Crime in England and Wales: year ending September 2024

Crime against households and people aged 16 years and over, using data from police recorded crime and the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).

This is the latest release. View previous releases

Contact:
Email ONS Centre for Crime and Justice

Release date:
30 January 2025

Next release:
24 April 2025

1. Main points

Crime against individuals and households has generally decreased over the last 10 years with some notable exceptions, such as sexual assault. The latest Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated 9.5 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) September 2024. This was 12% higher than last year's survey (8.5 million incidents in YE September 2023), mainly because of a 19% rise in fraud (to around 3.9 million incidents). This was similar to levels of fraud estimated in YE March 2020.

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 victims in the previous 12 months). Over the last decade, there has been a gradual decrease in domestic abuse, but an increase in sexual assault. Latest estimates from the CSEW for YE September 2024 showed no statistically significant change in these experiences compared with YE March 2023, except for stalking:

  • 4.5% of people aged 16 years and over had experienced domestic abuse in the last year (approximately 2.2 million victims)
  • 2.8% (around 1.4 million people) had experienced stalking, a 0.6 percentage point decrease from 3.4% (1.6 million victims)
  • 2.2% (approximately 1.0 million people) had experienced sexual assault
  • 9.0% had experienced some form of harassment (around 4.4 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 September 2024 showed that:

  • the number of homicides decreased by 4% (to 550 offences) compared with YE September 2023 (572 offences)
  • offences involving knives or sharp instruments increased by 4% (to 55,008 offences) compared with YE September 2023 (52,969 offences)
  • offences involving firearms decreased by 17% (to 5,372 offences) compared with YE September 2023 (6,499 offences)
  • robbery increased by 4% (to 82,347 offences) in comparison with YE September 2023 (78,865 offences)
  • shoplifting offences rose by 23% (to 492,914 offences) compared with the previous year (402,220 offences), and is the highest figure since current police recording practices began for the year ending March 2003
Back to table of contents

2. Things you need to know about this release

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is an interviewer-administered face-to-face survey asking people (aged 16 years and over) resident in households about their experiences of crime in the past year. For the population and offence types it covers, it provides a reliable measure of crime trends, unaffected by police reporting or recording changes.

The CSEW captures a broad range of victim-based crimes with the interview-administered questions giving headline estimates of CSEW crime, which includes 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). Domestic abuse, sexual assault, stalking and harassment are not included in CSEW headline crime and are presented separately.

Sensitive crimes like domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking are covered in a self-completion section of the survey to ensure privacy. 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). The survey does not cover "victimless" crimes, such as drug possession and other crimes against the state.

Police recorded crime figures cover a wider range of offences and populations (for example, residents of institutions, tourists, and crimes against commercial bodies) but do not capture all crimes. Figures are restricted to a subset of notifiable offences that have been reported to and recorded by the police. Changes in recording practices have affected the reliability of these figures, particularly for violent crime, making them better indicators of police activity than crime trends. For further information, see Section 19: Data sources and quality.

Back to table of contents

4. Homicide

The police recorded 550 homicide offences in year ending (YE) September 2024, a 4% decrease from 572 offences in the previous year. The homicide rate was 9.0 per 1 million people, down from 9.6 in YE September 2023. Knives or sharp instruments were used in 43% of homicides, similar to the previous year (44%).

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.

Back to table of contents

5. Knife or sharp instrument offences

Police recorded crime data are better than the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for measuring trends in serious but less common violence, such as offences involving a knife or sharp instrument (knife-enabled crime). Knife-enabled crime increased by 4% in the year ending (YE) September 2024 (to 55,008 offences) compared with YE September 2023 (52,969 offences). This was similar to YE March 2020, before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic (55,170 offences).

The majority of knife-enabled crimes were assault with injury, and assault with intent to cause serious harm (43%), and robbery offences (43%). Fewer than 1% of knife-enabled crimes were homicide offences (0.4%).

