offenders received a community order (34%).2

Figure 2: Sentences Imposed for Assault of Emergency Worker, 2020-2024

  • Trends in the use of principal sanctions for assault of an emergency worker have largely been stable over the last 5 years.
  • Since 2020, the proportion of immediate custodial sentences and suspended sentence orders has decreased.
  • At the same time, the proportion of fines and community orders increased.

Immediate Prison Sentence Lengths

Figure 3: Prison Sentence Lengths, Assault of Emergency Worker, 2020–2024

  • The most frequent sentence range is between 3 to 6 months, accounting for almost 40% of all immediate custodial sentences.
  • Approximately 4% of prison sentences are over 6 months.

Sentencing Outcomes by Sex

Figure 4: Sentencing Outcomes by Sex, Assault of Emergency Worker, 2020-2024

  • Female (n=19,032); Male (n=45,379)
  • Between 2020-2024, the custody rate for assault of an emergency worker was higher for men (27%) than women (11%).3

These rates do not account for various factors that influence sentencing decisions, such as the offender’s criminal history and the seriousness of the specific offence. Additional research would be needed to determine whether gender affected the sentence imposed.

This Snapshot is one of a series on sentencing trends in England & Wales. Others can be found here. For further information, contact Annalena Wolcke at a.wolcke@sentencingacademy.org.uk

  1. Data source for all figures: Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly December 2024, published 15th of May 2025. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2024 ↩︎
  2. ‘Other sanctions’ include: absolute and conditional discharges, and the category ‘otherwise dealt with’ ↩︎
  3. Please note that this graph represents proportional sentencing outcomes within each group. It does not show the number of total convictions per group. ↩︎