Table of contents
- Statistics about crime
- Statistics about crime by crime type
- Statistics about crimes experienced by children
- Statistics about perceptions of crime, the police, and the criminal justice system
- Statistics about crime and specific geographic breakdowns
- Statistics about crime and specific demographic breakdowns
- Other sources of crime and justice statistics
- Methodologies related to Office for National Statistics crime statistics for England and Wales
1. Statistics about crime
Crime statistics for England and Wales are produced by multiple departments across government. The aim of this guide is to introduce the main sources of Office for National Statistics (ONS) crime statistics, broken down by potential areas of interest, to provide a more efficient way to find the crime statistics you might need.
We currently publish four quarterly Crime in England and Wales bulletins, which present the latest findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and other sources. We also publish topic-based articles on specific crime types. The crime statistics we publish are for England and Wales only, and are taken from several sources:
Crime Survey for England and Wales
The CSEW is primarily 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 a selected range of incidents in the 12 months prior to the interview. For the population and offence types included in the survey, the CSEW generally provides a better, more consistent measure of trends over time. This is because it is unaffected by changes in levels of reporting to the police or police recording practices. 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).
CSEW headline crime captures a range of personal and household victim-based crime in the interviewer-led parts of the survey. This includes theft, robbery, criminal damage, fraud, computer misuse, and violence with or without injury. Experiences of sexual assault, stalking, and harassment are presented separately in our statistics because we use standalone survey modules to gather information from respondents about these highly sensitive crimes. Therefore, data are captured and processed separately and are not directly comparable.
Home Office police recorded crime
Home Office (HO) police recorded crime has a wider coverage of offences but does not include crimes that have not been reported to the police, or less serious crimes dealt with by magistrates’ courts (for example, “summary offences” such as speeding).
National Fraud Intelligence Bureau
The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) collates fraud data from Action Fraud (the national fraud reporting centre that records incidents of fraud directly from the public and organisations), Cifas (a UK-wide fraud and financial crime prevention service), and UK Finance (which collects information on fraud from the card payments industry in the UK).
Long-term trends in crime
Our Crime in England and Wales quarterly bulletins present long-term trends in crime. The following tables have more detailed information on trends and are published alongside each quarterly crime statistics bulletin, except for the “Annual trend and demographic tables”, which are published annually alongside the year-ending March quarterly bulletin and the “Nature of crime tables”.
Latest crime statistics quarterly bulletin appendix tables
Trends in CSEW crime experienced by adults and children aged 10 to 15 years, and the HO police recorded crime, by offence type. Also includes trends in offender relationship of CSEW violence.
Data from CSEW and HO police recorded crime broken down into quarterly time periods.
Crime in England and Wales: Annual trend and demographic tables
These tables are mainly based on CSEW data and show breakdowns of victimisation over time and by various demographic characteristics.
These tables are based on findings from CSEW interviews and give a picture of the nature of burglary, theft, criminal damage, fraud and computer misuse, violence, and crimes against children aged 10 to 15 years. Nature of crime tables include data on the timing and location of incidents, what was stolen or damaged and the associated costs, injuries sustained, weapons used in violent incidents, the emotional impact on the victim, and information about contact with offenders. These tables include trends over time.
Historical crime data are published by the HO. These datasets give individual offence data from YE December 1898 to YE March 2015, and individual offence data by police force area from YE December 1990 to YE March 2015.
Our Crime trends in England and Wales and how to measure them article explains the different ways we measure crime, and which measure is best for different crime types.
Information on other sources of crime statistics published by departments other than the ONS can be found in Section 7: Other sources of crime and justice statistics.
Back to table of contents2. Statistics about crime by crime type
Violent crime, sexual offences and intimate personal violence and robbery
Statistics on these crime types can be found in the following publications:
Sexual offences in England and Wales overview: year ending March 2022 bulletin
This includes commentary split into separate articles that cover prevalence and trends and victim characteristics with accompanying datasets.
Sexual offending: victimisation and the path through the criminal justice system article
This is a joint publication by statisticians in the Ministry of Justice, Home Office (HO) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS), including appendix tables.
Domestic abuse in England and Wales overview: November 2023 bulletin
Includes an overview and separate articles covering prevalence and trends, victim characteristics, partner abuse in detail, domestic abuse and the criminal justice system, domestic abuse victim services, how domestic abuse data are captured through the criminal justice system, and a research article on the redevelopment of domestic abuse statistics, including appendix tables and a data tool.
