Crime in England and Wales: year ending December 2024

Crime against individuals and households has generally decreased over the last 10 years with some notable exceptions, such as sexual assault. However, there have been increases across some crime types in the latest reporting period. The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated 9.6 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) December 2024. This was 14% higher than last year's survey (8.4 million incidents in YE December 2023) because of increases in fraud and theft. Within CSEW headline crime: 

• fraud increased by 33% (to around 4.1 million incidents) 

• theft increased by 13% (to around 2.9 million incidents), mainly because of a 50% increase (to around 483,000 incidents) in theft from the person  

• computer misuse decreased by 23% (to around 757,000 incidents) because of a 29% fall in incidents of unauthorised access to personal information 

Experiences of domestic abuse, sexual assault, and stalking among people aged 16 years and over are presented separately as prevalence estimates (the proportion of all people who were victims in the previous 12 months) in our statistics. Over the last decade, there has been a gradual decrease in domestic abuse, but an increase in sexual assault. Data from the YE December 2024 CSEW showed no statistically significant change in these estimates compared with the YE March 2023 survey. In YE December 2024: 

• 4.2% of people aged 16 years and over (around 2 million victims) had experienced domestic abuse in the last year  

• 3.1% (around 1.5 million people) had experienced stalking 

• 2.1% (around 1 million people) had experienced sexual assault 

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

• the number of homicides decreased by 5% (to 535 offences), compared with YE December 2023 (563 offences); this was the lowest in a decade (533 offences in YE March 2014) 

• offences involving knives or sharp instruments increased by 2% (to 54,587 offences), compared with YE December 2023 (53,413 offences) 

• offences involving firearms decreased by 20% (to 5,252 offences), compared with YE December 2023 (6,563 offences); this was mainly because of a 32% fall (to 1,882 offences) in imitation firearms, such as replica weapons and BB guns  

• there was no change in robbery (81,135 offences), compared with YE December 2023 (80,822 offences); a 54% increase (to 14,707 offences) in robbery of business property was offset by a 7% decrease (to 66,428 offences) in robbery of personal property 

• shoplifting offences rose by 20% (to 516,971 offences), compared with the previous year (429,873 offences); this is the highest figure since current police recording practices began in YE March 2003

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. It provides a reliable measure of crime trends for the population and offence types it covers. This is because it is unaffected by police reporting or recording changes. 

The CSEW captures a broad range of victim-based crimes with the interviewer-administered questions. It gives headline estimates of CSEW crime, which includes theft, robbery, criminal damage, fraud, computer misuse, and violence with or without injury. Estimates 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 like 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, but do not capture all crimes. For example, they include residents of institutions, tourists, and crimes against commercial bodies. Figures are restricted to a subset of notifiable offences that have been reported to and recorded by the police, as described in the Home Office's Crime Recording Rules for frontline officers and staff guidance. Changes in recording practices have affected the reliability of these figures, particularly for violent crime. This makes them better indicators of police activity than crime trends. For further information, see Section 19: Data sources and quality.

Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime data together give a fuller picture of crimes experienced by individuals and households (Table 1). The CSEW is better for tracking long-term trends in violence with or without injury, theft offences, criminal damage, fraud, and computer misuse. Police data are preferred for homicide, offences involving weapons, and robbery.

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

Notes 

1. Police recorded crime are not designated as accredited official statistics. 
2. CSEW data cover people aged 16 years and over. PRC data include crimes against individuals (including children), households, businesses, and society. 
3. Changes in CSEW fraud, theft and computer misuse were statistically significant (S) at the 5% level. PRC figures are actual counts, not estimates, so they are not tested for significance.

Since the mid-1990s, the CSEW has shown long-term decreases in violence with or without injury, theft offences, and criminal damage. Fraud and computer misuse estimates are only available from year ending (YE) March 2017 onwards. While fraud levels have fluctuated over this time period, there has been a decrease in computer misuse. For more information, see Table A1 in our Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables dataset. 

Our headline CSEW crime measure captures theft offences, robbery, criminal damage, fraud, computer misuse, and violence with or without injury. There were an estimated 9.6 million incidents of CSEW headline crime in the YE December 2024 survey. This was a 14% increase, compared with YE December 2023 (8.4 million incidents). This is mainly because of a 33% rise in fraud (to around 4.1 million incidents) and a 13% rise in theft (to around 2.9 million incidents). 