Most knife-enabled crime takes place in metropolitan areas across England and Wales, with 30% of all offences recorded by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), 9% by the West Midlands Police and 6% by Greater Manchester Police. The MPS and Greater Manchester Police recorded an 18% increase (to 16,521 offences) and 4% increase (to 3,427 offences) in YE September 2024 compared with the previous year, respectively, while West Midlands Police saw a 6% decrease (to 4,930 offences).

Levels for the MPS Police Force Area were 13% higher compared with the pre-coronavirus YE March 2020 (14,680 offences) and 7% higher for Greater Manchester Police Force Area (3,188 offences). However, levels for West Midlands Police Force Area were 2% lower compared with YE March 2020 (5,023 offences).

Police recorded "possession of article with a blade or point" offences decreased by 1% in YE September 2024 (27,945 offences) compared with YE September 2023 (28,181 offences).

Other sources of data

The latest provisional admissions data for NHS hospitals in England and Wales showed a 3% decrease in the number of admissions for assault by a sharp object in YE September 2024 (to 3,735 admissions). This was 22% below the pre-coronavirus 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.

Back to table of contents

6. Offences involving firearms

Offences involving firearms cover various weapon types, from imitation firearms to handguns and shotguns. These offences decreased by 17% (to 5,372 offences) in year ending (YE) September 2024 compared with YE September 2023 (6,499 offences).

The largest fall was in offences involving imitation firearms, which decreased by 32% (to 1,902 offences). Firearm offence levels were at their lowest levels since YE March 2016 (5,182 offences) and were much lower than at the peak in YE March 2006 (11,088 offences).

Imitation firearms, such as replica weapons and BB guns, are now the most used, closely followed by handguns. Around 35% of these offences involved imitation firearms while handguns were involved in 33%.

More detailed data on offences involving firearms are available for YE March 2024 in our Offences involving the use of weapons: data tables.

Back to table of contents

7. Violence with and without injury

The interviewer-administered parts of the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) give the best picture of trends in violence with and without injury for the household population. 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) but underestimates domestic violence because victims may not disclose it to interviewers (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.

In year ending (YE) September 2024, people aged 16 years and over experienced an estimated 1.1 million incidents of CSEW violence with or without injury, no statistically significant change compared with the previous year. This follows a trend moving generally downward since 1995.

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 in YE September 2024. This shows no statistically significant change compared with the previous year.

!

Trends in police recorded violence with and without injury should be interpreted with caution, as improvements to recording practices have had a substantial impact on the recording of violent crime over the last 10 years. For further information, see Section 19: Data sources and quality.

There was a 5% decrease in police recorded violence with injury (to 539,091 offences) while there was no change in police recorded violence with no injury (817,672 offences) in YE September 2024 compared with YE September 2023. This follows large increases 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. The change in trend may be because the impact of these improvements has lessened. It could also be because of changes in the recording of conduct crimes (such, as stalking, harassment, and coercive and controlling behaviour). For further information, see Section 19: Data sources and quality.

Back to table of contents

8. Domestic abuse

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) self-completion module is more reliable for measuring domestic abuse than police recorded crime data. Estimates from the CSEW year ending (YE) September 2024 showed that 4.5% of people aged 16 years and over experienced domestic abuse in the last year.

When analysing long-term trends, we use the "16 to 59 years" age range to give a comparable data time series. There has been a gradual decrease in domestic abuse over the last 10 years. In YE March 2024, an estimated 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 long-term trends, see our Domestic abuse prevalence and trends, England and Wales: year ending March 2024 bulletin.

!

Police recorded crime data do not provide a measure of domestic abuse prevalence. Caution should be taken when comparing domestic abuse-related police recorded crime data with previous years, because of changes in police recording practices. For further information, see Section 19: Data sources and quality.