Violence against women and girls: research update November 2023 article
An update of our current and future research and publications relating to violence against women and girls (VAWG), including a data landscape tool.
The nature of violent crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2022 article
An overview article of the extent of violent crime including the latest appendix tables and Offences involving the use of weapons dataset for year ending (YE) March 2023.
Nature of crime tables, children aged 10 to 15 years violence dataset
Annual data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). Data include when and where incidents happened, information about offenders, the victim’s perception of the incident, and who they reported the incident to.
Nature of crime tables: violence dataset
Nature of crime tables: robbery dataset
Stalking: findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales dataset
Experiences of harassment in England and Wales: December 2023 bulletin
Estimates on the experiences and nature of harassment from the CSEW, including an accompanying dataset.
Homicide in England and Wales article series
Analyses of information held within the Home Office Homicide Index, which contains detailed record-level information about each homicide recorded by police in England and Wales.
Offences involving the use of firearms: year ending March 2019 article
Analyses of information held by the Home Office (HO) on offences involving the use of firearms recorded by police in England and Wales.
Offences involving the use of weapons: data tables
Data tables relating to offences involving weapons as recorded by police and hospital episode statistics.
Hate crime in England and Wales
This publication, produced by statisticians in the HO and the ONS, provides information on the number of hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales and the number of hate crimes reported by respondents in three combined years of the CSEW.
Modern slavery in the UK: March 2020 article
This article explores the issue and brings together sources linked to modern slavery from a range of organisations.
Latest crime statistics quarterly bulletin
Crime against households and adults using data from the CSEW and police recorded crime.
These tables contain trends of headline figures of crime (number of incidents, incidence rates, prevalence rates, percentages and percentage changes) broken down by crime type, for both police recorded and CSEW crime.
Crime in England and Wales: Other related tables
Firearms, knife- and sharp-instrument offences, offences involving a corrosive substance, hospital admissions for assault with sharp objects, fraud, offences flagged as domestic abuse-related, corruption, anti-social behaviour, perceptions, and non-notifiable incidents.
Theft offences including burglary, vehicle-related thefts, and criminal damage and arson
Statistics on these crime types can be found in the following publications:
These tables are based on findings from Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) interviews and give a picture of the nature of burglary, theft, criminal damage, violence and crimes against children aged 10 to 15 years. Nature of crime tables include data on the timing and location of incidents, what was stolen or damaged, and the associated costs, injuries sustained, and weapons used in violent incidents, the emotional impact on the victim and information about contact with offenders. These tables include trends over time.
Annual data from the CSEW and metal theft offences recorded by the police, including demographic and offence type breakdowns and time series data.
Latest crime statistics quarterly bulletin
Crime against households and adults using data from the CSEW and police recorded crime.
These tables contain trends of headline figures of crime (number of incidents, incidence rates, prevalence rates, percentages and percentage changes) broken down by crime type, for both police recorded and CSEW crime.
Crime in England and Wales: Other related tables
Firearms, knife- and sharp-instrument offences, offences involving a corrosive substance, hospital admissions for assault with sharp objects, fraud, offences flagged as domestic abuse-related, corruption, anti-social behaviour, perceptions, and non-notifiable incidents.
Fraud
Statistics on fraud and further information on how measures of fraud are being developed can be found in the following publications:
Nature of fraud and computer misuse in England and Wales
A summary of the various sources of data for fraud and computer misuse and what these tell us about victims, circumstances and long-term trends.
Nature of fraud and computer misuse: Appendix tables
Taken from the CSEW and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB). Data include numbers of incidents and characteristics of victims.
Nature of crime: fraud and computer misuse tables
Annual data on the nature of fraud and computer misuse offences. Data for the year ending March 2021 and March 2022 are from the Telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales (TCSEW).
Anti-social behaviour
Statistics on anti-social behaviour can be found in the following publications:
Latest crime statistics quarterly bulletin
Crime against households and adults using data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime.
Crime in England and Wales: Other related tables
Firearms, knife- and sharp-instrument offences, offences involving a corrosive substance, hospital admissions for assault with sharp objects, fraud, offences flagged as domestic abuse-related, corruption, anti-social behaviour, perceptions, and non-notifiable incidents.
Crime in England and Wales: Police Force Area tables
The number of police recorded crimes, percentage change from previous year, and rate per 1,000 population by offence group. Firearms, knife and sharp instrument, fraud, and computer misuse. Additional datasets include trends over time and experiences of anti-social behaviour offences by police force area, and crimes flagged as child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation by police force area (YE March editions only).