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

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. This includes domestic abuse, sexual assault, stalking, and harassment (Table 2). Harassment was the most common (8.7%), followed by theft (7.6%) and fraud (7%). For more information, see Table B2 in our Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables dataset. 

There has been a gradual decrease in the proportion of people experiencing violence with or without injury, theft, criminal damage, and domestic abuse over the past 10 years. However, stalking has remained relatively flat and sexual assault has increased, after previously decreasing from the YE March 2005 survey to the YE March 2014 survey. 

In the YE December 2024 survey, there was an increase in the prevalence of fraud to 7% and a decrease in the prevalence of computer misuse to 1.3%, compared with 5.5% and 1.7%, respectively, in YE December 2023.

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

Notes: 

1. Changes in fraud and computer misuse were statistically significant (S) at the 5% level.   
2. The category "sexual assault" includes attempts. 
3. No prevalence estimates for year ending (YE) December 2023 for domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking are available because of a survey error; harassment estimates are not comparable with the previous year because of questionnaire changes.  
4. Timeline data for domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking use the 16 to 59 years age range for comparability up to YE March 2024; data for all people aged 16 years and over are only available from YE March 2022 onwards.

Insights from police recorded crime 

Police recorded crime covers more offences than the CSEW. It includes crimes that come to the attention of the police against: 

• all people, including those aged under 16 years and those not permanently resident in households 

• businesses and organisations 

• society, such as drug and weapons possession 

In YE December 2024, the police recorded 6.6 million crimes. This was down 1%, compared with the previous year (6.7 million), and up from 4 million in YE March 2014. Increases over the last decade may include some genuine changes in trends in crimes that are reported to, and recorded by, the police. However, it will also be because of changes in police activity and recording practices. It therefore should not be used to say that overall crime has increased. 

Police recorded crime does not tend to be a good indicator of general trends in crime. It can give more insight into lower-volume, higher-harm offences reported to the police, including those that the survey does not cover or capture well. This includes homicide, offences involving weapons, and robbery. These figures are reported in Section 4: Homicide, Section 5: Knife and sharp instrument offences, Section 6: Offences involving firearms and Section 11: Robbery. 

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 535 homicide offences in year ending (YE) December 2024. This was a 5% decrease from 563 offences in the previous year and is the lowest in a decade (533 in YE March 2014). The homicide rate was 8.8 per 1 million people, down from 9.4 in YE December 2023. Knives or sharp instruments were used in 41% of homicides, which is a drop from 45% in the previous year.

For the latest analysis on homicide offences held within the Home Office Homicide Index, see our Homicide in England and Wales: year ending March 2024 article.

Police recorded crime data are better than the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for measuring trends in serious but less common violence, like offences involving a knife or sharp instrument (knife-enabled crime). Knife-enabled crime includes offences where a knife or sharp instrument has been used to injure a victim or used as a threat. This will include offences where the weapon may not have been seen but is believed to be present at the time of the offence by the victim or another witness. 

Knife-enabled crime increased by 2% in the year ending (YE) December 2024 (to 54,587 offences), compared with YE December 2023 (53,413 offences). This was 1% lower than pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in YE March 2020 (55,170 offences). 

Most knife-enabled crimes were assault with injury and assault with intent to cause serious harm (43%) and robbery (43%) offences. 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. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) recorded 31% of all offences, the West Midlands Police recorded 9%, and Greater Manchester Police recorded 6%. The MPS and Greater Manchester Police recorded 16% (to 16,789 offences) and 6% increases (to 3,452 offences) in YE December 2024, compared with the previous year, respectively. The West Midlands Police saw a 12% decrease (to 4,664 offences).

Levels for the MPS Force Area were 14% higher, compared with the pre-pandemic YE March 2020 (14,680 offences), and 8% higher for Greater Manchester Police Force Area (3,188 offences). However, levels for West Midlands Police Force Area were 7% lower, compared with YE March 2020 (5,023 offences).

Police recorded “possession of article with a blade or point” offences increased by 1% in YE December 2024 (28,150 offences), compared with YE December 2023 (27,892 offences). Trends in possession offences can be influenced by police activity and operations.

Other sources of data 

In contrast to police recorded crime, the latest provisional admissions data for NHS hospitals in England and Wales showed a 6% decrease in the number of admissions for assault by a sharp object in YE December 2024 (to 3,663 admissions). This was 23% 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.

