More Than 1,300 Registered Sex Offenders Under Cleveland Police Supervision, FOI Shows

Offender Register Disclosure Raises Questions Over Safeguarding Systems in Cleveland Police Area

Cleveland Police VSOR Figures Highlight Scale and Risk of Offender Management Across Teesside

25th Jan 2026

Newly disclosed data from Cleveland Police made via a Freedom of Information request from a member of the public has revealed the scale of the force’s responsibility for managing serious offenders across Teesside, while also exposing concerning gaps in the accuracy of offender location records.

According to the official FOI response, Cleveland Police currently holds the responsibility for 1,385 individuals on the Violent and Sex Offender Register (VSOR). Of this total, its claimed 1,339 offenders are registered specifically for sexual offences, confirming that the overwhelming majority of individuals subject to active monitoring fall within the most serious risk category.

However, the disclosure also reveals a significant safeguarding concern, with Cleveland Police confirming that 33 offenders recorded on the VSOR have missing, incomplete, or out-of-date location information, including details relating to home addresses, workplaces, or other monitored settings. Critically, all 33 of these cases reportedly involve individuals who are registered for sexual offences.

It means every single offender on the sexual offences register with inaccurate or incomplete location data falls within the highest-risk monitoring category, raising serious questions about the integrity of offender management systems and the robustness of safeguarding arrangements in the Cleveland Police force area.

The VSOR system is designed to ensure continuous monitoring, risk management, and inter-agency safeguarding coordination for individuals convicted of violent and sexual offences. Accurate location data is said to be fundamental to this process, underpinning police supervision, probation oversight, housing coordination, and public protection arrangements. However, its claimed such information found to be either missing or outdated means the effectiveness of the monitoring mechanisms in place are inevitably compromised.

While Cleveland Police has not provided reasons for the data gaps within the limits of the FOI framework, the figures alone raise significant public interest concerns. In a force area that includes some of the highest numbers of people charged & convicted of serious sexual offences.

The disclosure also highlights the broader scale of offender management responsibilities on Teesside. With nearly 1,400 individuals under VSOR monitoring and more than 1,300 registered for sexual offences, Cleveland Police reportedly now operates one of the most significant offender supervision burdens relative to population size in the region.

For locals living on Teesside, the figures offer a rare insight into the unseen infrastructure of public protection policing — and a stark reminder that safeguarding is not only about laws and sentencing, but about the accuracy, reliability, and integrity of the systems designed to enforce them ensuring those convicted of serious violent sexual offences are monitored.