Crime in England and Wales: Annual trend and demographic tables
Data from the CSEW showing experience of victimisation over time and anti-social behaviour.
Impact of crime
An overview of drug misuse, symptoms of common mental disorder and personal well-being in adults who reported being a victim of crime in the last year. Data are from the Telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales (TCSEW) and includes an accompanying dataset.
The impact of crime on victims and society: March 2022 article
This article summarises the crime harm framework that has been used to categorise existing related data in the Government Statistical Service UK crime and justice statistics database. This database can be filtered by crime harm topic, and also includes information on how to use our Crime Severity Score data tool.
Other crimes against society
This high-level category separates out crimes that do not normally have a specific identifiable victim. “Other crimes against society” comprises categories of “drug offences”, “possession of weapons”, “public order”, and “miscellaneous crimes against society”.
Statistics on “Other crimes against society” can be found in the following publications:
Drug misuse in England and Wales: year ending March 2023 article
An overview of the extent and trends of illicit drug use. Data are from the CSEW. Includes a dataset of appendix tables.
Latest crime statistics quarterly bulletin
Crime against households and adults using data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime.
These tables contain trends of headline figures of crime (number of incidents, incidence rates, prevalence rates, percentages and percentage changes) broken down by crime type, for both police recorded and CSEW crime.
Crime in England and Wales: Other related tables
Firearms, knife- and sharp-instrument offences, offences involving a corrosive substance, hospital admissions for assault with sharp objects, fraud, offences flagged as domestic abuse-related, corruption, anti-social behaviour, perceptions, and non-notifiable incidents.
Back to table of contents3. Statistics about crimes experienced by children
Since January 2009, the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) has asked children aged 10 to 15 years, resident in households in England and Wales, about their experience of crime in the previous 12 months. Data collection from children aged 10 to 15 years was suspended in March 2020 because of restrictions on face-to-face interviewing during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Face-to-face interviewing for children aged 10 to 15 years restarted in April 2022. A limited set of statistics on crime experienced by children is available for year ending (YE) March 2023 and YE March 2024.
Statistics on crime experienced by children aged 10 to 15 years can be found in the following publications:
Latest crime statistics quarterly bulletin
This bulletin contains the latest figures from the CSEW and police recorded crime.
These tables contain trends of headline figures of crime (number of incidents, incidence rates, prevalence rates, percentages and percentage changes) broken down by crime type, for both police recorded and CSEW crime.
Crime in England and Wales: Annual trend and demographic tables
Additional datasets on crimes experienced by children, by personal and household characteristics.
Crime in England and Wales: Other related tables
Contain a more detailed look at the headline figures of crime, broken down by crime type. Child sexual abuse and child exploitation datasets up to year ending March 2020 only.
Nature of crime tables, children aged 10 to 15 years violence datasets
Annual data from the CSEW. Data include when and where incidents happened, information about offenders, the victim's perception of the incident, and who they reported the incident to.
Nature of crime tables, children aged 10 to 15 years theft datasets
Annual data from the CSEW. Data include when and where incidents happened, information about offenders, the victim's perception of the incident, and who they reported the incident to.
Nature of crime tables, children aged 10 to 15 years criminal damage datasets
Annual data from the CSEW. Data include when and where incidents happened, information about offenders, the victim's perception of the incident, and who they reported the incident to.
Child victims of modern slavery in the UK: March 2022 bulletin
This bulletin explores the hidden nature of child victims of modern slavery. It is accompanied by a progress report article on Sourcing data on child victims of modern slavery, UK.
Child abuse in England and Wales: March 2020 bulletin
This bulletin brings together our analysis and research on child abuse in England and Wales. The analysis includes a range of indicators from different data sources and organisations.
This bulletin explores victimisation and negative behaviours of children aged 10 to 15 years living in a household with an adult who reported experiencing domestic abuse, substance misuse, and mental ill-health, and includes appendix tables.
User guide to crime statistics for England and Wales methodology
Definitions of abuse during childhood can be found in Section 5 of this methodology.
Children's online behaviour in England and Wales: year ending March 2020
The prevalence and nature of online activity among children, using data from the 10- to 15-year-olds' CSEW.
Bullying and online experiences among children in England and Wales: year ending March 2023 bulletin
Estimates of the prevalence and nature of bullying and online experiences among children using data from the 10- to 15-year-olds’ Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).
