Crime in England and Wales: year ending June 2024

Crime experienced by individuals and households has generally decreased over the last 10 years with some notable exceptions, such as sexual assault. Latest estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) showed that there were an estimated 9.2 million incidents of headline crime (which includes theft, robbery, criminal damage, fraud, computer misuse and violence with or without injury) in the survey year ending (YE) June 2024. This was 18% lower compared with the YE March 2017 survey (the earliest comparable year for CSEW headline crime, including fraud and computer misuse).

Our latest CSEW estimates showed a 10% increase in the number of headline crime incidents compared with last year’s survey (YE June 2023). This increase might be partly because the previous survey reporting period (July 2021 to May 2023) still including times of COVID-19 restrictions. However, it is too early to tell if this change represents a short-term fluctuation or the start of a new trend.

While most crime types did not show a statistically significant change, there were notable increases in robbery, violence with injury and consumer and retail fraud. In the year ending June 2024:

• robbery returned to levels last seen before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, rising to an estimated 139,000 incidents, compared with 60,000 incidents in YE June 2023; although police recorded crime is our preferred source for robbery
• violence with injury also returned to pre-pandemic levels and increased to an estimated 562,000 incidents from around 376,000 incidents in YE June 2023
• consumer and retail fraud increased by 19%, reaching approximately 963,000 incidents

Experiences of domestic abuse, sexual assault, stalking and harassment among people aged 16 years and over are presented separately in our statistics as prevalence estimates (the proportion of all people who were a victim in the previous 12 months). While over the last 10 years there has been a gradual decrease in domestic abuse, there has been an increase in sexual assault. Latest estimates from the CSEW for YE June 2024 showed no statistically significant change compared with YE March 2023:

• 4.6% of people aged 16 years and over had experienced domestic abuse in the last year (approximately 2.2 million victims)
• 3.1% (approximately 1.5 million people) had experienced stalking
• 2.2% (approximately 1.1 million people) had experienced sexual assault
• 8.9% had experienced some form of harassment (approximately 4.3 million people; this estimate is not comparable with the previous year)

Although police recorded crime does not tend to be a good indicator of general trends in crime, it can give more insight into lower-volume, but higher-harm offences reported to the police, including those that the survey does not cover or capture well. Data for YE June 2024 showed that:

• the number of homicides decreased slightly (562 offences) compared with YE June 2023 (578 offences)
• offences involving knives or sharp instruments (excluding Greater Manchester Police) increased by 4% (to 50,973 offences) compared with YE June 2023 (49,187 offences); this was 2% lower than YE March 2020 (51,982 offences)
• offences involving firearms decreased by 5% (to 5,996 offences) compared with YE June 2023 (6,327 offences)
• robbery increased by 6% (to 81,931 offences) in comparison with YE June 2023 (77,106 offences)
• shoplifting offences rose by 29% (to 469,788 offences) compared with the previous year (365,173 offences), and is the highest figure since current police recording practices began for the year ending March 2003

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is an interviewer-administered face-to-face victimisation survey. People (aged 16 years and over) resident in households in England and Wales are asked about their experiences of crime in the 12 months before the interview. For the population and offence types it covers, the CSEW generally provides the better measure of trends over time, because it is unaffected by changes in levels of reporting to the police or police recording practices.

CSEW estimates were temporarily suspended of their accredited official statistics status between July 2022 and September 2024 because of the potential impact of lower response rates on data quality after the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Following the results of our CSEW data quality review in June 2024, the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) independently reviewed our request for reaccreditation and CSEW estimates regained accredited official statistics status in October 2024.

The CSEW captures a broad range of victim-based crimes experienced by those interviewed, not just those that have been reported to, and recorded by, the police. The interview-administered questions give headline estimates of CSEW crime and include theft, robbery, criminal damage, fraud, computer misuse, and violence with or without injury. They are reported as both incidents (the estimated number of crimes) and prevalence (the estimated proportion of the population that were victims). Experiences of domestic abuse, sexual assault, stalking and harassment are not included in CSEW headline crime and are presented separately in our statistics.