Offences involving firearms cover various weapon types, from imitation firearms to handguns and shotguns. These offences decreased by 20% (to 5,252 offences) in year ending (YE) December 2024, compared with YE December 2023 (6,563 offences).

The largest fall was in offences involving imitation firearms, which decreased by 32% (to 1,882 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 like replica weapons and BB guns are the most used, closely followed by handguns. Around 36% of these offences involved imitation firearms, while handguns were involved in 34%.

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

The interviewer-administered parts of the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) give the best picture of trends in violence with or 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). However, it 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 the year ending (YE) December 2024 CSEW, people aged 16 years and over experienced an estimated 1.1 million incidents of violence with or without injury. There was no statistically significant change, compared with the previous year. This follows a trend moving generally downward since 1995. 

The prevalence of CSEW violence with or without injury was 0.4% where the perpetrator was an acquaintance and 0.8% where the perpetrator was a stranger in YE December 2024. These showed no statistically significant changes, compared with the previous year.

There was a 6% decrease in police recorded violence with injury (to 530,087 offences) in YE December 2024, compared with YE December 2023. There was no change in police recorded violence without injury (818,511 offences) in YE December 2024, compared with YE December 2023. This follows large increases since 2015, after under-recording of such offences was highlighted in the Crime-recording inspection report (PDF, 1,106KB) by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). The change in trend may be because the effect of these improvements has lessened. It will also be partly because of changes in the recording of conduct crimes (for definition, see Section 18: Glossary).

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) December 2024 showed that 4.2% 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 the YE March 2024 survey, an estimated 5.4% of people aged 16 to 59 years experienced domestic abuse in the last year, compared with 6.5% in the YE March 2014 survey. For long-term trends, see our Domestic abuse prevalence and trends, England and Wales: year ending March 2024 bulletin. 

The police flagged 819,449 offences as domestic abuse-related in YE December 2024, including 639,475 violence against the person offences. This was a 6% decrease from the previous year (868,915 offences), mainly because of fewer violence against the person offences (down from 685,053 offences). While this decrease may reflect some genuine falls in these offences, it could also reflect how offences linked to conduct crimes (stalking and harassment) are being recorded since May 2023. The proportion of violence against the person offences flagged as domestic abuse-related was 33%, similar to 34% in the previous year. 

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

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 the CSEW year ending (YE) December 2024, 2.1% 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 the YE March 2024 survey, 2.6% of people aged 16 to 59 years had experienced sexual assault (including attempted offences), compared with 1.5% in the YE March 2014 survey. 

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). 

There have been general increases in police recorded sexual offences over the last decade, largely because of improvements in police recording practices. There was an 8% increase in YE December 2024 (to 205,465 offences), compared with the previous year (190,300 offences).

Around 35% (71,227 offences) of all sexual offences recorded by the police in YE December 2024 were rape offences. This was a 5% increase, compared with YE December 2023 (68,045 offences). 

There was a small decrease in the proportion of police recorded sexual offences that had taken place over a year before the crime was recorded (20%), 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 stalking than police recorded crime data. The CSEW year ending (YE) December 2024 estimated that 3.1% of people aged 16 years and over had experienced stalking in the last year.

The CSEW does not capture all aspects of stalking. We plan to begin research to improve the data collected on stalking in the self-completion section of the CSEW soon. 

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. 

The CSEW started measuring harassment, including one-off incidents, in April 2022. This is different from how the police define harassment where the behaviour must occur on more than one occasion. This is explained in the Home Office's Crime Recording Rules for frontline officers and staff guidance. In the CSEW YE December 2024, 8.7% 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 The nature of violent crime: year ending March 2024 article.

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, such as malicious communications offences, which decreased by 46%, compared with the previous year (to 111,411 offences). However, police recorded stalking increased by 8% to 135,156 offences, and harassment rose by 9% to 301,539 offences. This may suggest that the changes are leading to a greater focus on identifying these more affecting crimes.

Robbery involves the use of force or threat of force to attempt or complete a theft (see Section 18: Glossary for definition). Police recorded 81,135 robbery offences in year ending (YE) December 2024, which is no change compared with the previous year (80,822 offences). However, there was a 54% increase in robbery of business property (to 14,707 offences). This was offset by a 7% decrease in robbery of personal property (to 66,428 offences). Overall robbery offences were still 10% lower than the pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic YE March 2020. 