The police flagged 827,609 offences as domestic abuse-related in YE September 2024, including 646,211 violence against the person offences. This was a 6% decrease from the previous year (882,705 offences), mainly because of fewer violence against the person offences (down from 696,935 offences). This is likely, in part, to reflect recent changes in police recording practices. The proportion of violence against the person offences flagged as domestic abuse-related was 33%, similar to the previous year's 34%.

Further information and data related to domestic abuse can be found in our Domestic abuse in England and Wales overview: November 2024 bulletin.

Back to table of contents

9. Sexual offences

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) self-completion module provides a more reliable measure of trends in sexual offences than police recorded crime data. In year ending (YE) September 2024, 2.2% of people aged 16 years and over had experienced sexual assault (including attempted offences).

When analysing long-term trends, we use the "16 to 59 years" age range to give a comparable data time series. Although there is year-to-year volatility in these estimates, over the last 10 years there has been an increase in sexual assault, after previously decreasing from YE March 2005 to YE March 2014. In YE March 2024, 2.6% of people aged 16 to 59 years had experienced sexual assault (including attempted offences), compared with 1.5% in YE March 2014.

The CSEW shows 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).

!

Trends in police recorded sexual offences should be interpreted with caution as improvements in recording practices and increased reporting by victims have contributed to increases in recent years. For further information, see Section 19: Data sources and quality.

There have been general increases in police recorded sexual offences over the last decade, largely because of improvements in police recording practices. There was a 5% increase in YE September 2024 (to 199,445 offences), compared with the previous year (190,620 offences).

Roughly 35% (69,958 offences) of all sexual offences recorded by the police in YE September 2024 were rape offences. This was a 3% increase compared with YE September 2023 (67,746 offences).

There was a 1% decrease in the proportion of police recorded sexual offences that had taken place over a year before the crime was 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.

Back to table of contents

10. Stalking and harassment

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) self-completion module provides a more reliable measure of stalking than police recorded crime data. The CSEW year ending (YE) September 2024 estimated that 2.8% of people aged 16 years and over had experienced stalking in the last year. This was a 0.6 percentage-point decrease compared with YE March 2023 (3.4%).

However, it is too early to tell if this change represents a short-term fluctuation or the start of a new trend. The CSEW does not capture all aspects of stalking and we plan to begin research to improve the data collected on stalking in the self-completion section of the CSEW in the near future.

When analysing long-term trends, we use the "16 to 59 years" age range to give a comparable data time series. 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 long-term trends, see our Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2024 bulletin.

In April 2022, the CSEW started measuring harassment, including one-off incidents. This is different from how the police define harassment, as explained in the Home Office Crime Recording Rules for frontline officers and staff publication, where the behaviour must occur on more than one occasion. In YE September 2024, 9.0% of people aged 16 years and over reported experiencing harassment. This cannot be compared with the previous year because of changes in the survey.

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 should be interpreted with caution as changes in recording practices and counting rules have affected the recording of these crimes over the last 10 years. For further information, see Section 19: Data sources and quality.

Changes in recording rules in May 2023 removed the requirement to record two crimes reported at the same time involving the same perpetrator, when one of them was a conduct crime. This led to fewer crimes often associated with conduct crimes, including malicious communications. Malicious communication offences decreased by 45% compared with the previous year (to 127,661 offences). However, police recorded stalking increased by 10% to 133,059 offences, and harassment increased by 10% to 297,188 offences. This may suggest that the changes are leading to a greater focus on identifying these more impactful crimes.

Back to table of contents

11. Robbery

Robbery involves the use of force or threat of force to attempt or complete a theft (see Section 18: Glossary for definition). Police recorded 82,347 robbery offences in year ending (YE) September 2024, a 4% increase compared with the previous year (78,865 offences). Overall robbery offences were still 9% lower than the pre-coronavirus YE March 2020.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated 121,000 robbery incidents in YE September 2024, no statistically significant change compared with the previous year. Police data are preferred for robbery because they are thought not to have been 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.

