Overview
- The Ministry of Justice announced on Friday that about 7,300 offenders will wear sweat‑analysing ankle tags at some point during the World Cup, with roughly 5,000 already fitted when the tournament began and a further 2,300 expected to be fitted during the event.
- The tags monitor perspiration 24 hours a day, detect alcohol use, and are designed to tell the difference between being in a pub or fan zone and actively drinking so that false alerts are minimised.
- If a tag detects alcohol an alert is sent to the offender’s probation officer, who can escalate the case to court or request a return to custody under existing licence or community‑order conditions.
- The MoJ cites a 97% compliance rate for days sober since the technology’s rollout in 2020, and frames the World Cup deployment as part of efforts to cut alcohol‑fuelled crime that the National Audit Office estimates costs the UK about £21 billion a year.
- The operation also signals a broader policy shift: the government plans a presumption that prison leavers will be tagged on release and will increase probation funding and staff, including recruitment of around 1,300 extra probation officers.