Because of the sensitive nature of the subject matter, domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking are covered by the CSEW in a self-completion section of the survey, as victims may be reluctant to disclose these experiences directly to an interviewer. Harassment is also collected in a different part of the survey. For this reason, these estimates are reported separately in Section 8: Domestic abuse, Section 9: Sexual offences and Section 10: Stalking and harassment.

The survey excludes crimes against commercial or public sector bodies, tourists, or those living in communal establishments (such as care homes, student halls of residence, and prisons). Separate prevalence estimates for children aged 10 to 15 years are reported annually in July in our Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables. The survey does not cover “victimless” crimes, such as drug possession and other crimes against the state. For more information, see our Crime trends in England and Wales and how we measure them article.

Police recorded crime figures are restricted to a subset of notifiable offences that have been reported to and recorded by the police. It covers a wider population and a broader set of offences than the CSEW (for example, residents of institutions, tourists, and crimes against commercial bodies). However, it does not include all crimes and especially those that do not come to the attention of the police or are not recorded by them.

Changes in recording practices have led to discontinuity in police recorded crime figures over time, with changes having a particularly large impact on the recording of violent crime over the last 10 years. Therefore, police recorded violence does not provide reliable trends in crime but is a better indicator of police activity. For further information, see Section 17: Data sources and quality.

We have reorganised the related data that are published alongside this bulletin into two datasets. All national-level data can be found in our Crime in England and Wales: appendix tables and all lower-level geography data at police force area and community safety partnership level can be found in our Crime in England and Wales: police force area data tables.

Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime data can be used together to develop a more complete picture of the number of crimes experienced by individuals and households (Table 1). The CSEW provides our preferred measure for incidents of violence with and without injury, theft offences, criminal damage, fraud and computer misuse while police recorded crime is our preferred source for homicide, offences involving weapons and robbery.

Table 1: Number of crime incidents by main crime types, to year ending June 2024

Notes:

1. Police recorded crime are not designated as accredited official statistics.
2. CSEW data relate to people aged 16 years and over. PRC data relate to crimes against individuals (including children), households, businesses, and society.
3. CSEW estimates are not statistically significant at the 5% level. PRC figures are not subject to significance testing because they are not estimates but actual counts of crimes reported to and recorded by the police.
4. Data on knife or sharp instrument offences exclude Greater Manchester Police for the whole time series back to the year ending March 2011.

For the crime types and population it covers, the CSEW is a better indicator of long-term trends than police recorded crime. It is unaffected by changes in levels of reporting to the police or police recording practices. Since the mid-1990s, there have been long-term falls in violence with and without injury, theft offences and criminal damage. Estimates for fraud and computer misuse are only available from year ending (YE) March 2017 onwards. While there have been decreases in computer misuse incidents over this period, levels of fraud have remained relatively stable. For more information, see Table A1 in our Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables.

Our headline CSEW crime measure captures theft offences, robbery, criminal damage, fraud, computer misuse and violence with or without injury. There were an estimated 9.2 million incidents of CSEW headline crime in YE June 2024, a 10% increase compared with YE June 2023 (8.4 million incidents). Although there were no statistically significant changes across any of the crime types included in this measure except for robbery, there were increases in the crime sub-types of violence with injury and consumer and retail fraud.

It is important to note that some of these increases may be explained because the YE June 2023 survey’s reporting period (July 2021 to May 2023) still contained times of social restrictions related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It is too early to tell if this change represents a short-term fluctuation or the start of a new trend. In addition, while robbery is included in the CSEW, there can be some volatility in these estimates from year to year because of the relatively small number of victims.

Providing context from a longer time period, CSEW headline crime remains lower than in the YE March 2017 survey (11.2 million incidents). This is the earliest comparable year for CSEW headline crime when questions on fraud and computer misuse were first included in the survey.

Prevalence of crime and crime related experiences

The CSEW also presents prevalence estimates (the proportion of people who were a victim in the last 12 months) for a wider set of crimes and crime-related experiences, including domestic abuse, sexual assault, stalking and harassment (Table 2). Prevalence varied by individual crime type, with a higher proportion of the population experiencing harassment (8.9%), followed by theft (7.4%) and fraud (6.2%). For more information, see Table A3 in our Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables.