Back to table of contents

12. Theft offences

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is the best way to track long-term trends in common crimes such as theft. Police data, however, can show trends in specific theft offences that are well reported and well recorded, such as burglary, and can highlight emerging trends.

In year ending (YE) September 2024, the CSEW estimated 2.9 million theft incidents, similar to the previous year. This was 75% lower than the peak in YE December 1995, when there were an estimated 11.6 million incidents.

There were no statistically significant changes for YE September 2024 compared with the previous year in any of the subcategories of theft. This included theft from the person, other theft of personal property, domestic burglary, other household theft, vehicle-related theft and bicycle theft.

Police recorded a 2% increase in theft, with 1.8 million offences in YE September 2024. This rise was mainly because of a 23% increase in shoplifting (to 492,914 offences) and a 22% increase in theft from the person (to 146,109 offences). There have been sharp rises in these offences since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Shoplifting is at its highest level since current police recording practices began in YE March 2003 while theft from the person is at its highest level since YE March 2003.

During the same period, police recorded vehicle offences decreased by 6% (to 375,048 offences) and police recorded burglary, which includes both residential and non-residential burglaries, fell by 4% to 260,728 offences. Burglary levels were 71% lower than in YE March 2003, when current recording practices began.

Back to table of contents

13. Criminal damage

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated around 629,000 incidents of criminal damage in the year ending (YE) September 2024, no statistically significant change compared with YE September 2023.

Police recorded a 7% decrease in criminal damage, with 457,270 offences compared with 490,125 the previous year. While this drop might reflect actual decreases, it could also reflect changes in how offences related to conduct crimes have been recorded since May 2023.

Back to table of contents

14. Fraud

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated 3.9 million fraud incidents in year ending (YE) September 2024, a 19% increase compared with YE September 2023 (3.2 million incidents). This was similar to levels of fraud estimated in YE March 2020.

Bank and credit account fraud increased by 15% to about 2.2 million incidents, and consumer and retail fraud increased by 26% to about 1 million incidents. Around 2.9 million fraud incidents involved a loss, and victims were fully reimbursed in 1.9 million of these cases.

The CSEW also helps provide context for police data. For example, the latest estimates from our Crime in England and Wales: Annual Trend and Demographic dataset showed 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. Police recorded fraud increased by 9% to 1.2 million offences, mainly because of a 16% rise in cases referred by UK Finance (to 565,616 offences) and an 8% increase in cases referred by Cifas (to 376,358 offences). Increases in cases referred to UK Finance were partly a result of UK Finance working with member firms to improve the volume of actionable intelligence shared with the NFIB.

Levels of fraud reported to Action Fraud in YE September 2024 (305,460 offences) were similar to the previous year (304,730 offences).

Back to table of contents

15. Computer misuse

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) captures more incidents of computer misuse than those reported to the police, as it includes unreported cases. The latest CSEW estimates, from our Crime in England and Wales: Annual Trend and Demographic dataset, showed that approximately 1 in 15 computer misuse offences were reported to the police or Action Fraud.

The CSEW estimated around 867,000 incidents of computer misuse in year ending (YE) September 2024, similar to the previous year. This was lower than the 1.8 million incidents in March 2017, the earliest comparable year.

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) records computer misuse offences and refers those with good investigative leads to the police. The NFIB reported a 57% increase in offences referred by Action Fraud for YE September 2024 (to 48,305 offences) compared with YE September 2023 (30,693 offences). This was because of increases in personal hacking offences, and social media and email hacking offences.

Back to table of contents

16. Anti-social behaviour

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for year ending (YE) September 2024 showed that 36% of people experienced or witnessed anti-social behaviour (ASB), slightly up from 34% the previous year.

The number of police recorded ASB incidents, including those by the British Transport Police, remained the same at 1 million incidents.

The CSEW also asks about people's perceptions of ASB in their local area. In YE September 2024, 24% of people thought ASB was a fairly or very big problem, and 8% felt their area had a high level of ASB. These trends have stayed consistent since YE March 2014, with little change each year.