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated 107,000 robbery incidents in YE December 2024, which was no statistically significant change, compared with the previous year's survey. Police data are preferred for robbery offences. This is because the CSEW estimates are subject to year-to-year volatility because of the small number of victims found in the sample.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is the best way to track long-term trends in common crimes like 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. 

The CSEW for year ending (YE) December 2024 estimated 2.9 million theft incidents. This is a 13% increase, compared with the previous year (2.6 million incidents). However, this was 75% lower than the peak in the YE December 1995 survey, when there were an estimated 11.6 million incidents. This is also 11% lower than in the pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic YE March 2020 survey (3.3 million offences). 

Theft from the person and theft from outside a dwelling were the only subcategories of theft where there were statistically significant changes for the YE December 2024 survey, compared with the previous year. Theft from the person was up 50% to an estimated 483,000 incidents. Theft from outside a dwelling increased by 19% to 607,000 incidents. The most stolen item in theft from the person incidents were mobile phones in our latest Nature of crime: personal and other theft dataset for YE March 2024. There were no statistically significant changes in other theft of personal property, domestic burglary, vehicle-related theft, or bicycle theft.

Police recorded a 1% increase in theft, with 1.8 million offences in YE December 2024. This rise was mainly because of a 20% increase in shoplifting (to 516,971 offences) and a 22% increase in theft from the person (to 152,416 offences). There have been sharp rises in these offences since the pandemic. Both shoplifting and theft from the person offences are at their highest level since current police recording practices began in YE March 2003.

Police recorded vehicle offences decreased by 7% (to 364,208 offences) during the same period. Police recorded burglary, which includes both residential and non-residential burglaries, also fell by 6% to 253,912 offences. Burglary levels were 71% lower than in YE March 2003, when current recording practices began.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) year ending (YE) December 2024 estimated around 659,000 incidents of criminal damage. This showed no statistically significant change, compared with the YE December 2023 survey.

Police recorded a 7% fall in criminal damage, with 449,597 offences, compared with 483,862 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. For example, the recording of a criminal damage act as part of a conduct crime, such as harassment, is no longer required. For further information, see Section 19: Data sources and quality.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) year ending (YE) December 2024 estimated 4.1 million fraud incidents. This was a 33% increase, compared with the YE December 2023 survey (3.1 million incidents) and a 12% rise, compared with the pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic YE March 2020 survey (3.7 million incidents).

Bank and credit account fraud increased by 27% to about 2.4 million incidents. Consumer and retail fraud rose by 35% to about 1.1 million incidents. Out of the estimated 4.1 million incidents of fraud, around 3 million incidents involved a loss. Victims were fully reimbursed in 2.1 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 Tables 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). 

The recorded crime series incorporates fraud offences collated by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) from three reporting bodies. These are Action Fraud and two industry bodies - Cifas and UK Finance - who report instances of fraud where their member organisations have been a victim. The recorded crime series showed a 6% increase in fraud offences in YE December 2024 (to 1.2 million offences), compared with the previous year. This included an 8% rise in cases (to 557,007 offences) referred by UK Finance and a 12% increase in cases (to 378,697 offences) referred by Cifas. Increases in cases referred by 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 December 2024 (301,972 offences) decreased by 2%, compared with the previous year (308,033 offences).

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

The year ending (YE) December 2024 CSEW estimated around 757,000 incidents of computer misuse. This was a 23% decrease, compared with the previous year’s survey, because of a 29% fall in incidents of unauthorised access to personal information (to 609,000 incidents). This was 57% lower than the 1.8 million incidents in the YE March 2017 survey, which is 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 46% increase in offences referred by Action Fraud for YE December 2024 (to 52,030 offences), compared with YE December 2023 (35,676 offences). This was because of increases in social media and email hacking offences, personal hacking offences, and computer virus or malware offences.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for year ending (YE) December 2024 showed that 36% of people experienced or witnessed anti-social behaviour (ASB). There was no statistically significant change from the previous year (35%).

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 the YE December 2024 survey, 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 relatively consistent since YE March 2014, with little change each 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.

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 and other household theft, 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 or 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 Section 5: Offence types of our User guide to crime statistics for England and Wales: March 2024.

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 December 2024. 

The latest figures are based on interviews between January 2024 and December 2024, covering crimes that occurred between January 2023 and November 2024. 

The interviewer-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 or 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 10 February 2025, covering data up to December 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 for YE March 2024. 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) and our User guide to crime statistics for England and Wales: March 2024.