While over the last 10 years there has been a gradual decrease in the proportion of people experiencing violence with and without injury, theft, criminal damage and domestic abuse, the trend in stalking has remained relatively flat and there has been an increase in sexual assault. This increase in sexual assault followed a decrease in the preceding nine-year period (from which time it was added to the CSEW in YE March 2005 to YE March 2014).

Table 2: Proportion of people experiencing a crime or crime-related experience, to year ending June 2024

Notes:

1. Estimates for computer misuse are statistically significant (S) at the 5% level. 
2. When presenting long-term trends for domestic abuse, stalking and sexual assault we use the 16 to 59 years age range to give a comparable time-series; data for all people aged 16 years and over are only available from the year ending (YE) March 2022 onwards.
3. The category “sexual assault” includes attempts.
4. Prevalence estimates for YE June 2023 are not available for domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking because an error in the survey resulted in missing data for some respondents from October 2022 to January 2023 inclusive. In addition, prevalence estimates for harassment are not comparable with the previous year because of changes to the CSEW questionnaire.
5. Timeline data for domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking covers the period up to YE March 2024.

Insights from police recorded crime

Police recorded crime has wider coverage than the CSEW, as it includes offences that come to the attention of the police committed against all people (including those aged under 16 years, and those not permanently resident in households), businesses and organisations, as well as wider crimes against society, such as drug and weapons possession.

The police recorded 6.7 million crimes in YE June 2024, similar to YE June 2023 (6.7 million). However, levels of police recorded crime have increased from 4 million crimes in YE March 2014. While this may include some genuine changes in trends in crimes that are reported to and recorded by the police, it will also be because of changes in police activity and recording practices.

Information on the investigative outcomes of crimes recorded by the police can be found in the Home Office’s Crime outcomes in England and Wales publication.

The police recorded 562 homicide offences in year ending (YE) June 2024, a 3% decrease compared with YE June 2023 (578 offences). The rate of homicide in the population for YE June 2024 was 9.3 per 1 million people, a decrease from YE June 2023 (9.7 per 1 million people).

Of all recorded homicides in YE June 2024, the proportion of homicides where a knife or sharp instrument was the method of killing was 44%. This was a slight increase compared with 42% in the previous year. Proportions for homicides where a knife or sharp instrument was the method of killing exclude data from Greater Manchester Police.

For the latest analysis on homicide offences held within the Home Office Homicide Index, see our Homicide in England and Wales: year ending March 2023 article.

Police recorded crime provides a better measure than the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) of higher-harm but less common types of violence, such as those involving a knife or sharp instrument (knife-enabled crime).

Knife-enabled crime recorded by the police in year ending (YE) June 2024 increased by 4% (50,973 offences) compared with YE June 2023 (49,187 offences). A notable increase was seen in the number of robberies involving a knife or sharp instrument (up 11% compared with the previous year). Knife-enabled crime overall was still 2% lower than pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic levels in YE March 2020 (51,982 offences). All figures exclude Greater Manchester Police. For further information, see Section 17: Data sources and quality.

Knife-enabled crimes continue to be concentrated in metropolitan areas across England and Wales (excluding Greater Manchester Police), with 31% of all offences recorded by the Metropolitan Police Service and 10% by the West Midlands Police. Compared with YE June 2023, knife or sharp instrument offences recorded by the Metropolitan Police saw an increase of 16% (to 15,802 offences), while West Midlands Police saw a 1% decrease (to 5,122 offences). Levels for the Metropolitan Police were 8% higher compared with the pre-pandemic YE March 2020 (14,680 offences) while levels for West Midlands Police were 2% higher (5,023 offences).

Police recorded “possession of article with a blade or point” offences decreased by 4% in YE June 2024 (27,553 offences) compared with YE June 2023 (28,582 offences). This follows substantial increases in recent years, which may have been influenced by targeted police action to tackle knife crime.

Other sources of data

The latest provisional admissions data for NHS hospitals in England and Wales showed no change in the number of admissions for assault by a sharp object in YE June 2024 (3,801 admissions). This was similar to YE June 2023 (3,809 admissions) and 20% below the pre-pandemic YE March 2020 (4,769 admissions).

