Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and Home Office police recorded crime data, by quarterly time periods.

The crime rate of England and Wales in 2024/25 was ***** crimes per thousand people when fraud and computer misuse crimes were included and **** when excluded. This represented one of the highest crime rates in this time period, nonetheless a decline when compared with 2022/23, when the crime rate peaked at *****, or ****, when excluding computer fraud.

Police recorded crime figures by Police Force Area and Community Safety Partnership areas (which equate in the majority of instances, to local authorities).

This is the tenth report in an annual series combining crimes recorded by the police and interviews from the British Crime Survey (BCS) for the financial year 2010/11. Each source has different strengths and weaknesses but together they provide a more comprehensive picture of crime than could be obtained from either series alone. Bicycle theft covers thefts of bicycles belonging to the respondent or any member of the respondent’s household. This category does not include every bicycle theft, as some may be stolen during the course of another offence (eg. burglary) and are therefore classified as such in the BCS. Vandalism in the British Crime Survey covers any intentional and malicious damage to private households and their property. It does not include accidental damage or incidents that do not incur financial cost to the victim to repair the damage. Vehicles within the scope of the BCS are non-commercial cars, vans, motorbikes, scooters and mopeds. Responsibility for the compilation and publication of all crime statistics (British Crime Survey and Police Recorded Crime) for England and Wales will transfer from the Home Office to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 1 April 2012 as announced by the Home Secretary in July 2011. The ONS will publish for the first time on 19 April 2012.

There were approximately 1.94 million violence against the person crime offences recorded by the police in England and Wales in 2024/25, compared with almost 2.01 million offences in the previous reporting year. The number of recorded violent crime offences in England and Wales has increased considerably in the last decade, with only around 600,000 violent crimes recorded in 2013/14. Other types of crime climbing After falling to relatively low levels in the mid-2010s, overall crime in England and Wales has been increasing at a substantial rate. From 62 crimes per 1,000 people in 2013/14, the crime rate shot up to a peak of 93.5 by 2022/23. The sharp uptick in the number of sexual offences recorded by the police accounts for part of this rise, with the number of sexual offences increasing from just over 64,000 in 2013/14 to almost 195,000 in 2022/23. While overall theft crime has gradually fallen in a similar time period, there has been a recent spike in shoplifting offences, with almost 444,000 incidents recorded in 2023/24, compared with 342,200 in 2022/23. Prisons under pressure The increase in violent and sexual crime offences, which typically result in longer sentences for offenders, has added to the problem of overcrowding at prisons in England and Wales. With prisons dangerously close to capacity in 2024, the government even released thousands of prisoners early that September. Prisons in England and Wales are also increasingly violent, for both staff and inmates, with assaults on staff reaching a high of over 2,700 incidents in the third quarter of 2024. Incidences of self-harm have also increased rapidly, from around 5,700 in early 2014 to almost 20,000 ten years later.

Trends in Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) crime and Home Office police recorded crime for England and Wales, by offence type. Also includes more detailed data on crime such as violence, fraud and anti-social behaviour.

There were approximately 6.59 million crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales in 2024/25, compared with approximately 6.66 million in the previous reporting year. Although there was a slight decline on the previous two reporting years, 2024/25 saw the third-highest number of crimes recorded in the provided time period, with the dip in crime figures reported in 2020/21 due to the COVID-19 restrictions in place throughout that reporting year. In general, the number of crime offenses in England and Wales increased at a fairly rapid pace from 2014 onward, rising from just over four million to a peak of 6.74 million offences in 2022/23. Reversing the trend after a decade of cuts The uptick in crime since the mid-2010s has led to serious questions about how to further reverse this trend and if the police have enough manpower and resources to counter it. Due to austerity measures pursued by the 2010 coalition government, police forces had to contend with fewer resources, leading to cuts in personnel. Between 2010 and 2017, officer numbers across the UK were reduced by 22,000 In more recent years, public sector expenditure on the police force has started to increase and reached 27.3 billion British pounds in 2023/24. As of 2024, there were around 170,500 police officers in the UK, 1,500 fewer than in 2010. Crime rates are highest in Northern England In 2024/25, the police force area with the highest crime rate in this year was Cleveland, located in the North East of England, which had approximately 122 crimes per 1,000 people, compared with the England and Wales average of 87.2. After Cleveland, the highest crime rates were reported by forces that are responsible for policing major UK cities, such as West Yorkshire Police, Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, and the Metropolitan Police in London. The areas with the lowest crime rates are typically more rural in nature, such as Wiltshire, which had the lowest crime rate in this reporting year.

Data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) showing breakdowns of victimisation over time and by various demographic characteristics.

