Post-mortem examinations were carried out in 51% of all deaths reported to coroners in 2025
The annual publication presents statistics of deaths reported to Coroners in England and Wales in 2025. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coroners-statistics-2025/coroners-statistics-2025-england-and-wales
A post-mortem is a detailed examination of a body after death to establish the medical cause of death. A coroner may commission a post-mortem examination, whether or not an inquest is held, particularly if the cause of death is not clear. A post-mortem examination is conducted in order to determine whether or not a coroner investigation is should be commenced or, where an investigation is commenced, a post-mortem can have important evidential relevance and can be used to inform whether or not the case can be discontinued before inquest.
Post-mortem examinations (including invasive and less-invasive forms) were held in 75,852 deaths reported to coroners in 2025, down 5,333 (7%) from 2024. This represents 51% of all deaths reported to coroners in 2025, an increase in proportion of five percentage points on the 2024 volume.
Depending on the nature of a post-mortem examinations, it may require specialist skills – for example, a paediatric or other specialist pathologist. In 2025, almost all (92%) of post-mortem examinations did not require specialist skills – a decrease of less than one percentage point compared with 2024.
The number of post-mortem examinations as a proportion of area caseload varies from 24% of deaths reported in City of London to 74% in Surrey. Caution should be taken when making comparisons between regions in terms of any coronial activity – for example, the number of post-mortem examinations, the number of inquests opened, or timeliness – due to differences in size, local authority set-up, resource, facilities and socio-economic profile, for example.
Cases requiring neither a post-mortem nor inquest
There were 52,036 deaths reported to coroners where there was neither a post-mortem nor an inquest. These will be cases where a natural cause was established at some point after the report of death and before inquest. This type of case has decreased by 29% in the current year and the number of cases reported was the lowest level since the start of the time series in 1995. The proportion of all deaths reported to coroners where there was neither an inquest nor a post-mortem examination has decreased by seven percentage points to 35% in 2025.
Histology, toxicology and less-invasive post-mortem examinations
In 2025, 21% (15,931) of all post-mortem examinations included histology, an increase from 20% (16,604) in 2024. Post-mortem examinations including toxicology increased by 231 cases over the same period to 23,063 (up 1%), with 30% of all post-mortem examinations held in 2025 including toxicology – continuing the consistently rising trend since the timeseries begun in 2011.
There were 16,705 post-mortem examinations conducted using less-invasive techniques alongside an autopsy or other invasive intervention, and 6,717 using only less-invasive techniques (such as Computerised Tomography [CT] scans) in 2025. The number of post-mortem examinations carried out using only less-invasive techniques varied from zero in 18 areas to 1,097 in Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen. East London, Leicester City and South Leicestershire, Black Country, South Yorkshire (Eastern), and Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen conducted over half (52%, 57%, 75%, 79% and 86% respectively) of all their post-mortem examinations using only less-invasive techniques. Manchester South, South Yorkshire (Western), and Manchester City conducted over a quarter of all their post-mortem examinations using only less-invasive techniques (26%, 27% and 36% respectively).
Additionally, four “second” post-mortem examinations were ordered by the coroner but as a result of a request from a defence lawyer (less than 1% of all post-mortems) and 3% (2,271) of post-mortem examinations were conducted by a Home Office (HO) forensic pathologist. These would usually be carried out in relation to a criminal investigation.
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