Data related to stop and searches can be found in the Home Office's Police powers and procedures England and Wales statistics publication.

The recording of offences involving firearms covers a wide range of weapon types, from imitation firearms to handguns and shotguns. Offences involving firearms decreased by 5% (to 5,996 offences) compared with year ending (YE) June 2023 (6,327 offences). Levels of offences involving firearms have remained relatively stable since YE March 2017 and are lower than at the peak in YE March 2006 (11,088 offences).

Within offences involving firearms, imitation firearms, such as replica weapons and BB guns, have recently overtaken handguns as the most used weapon. Around 40% of these offences involved imitation firearms while 31% involved handguns in YE June 2024.

For further data relating to offences involving weapons, see our Offences involving the use of weapons: data tables.

For the crime types it covers, the interviewer-administered parts of the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) provide the best picture of the overall trends in violence with and without injury incidents experienced by the household population. While it provides a good indication of the prevalence of violence with or without injury where the perpetrator is an acquaintance or a stranger (non-domestic violence), it underestimates the prevalence of domestic violence, as victims may be reluctant to disclose in the presence of an interviewer (please see Section 8: Domestic abuse for our preferred prevalence estimate). For information on sexual offences, stalking and harassment, see Section 9: Sexual offences and Section 10: Stalking and harassment.

According to the CSEW for year ending (YE) June 2024, people aged 16 years and over experienced an estimated 1.1 million violence with or without injury incidents. There was no statistically significant change compared with YE June 2023 survey. This follows on from a general downward trend in violent crime since its peak in 1995. However, there was a 49% increase in the sub-category of violence with injury (to 562,000 incidents) compared with the previous year. This was likely because the YE June 2023 survey’s reporting period (July 2021 to May 2023) still contained periods of social restrictions related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Violence with injury levels in YE June 2024 were similar to YE March 2020 (591,000 incidents).

The prevalence of CSEW violence with and without injury was 0.5% where the perpetrator was an acquaintance and 0.8% where the perpetrator was a stranger, according to the CSEW for YE June 2024. There was no statistically significant change compared with the previous year’s survey (YE June 2023).

There was a 3% decrease in police recorded violence with or without injury offences (to 1.4 million) in YE June 2024, compared with YE June 2023. This follows a period of large increases in police recorded violence against the person since 2015, after His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) Crime-recording inspection report (PDF, 1,106KB) highlighted under-recording of such offences. While this decrease may reflect that the impact of inflationary changes because of recording improvements has fallen away, it could also reflect the way in which offences linked to conduct crimes (such, as stalking, harassment and coercive and controlling behaviour) are being recorded since May 2023. For further information, see the Strengths and limitations subsection of Section 17: Data sources and quality.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) self-completion module provides a more reliable measure of domestic abuse than police recorded crime data. Estimates from the CSEW showed that 4.6% of people aged 16 years and over experienced domestic abuse in the previous year according to the survey in the year ending (YE) June 2024.

There has been a gradual decrease in domestic abuse over the last 10 years. The CSEW for YE March 2024 estimated that 5.4% of people aged 16 to 59 years experienced domestic abuse in the last year compared with 6.5% in YE March 2014. For domestic abuse long-term trend data, see our Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2024 bulletin.

The police flagged 830,926 recorded offences as domestic abuse related in YE June 2024, including 651,397 violence against the person offences. Overall, the number of domestic abuse-related offences decreased 8% compared with YE June 2023 (906,708 recorded offences). This decrease is mainly because of decreases in violence against the person offences (from 715,951 offences). While this decrease may reflect some genuine falls in these offences, it could also reflect the way in which offences linked to conduct crimes (stalking and harassment) are being recorded since May 2023. The proportion of violence against the person offences that were flagged as domestic abuse related was 33%. This is similar to the previous year (34%).

Further information and data related to domestic abuse can be found in our Domestic abuse in England and Wales overview: November 2023 bulletin.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) self-completion module provides a more reliable measure of long-term trends for sexual offences than police recorded crime data. Latest estimates from the CSEW for year ending (YE) June 2024 showed that 2.2% of people aged 16 years and over had experienced sexual assault (including attempted offences).