This is an Official Statistics bulletin produced by statisticians in the Home Office, Ministry of Justice and the Office for National Statistics, which brings together, for the first time, a range of official statistics from across the crime and criminal justice system, providing an overview of hate crime in England and Wales.The report is structured to highlight: the victim experience; recording and detecting the crimes and how the various criminal justice agencies deal with an offender once identified, for different strands of hate crime.

Source agency: Home Office

Designation: Official Statistics not designated as National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: An Overview of Hate Crime in England and Wales

The crime rate in the United Kingdom was highest in England and Wales in 2024/25, at **** crimes per 1,000 people, compared with Scotland, which had **** crimes per 1,000 population, and Northern Ireland, at **** crimes per 1,000 people in 2023/24. During this time period, the crime rate of England and Wales has usually been the highest in the UK, while Scotland's crime rate has declined the most, falling from **** crimes per 1,000 people in 2002/03, to just **** by 2021/22. Overall crime on the rise In 2024/25, there were approximately **** million crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales. Although this was a slight decline on the previous two years, it was still far higher than during the mid-2010s. While crime declined quite significantly between 2002/03 and 2013/14, this trend went into reverse in subsequent years. While there are no easy explanations for the recent uptick in crime, it is possible that reduced government spending on the police service was at least partly to blame. In 2009/10, for example, government spending on the police stood at around **** billion pounds, with this cut to *****billion in 2013/14. One of the most visible consequences of these cuts was a sharp reduction in the number of police officers in the UK. Between 2010 and 2017, the number of officers fell by 20,000, although the number of officers returned to pre-austerity levels by the 2020s. A creaking justice system During the period of austerity, the Ministry of Justice as a whole saw its budget sharply decline, from *** billion pounds in 2009/10 to just **** billion by 2015/16. Although there has been a reversal of the cuts to budgets and personnel in the justice system, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the depleted service hard in 2020. A backlog of cases grew rapidly, putting a strain on the ability of the justice system to process cases quickly. In 2022, for example, it took on average *** days for a crown court case to go from offence to conclusion, compared with *** days in 2018. There is also the issue of overcrowding in prisons, with the number of prisoners in England and Wales dangerously close to operational capacity in recent years.

With approximately 122.1 crimes per 1,000 population, Cleveland, in North East England, had the highest crime rate of all the police force areas in England and Wales in 2024/25. High crime rates are evident in other areas of northern England, such as West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester at 114.5 and 108.2, respectively. In the UK capital, London, the crime rate was 105.5 per 1,000 people. The lowest crime rate in England was in the relatively rural areas of Wiltshire in South West England, as well as North Yorkshire. Overall crime in England and Wales The number of crimes in England and Wales reached approximately 6.74 million in 2022/23, falling slightly to 6.66 million in 2023/24, and 6.59 million in 2024/25. Overall crime has been rising steadily across England and Wales for almost a decade, even when adjusted for population rises. In 2022/23, for example, the crime rate in England and Wales was 93.6, the highest since 2006/07. When compared with the rest of the United Kingdom, England and Wales is something of an outlier, as crime rates for Scotland and Northern Ireland have not followed the same trajectory of rising crime. Additionally, there has been a sharp increase in violent crimes and sexual offences since the mid-2010s in England and Wales. While theft offences have generally been falling, the number of shoplifting offences reached a peak of 530,640 in 2024/25. Troubled justice system under pressure Alongside rising crime figures, many indicators also signal that the justice system is getting pushed to breaking point. The percentage of crimes that are solved in England and Wales was just 5.7 percent in 2023, with sexual offences having a clearance rate of just 3.6 percent. Crimes are also taking far longer than usual to pass through the justice system. In 2022, it took an average of 407 days for a crown court case to reach a conclusion from the time of the offence, compared with 233 days in 2018. This is most likely related to the large backlog of cases in crown courts, which reached over 67,750 in 2023. Furthermore, prisons in England and Wales are dangerously overcrowded, with the government even releasing some prisoners early to address the issue.

The most recent crime statistics from the Crime Survey for England and Wales and police recorded crime. Source agency: Office for National Statistics Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: Crime Statisitcs

Presents the most recent crime statistics from the British Crime Survey and police recorded crime. Source agency: Home Office Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: Quarterly crime stats

Presents the most recent crime statistics from the British Crime Survey and police recorded crime.

Responsibility for the compilation and publication of crime statistics for England and Wales will transfer from the Home Office to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 1 April 2012, as announced by the Home Secretary in July 2011. The ONS will publish for the first time on 19 April 2012. If you have any queries regarding the transfer please contact the ONS on crimestatistics@ONS.gsi.gov.uk

Source agency: Home Office

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Crime Quarterly

In 2024/25, there were 51,583 offences recorded by the police in England and Wales as 'sexual assault on a female aged 13 and over', the most of any sexual offence in this reporting year.