Back to table of contents

17. Data on crime in England and Wales

Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables
Dataset | Released 30 January 2025
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 crimes such as violence, fraud and anti-social behaviour.

Crime in England and Wales: Police Force Area data tables
Dataset | Released 30 January 2025
Police recorded crime figures by Police Force Area and Community Safety Partnership areas (which equate in the majority of instances to local authorities).

Back to table of contents

18. Glossary

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.

Conduct crime

Conduct crime is defined as stalking, harassment or controlling and coercive behaviour, which are offences where there has been unwanted or unwarranted behaviour, which amounts to a course of conduct. The course of conduct or behaviour must comprise two or more occasions or events for an offence to be recorded by the police.

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.

Back to table of contents

19. Data sources and quality

Data sources

Crime statistics are based on 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 selected crimes in the 12 months before the interview. It tracks long-term crime trends from year ending (YE) December 1981 to YE September 2024.

The latest figures are based on interviews between October 2023 and September 2024, covering crimes that occurred between October 2022 and August 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). Questions on domestic violence and sexual assault are included but may underestimate these crimes, as victims might not disclose them to an interviewer. Therefore, domestic abuse and sexual assault are better measured through a self-completion section of the survey and 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

The Home Office collects crime data from the 43 police forces in England and Wales, plus the British Transport Police. These data are sent monthly for each crime on their notifiable offence list. These figures are updated continuously and represent a snapshot taken on 13 December 2024, covering data up to September 2024.

The National Data Quality Improvement Service (NDQIS) tool now helps automatically flag offences involving knives, domestic abuse, and child sexual abuse. By March 2024, 42 police forces had 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 adopt this tool in the future, including for hate crime data.

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 not reported to, or recorded by, the police, but only covers crimes against people resident in households and does not cover all crime types.

The CSEW is better for tracking long-term trends than police recorded crime because it is unaffected by changes in reporting or recording practices. The survey's methods have remained comparable since the CSEW began in 1981.

The CSEW uses a sample, not the whole population. The sample aims to be accurate within practical limits such as time and cost. Therefore, the estimates have some uncertainty and are not precise figures. This affects how changes in 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.

However, it misses offences that are not reported to or recorded by the police. Trends can be affected by changes in how crimes are recorded, police activity, and public reporting, making long-term comparisons hard. There are also concerns about inconsistent recording quality across police forces and over time.

Changes in recording practices have led to discontinuity in police recorded crime figures, especially for violent crime over the last 10 years. Most recently, in May 2023, changes were made to the Home Office Counting Rules for conduct crimes (stalking, harassment, and coercive and controlling behaviour).

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, was removed. However, the police continue to investigate all offences. This has led to a reduction in offences often associated with conduct crimes, such as malicious communications, and an increase in offences such as stalking and harassment. The impact of these changes on statistics is difficult to measure, as compliance in crime recording in this area has been inconsistent across policing. Therefore, caution should be taken when comparing data with previous years.

Figures may differ slightly in later reports for the same period, but this does not mean that earlier figures were wrong at the time that they were reported.

The NDQIS methodology will increase the number of offences identified as being domestic abuse-related. Data from eight police forces showed a 3% rise in such offences. Therefore, the latest year's data cannot be directly compared with previous years.

The NDQIS methodology may 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 and improve data quality ahead of the transition. Since April 2024, online crime data include crimes using SMS and phone calls made over online platforms. Therefore, the latest year's data are not directly comparable with previous years.

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.

Back to table of contents

21. Cite this statistical bulletin

Office for National Statistics (ONS), released 30 January 2025, ONS website, statistical bulletin, Crime in England and Wales: year ending September 2024

Back to table of contents

Contact details for this Statistical bulletin

ONS Centre for Crime and Justice
crimestatistics@ons.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 2075 928695