Although there is year-to-year volatility in these estimates, over the last 10 years there has been an increase in sexual assault. The CSEW for YE March 2024 estimated 2.6% of people aged 16 to 59 years had experienced sexual assault (including attempted offences) in the last year compared with 1.5% in YE March 2014. For sexual assault long-term trend data, see our Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2024 bulletin.

The CSEW provides important context for police figures. For example, latest estimates showed that fewer than one in six victims of rape or assault by penetration reported the crime to the police (Table 13 of our Nature of sexual assault by rape or penetration, England and Wales dataset).

The trend in police recorded sexual offences has remained relatively stable since YE March 2022. Offences increased by 1% in YE June 2024 (194,434 offences) compared with the previous year (192,432 offences). Roughly 36% (69,184 offences) of all sexual offences recorded by the police in YE June 2024 were rape offences. This was a 2% increase compared with YE June 2023 (67,903 offences). This follows general increases in sexual offences over the last decade largely because of improvements in police recording practices.

There was a 1% decrease in the proportion of police recorded sexual offences that had taken place over a year prior to the crime being recorded compared with the previous year (21%).

Further data related to sexual offences can be found in our Sexual offences in England and Wales overview: year ending March 2022 bulletin.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) self-completion module provides a more reliable measure of long-term trends for stalking than police recorded crime data. Latest estimates from the CSEW for year ending (YE) June 2024 showed that 3.1% of people aged 16 years and over had experienced stalking in the last year.

The CSEW for YE March 2024 estimated that 3.8% of people aged 16 to 59 years had experienced stalking in the last year. The trend has been fairly flat over the last 10 years. For stalking long-term trend data, see our Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2024 bulletin.

A measure of harassment was added to the CSEW in April 2022. This was designed to measure wider experiences of harassment, including one-off incidents of harassment, and differs from the definition of harassment in police recorded crime. In the YE June 2024 survey, 8.9% of people aged 16 years and over reported experiencing some form of harassment. This cannot be compared with YE June 2023 because of changes to the CSEW questionnaire.

Further data related to stalking and harassment can be found in our Nature of violent crime: year ending March 2024 article.

Police recorded stalking and harassment offences include stalking, harassment, coercive and controlling behaviour, and malicious communications. The police recorded 620,861 stalking and harassment offences in YE June 2024. This was an 11% decrease compared with the previous year (696,505 offences). This was largely because of a 46% decrease in the recording of malicious communications (to 141,651 offences). The changes in recording rules for conduct crimes (stalking, harassment and coercive and controlling behaviour) in May 2023 removed the requirement to record two crimes, reported at the same time by a victim involving the same perpetrator, when one of them was a conduct crime. This has led to a reduction in those crimes often associated with conduct crimes, including malicious communications.

In YE June 2024, police recorded stalking increased by 12% (to 132,912 offences) and police recorded harassment also increased by 11% (to 293,493 offences) compared with the previous year. Over the same time, there was a 1% decrease in the number of coercive and controlling behaviour offences (44,816 offences).

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is the most reliable indicator for long-term trends in the more common types of crime experienced by the general population, such as theft. However, police recorded crime data can give reliable indications of trends in some offences involving theft that are well-reported to the police (for example, burglary), and can provide better insight into emerging short-term trends.

The CSEW for year ending (YE) June 2024 estimated that there were 2.8 million incidents of theft offences, which was a similar level compared with YE June 2023. This remains 76% lower than peak year in YE December 1995 (11.6 million incidents).

While there were no statistically significant changes in overall theft, snatch theft (a sub-type of theft from the person) more than doubled in YE June 2024 (to approximately 78,000 incidents) compared with YE June 2023 (32,000 incidents). These increases should be interpreted with caution because snatch theft estimates are subject to year-to-year volatility, because of the small number of victims found in the sample.