Coronavirus and crime in England and Wales: August 2020 bulletin
This bulletin explores crime in England and Wales during April and May 2020 when the first national lockdown restrictions were at their strictest and includes an appendix table that presents online activity of children based on responses provided by parent or guardian.
Back to table of contents4. Statistics about perceptions of crime, the police, and the criminal justice system
Questions in the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) ask respondents about their perception of change in national and local crime as well as their perceived likelihood of being a victim of burglary, vehicle crime or violent crime. Questions also ask respondents about their confidence in the police and the criminal justice system (CJS) and perceptions of anti-social behaviour.
Statistics on perceptions and worry about crime, perceptions of anti-social behaviour and confidence in the police and CJS can be found in the following publications:
Public perceptions of crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2016
An article covering public perceptions of crime and worry about crime at both the national and local level, using data from the CSEW.
Latest crime statistics quarterly bulletin
Crime against households and adults using data from the CSEW and police recorded crime.
Crime in England and Wales: Annual supplementary tables
Data from the CSEW on perceptions of the police, criminal justice system, crime, and anti-social behaviour. Also contains data on prevalence of intimate personal violence.
Back to table of contents5. Statistics about crime and specific geographic breakdowns
Police force area
Police recorded crime is available for each police force area. There are 44 police forces within England and Wales (including the British Transport Police).
The number of police recorded crimes, percentage change from previous year and rate per 1,000 population by offence group, firearms, knife and sharp instrument, fraud and anti-social behaviour offences by police force area.
Community Safety Partnership and local authority
Recorded crime data by Community Safety Partnership area
Recorded crime figures for Community Safety Partnership areas, which equate in most cases to local authorities. Contains the number of offences for the last two years, percentage change between these two time periods and rates per 1,000 population for the latest year.
Other breakdowns
A set of six datasets, which include personal and household crime incidence, and prevalence and perceptions broken down by region and other demographic characteristics.
Home Office police recorded crime open data tables
These tables, published by the Home Office, contain police recorded crime figures broken down by Community Safety Partnership, quarterly period and individual offence code.
Crime Severity Score
Crime Severity Score (Experimental statistics)
The Crime Severity Score dataset has been developed as an additional measure to supplement existing ONS statistics on crime, for police force areas and Community Safety Partnerships. This measure weights different types of crime according to severity, with more serious crimes carrying a higher weight to better reflect the level of harm to society and demand on the police caused by crime. The data tool enables production of summary charts on trends and comparisons between areas.
Back to table of contents6. Statistics about crime and specific demographic breakdowns
Many of our tables contain data broken down by both personal and household characteristics. Personal characteristics include such characteristics as age, sex, ethnicity, marital status and employment. Household characteristics include such characteristics as household structure, tenure, household income and accommodation type.
The following datasets contain data with these specific demographic breakdowns:
Crime in England and Wales, victim characteristics: year ending March 2023 article
Risk of victimisation using Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) data, including crime experiences of non-household populations using administrative data.
Crime in England and Wales: Annual trend and demographic tables
These tables are mainly based on CSEW data and show breakdowns of victimisation over time and by various demographic characteristics.
Crime in England and Wales: Annual supplementary tables
Data from the CSEW on perceptions of the police, criminal justice system, crime and anti-social behaviour. Also contains data on prevalence of intimate personal violence.
Back to table of contents7. Other sources of crime and justice statistics
Statistics on hate crime, racist incidents, crime outcomes, crimes against businesses and drugs misuse. Also includes arrests made by the police and other powers, number of police officers and other aspects of police personnel; HO also publish police recorded crime by Community Safety Partnership (CSP) area within their police recorded crime open data tables.
Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
Quarterly bulletins of datasets and summaries relating to overall prosecution figures, police referrals and charging rates for offence types such as domestic abuse, sexual assault and abuse, and hate crime.
Statistics for England and Wales on the courts, prison population, perpetrators, and reoffending.
The Police.uk website includes police recorded crime data for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Police.uk website provides street level recorded crime counts presented using a crime mapping tool. This allows you to view crime maps for a specific area (for example, your own neighbourhood) and gives a count of crimes in that area as well as an indication of the street location where the crime occurred.
Crime statistics for Scotland are collected and published separately. The latest police recorded crime data for Scotland can be downloaded from the Scottish Government website.
The latest police recorded crime data for Northern Ireland can be downloaded from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) website.
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