Police recorded theft increased by 3% (to 1.8 million offences) compared with YE June 2023 (1.7 million offences). This rise was predominantly the result of increases in shoplifting offences and theft from the person offences. There were 469,788 shoplifting offences recorded by the police in YE June 2024, a 29% increase compared with YE June 2023 (365,173 offences). Police recorded theft from the person offences increased by 20% in YE June 2024 (to 139,368 offences) compared with YE June 2023 (116,312 offences).

During the same time period, there was a 5% decrease in vehicle offences (to 380,329 offences) compared with YE June 2023 (400,774 offences). This was because of a 9% decrease in theft from a vehicle (to 192,805 offences) compared with YE June 2023 (212,684 offences).

Police recorded burglary includes both residential and non-residential categories, such as those committed against a business premises, and therefore is broader than the residential burglary captured by the CSEW. Police recorded burglary decreased by 3% in the year to June 2024 (264,963 offences) compared with the previous year and is 70% lower than the year to March 2003 (890,099 offences), when current recording practices began.

Increases were seen in police recorded robbery in the year to June 2024, up by 6% (to 81,931 offences) in comparison with the previous year (77,106 offences). However, it remained lower than the number of offences recorded before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, being 9% below that in YE March 2020 (90,199 offences). CSEW robbery also increased to an estimated 139,000 incidents in YE June 2024 compared with YE June 2023 (60,000 incidents) and returned to levels seen in YE March 2020. Police recorded crime is our preferred measure for robbery because we do not consider it subject to extensive changes in recording practices, while the CSEW estimates are subject to year-to-year volatility because of the small number of victims found in the sample.

The CSEW for YE June 2024 estimated that there were approximately 668,000 incidents of criminal damage, so there was no statistically significant change compared with the previous year’s survey (approximately 658,000 offences). Police recorded criminal damage decreased 7% (to 463,687 offences) compared with the previous year (496,527 offences). While this decrease may reflect some genuine falls in these offences, it could also reflect the way in which offences linked to conduct crimes (stalking and harassment) are being recorded since May 2023.

Estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) showed that there were 3.6 million incidents of fraud experienced by individuals in year ending (YE) June 2024. This represents no statistically significant change compared with YE June 2023 (3.3 million incidents). Levels were also similar to YE March 2017 (earliest comparable year for fraud). Although there was no change in overall CSEW fraud, there was a 19% increase in consumer and retail fraud (to approximately 963,000 incidents) compared with the previous year. In YE June 2024 survey, approximately 2.7 million fraud incidents involved a loss (of money or property), and the victim was fully reimbursed in 1.9 million of these incidents.

The CSEW can also provide important context for police figures. For example, the latest estimates shown in our Crime in England and Wales: Annual Trend and Demographic dataset estimated that one in seven fraud offences were reported to the police or Action Fraud (the public-facing national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre).

Fraud offences reported to the police are recorded and collected by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) from Action Fraud and two industry bodies, Cifas and UK Finance. Overall, police recorded fraud was 11% higher (1.3 million offences) compared with YE June 2023. This increase in overall fraud was mainly influenced by a rise in offences referred from UK Finance, as they reported a 22% increase (to 569,933 offences), compared with the previous year (465,894 offences). This was partly a result of UK Finance working with member firms to improve the volume of actionable intelligence shared with the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB).

Action Fraud also reported a 7% increase in fraud (317,332 offences) compared with YE June 2023 (296,663 offences). However, Cifas reported a 1% decrease in fraud (to 364,684 offences) compared with YE June 2023 (366,797 offences).

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) provides a better indication of the volume of computer misuse offences experienced by people aged 16 years and over than those reported to the police, as it captures incidents that go unreported to the police. The latest CSEW estimates, as shown in our Crime in England and Wales: Annual Trend and Demographic dataset, showed that approximately 1 in 14 computer misuse offences were reported to the police or Action Fraud.

The CSEW estimated that there were approximately 952,000 incidents of computer misuse in year ending (YE) June 2024, which represents no statistically significant change compared with YE June 2023. Levels were lower compared with 1.8 million incidents in YE March 2017, which is the earliest comparable year for computer misuse.

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) record computer misuse offences and refer those with good investigative leads to the police for further investigation. The NFIB reported a 70% increase in computer misuse offences referred by Action Fraud (from 26,737 to 45,345 offences) for YE June 2024 compared with YE June 2023. This was because hacking of social media and email offences doubled during this time (to 29,703 offences).

Estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for YE June 2024 survey showed that 36% of people had experienced or witnessed some type of anti-social behaviour (ASB). This is slightly higher than in YE June 2023 survey (34%).

There was no change in the volume of police recorded ASB incidents in YE June 2024 (including the British Transport Police), compared with YE June 2023 (1 million incidents).

The CSEW also asks questions around individuals’ perceptions of ASB in their local area, resulting in both a general and more specific measure based on several types of ASB. In the YE June 2024 survey, the CSEW estimated that 25% of people perceived ASB to be a fairly or very big problem in their local area (general measure) and 8% of people perceived that their local area had a high level of ASB. Since the YE March 2014 survey, the trends across both measures have remained consistent, with little change year on year.

Computer misuse

Computer misuse is when fraudsters hack or use computer viruses or malware to disrupt services, obtain information illegally or extort individuals or organisations.

Criminal damage

Criminal damage results from any person who, without lawful excuse, destroys or damages any property belonging to another. This includes either intending to destroy or damage any such property or being reckless as to whether any such property would be destroyed or damaged.

Fraud

Fraud involves a person dishonestly and deliberately deceiving a victim for personal gain of property or money or causing loss or risk of loss to another. Most incidents fall under the legal definition of “fraud by false representation”, where a person makes a representation that they know to be untrue or misleading (for example, banking and payment card frauds and dating scams). Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimates cover a broad range of fraud offences, including attempts, involving a loss and incidents not reported to the authorities. See the Glossary section of our Nature of fraud and computer misuse in England and Wales: year ending March 2022 article for definitions of the different fraud types.

Overall theft offences

CSEW theft offences include all personal and household crime where items are stolen, including theft from the person, other theft of personal property, domestic burglary, vehicle-related theft and bicycle theft.

Robbery

Robbery is an offence in which force, or the threat of force, is used either during or immediately before a theft or attempted theft. Mugging is an informal term for robbery. In this bulletin, we use the term “robbery”.

Violence with and without injury

Violent crime covers a range of offence types from minor assaults, such as pushing and shoving that result in no physical harm, to murder. This includes offences where the victim was intentionally stabbed, punched, kicked, pushed, or jostled, as well as offences where the victim was threatened with violence, regardless of injury.

More information and further definitions can be found in the “Offence types” section of our User guide to crime statistics for England and Wales: March 2024.

Data sources

Crime statistics rely on data collected from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime. CSEW estimates are accredited official statistics and were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in October 2024. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled “accredited official statistics”. Police recorded crime data are not designated as accredited official statistics.

Crime Survey for England and Wales

The CSEW is primarily an interviewer-administered face-to-face victimisation survey in which people (aged 16 years and over) resident in households in England and Wales are asked about their experiences of a selected range of incidents in the 12 months before the interview. It provides important information relating to long-term trends in crime from year ending (YE) December 1981 to YE June 2024.

The latest CSEW figures are based on interviews conducted between July 2023 and June 2024, measuring experiences of crime in the 12 months before the interview. This means these crimes could have occurred any time between July 2022 and May 2024.

The interview-administered questions give headline estimates of CSEW crime and include theft, robbery, criminal damage, fraud, computer misuse, and violence with or without injury. They are reported as both incidents (the estimated number of crimes) and prevalence (the estimated proportion of the population that were victims). Although there are interview-administered questions related to violence with and without injury perpetrated by a partner, ex-partner or relative (domestic violence) and sexual assault, they underestimate the prevalence of domestic violence and sexual assault as victims may be reluctant to disclose directly to an interviewer. Therefore, our preferred measure of domestic abuse (which includes use of force) and sexual assault are covered by the CSEW in a self-completion section of the survey and estimates are reported separately. While sexual assault estimates from the interviewer-administered questions are excluded from CSEW headline crime, domestic violence is included as it is a form of violence with and without injury.

Police recorded crime

Police recorded crime data are supplied to us by the Home Office, who are responsible for the collation of recorded crime data supplied by the 43 territorial police forces of England and Wales, plus the British Transport Police. These data are supplied to the Home Office monthly for each crime within their notifiable offence list.

The recorded crime figures are collated through a live administrative system that is continually being updated as forces submit data. The data represent a “snapshot” of the live database taken on 12 September 2024 (for data up to the end of June 2024).

The National Data Quality Improvement Service (NDQIS) tool is now in use for four police collections to automatically flag offences involving knives or sharp instruments, domestic abuse-related offences and child sexual abuse-related offences, rather than relying solely on a manually added marker. As of YE March 2024, 42 police forces have switched to NDQIS for knife or sharp instrument offences, 37 forces for domestic-abuse related offences and 31 for child sexual abuse-related offences. Since April 2024, 28 police forces have started to use NDQIS for identifying offences that have an online element. Further forces will be moving to this methodology in future releases and there are plans to apply it to the hate crime collection.

For more information on NDQIS methodology, please see our Police recorded offences involving knives or sharp instruments: methodology changes.

Strengths and limitations

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) includes crimes that are not reported to, or recorded by, the police, but is limited to crimes against people resident in households and does not cover all crime types.

The CSEW is a better indicator of long-term trends for the crime types and population it covers than police recorded crime because it is unaffected by changes in levels of reporting to the police or police recording practices. The victimisation methodology and the crime types included in the main count of crime have remained comparable since the CSEW began in 1981.

The CSEW gathers information from a sample rather than from the whole population. The sample is designed to be as accurate as possible given practical limitations such as time and cost constraints. Therefore, the estimates presented in this bulletin contain some uncertainty and are not precise figures. This can have an impact on how changes in the estimates should be interpreted. View more information on how we measure and communicate uncertainty for our surveys.

Police recorded crime has wider offence coverage and population coverage than the CSEW. It is the primary source of local crime statistics and is a good measure of offences that are well reported to, and well recorded by, the police, including lower-volume crimes (for example, homicide). In addition, the time lag between occurrence of crime and reporting results tends to be short, providing an indication of emerging trends.

Police recorded crime excludes offences that are not reported to, or not recorded by, the police. Trends can be influenced by changes in recording practices, or police activity and public reporting of crime, making it difficult to make long-term comparisons. There are also concerns about the quality of recording and that crime is not recorded consistently across police forces or over time.

Changes in recording practices have, over time, led to discontinuity in police recorded crime figures, with changes having a particularly large impact on the recording of violent crime over the last 10 years. Most recently, conduct crimes, such as stalking and harassment, which were until May 2023 recorded in addition to the principal crimes, are now recorded as the principal offence if the conduct crime is considered to be the more impactful offence on the victim. As a result, offences that often occur alongside a conduct crime will no longer be recorded and will lead to a reduction in other offences typically disclosed as part of the conduct crime (such as malicious communications for a victim of stalking or harassment).

Figures may differ slightly from those published in subsequent bulletins for the same period, although this does not mean that the figures previously published were inaccurate at the time that they were reported.

The NDQIS methodology will lead to an increase in offences identified as being domestic abuse related. Data based on eight police forces on both the old and new NDQIS method showed that the number of additional offences that were identified as being domestic abuse related across these forces was 3%. Therefore, data for the latest year are not directly comparable with previous data.

It is anticipated that the NDQIS methodology will also lead to an increase in offences identified as having an online element. For most of the police forces that are not yet submitting data via NDQIS, force analysts have started to prepare for the transition and may have started work on reviewing and improving the data quality ahead of the transition. Guidance for police forces has also been reviewed, and since April 2024, online crime data include crimes committed wholly or partly using SMS and also phone calls, but only where the phone call was known to have been made over an online platform. Therefore, data for the latest year are not directly comparable with previous data.

Figures for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) are not included in the England and Wales National and Regional totals of knife or sharp instrument offences for the years ending June 2023 and June 2024. GMP have been unable to supply offences involving knives or sharp instruments data for the period of July 2023 to June 2024, because of an IT issue in processing these data.

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Crime in England and Wales Quality and Methodology Information (QMI) report and our User guide to crime statistics for England and Wales: March 2024.