Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2024

Victim-based crime has generally decreased over the last 10 years with some notable exceptions, such as sexual assault. Latest estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) showed that there were an estimated 8.8 million incidents of headline crime (which includes theft, robbery, criminal damage, fraud, computer misuse and violence with or without injury) in year ending (YE) March 2024. This was 22% lower compared with YE March 2017 (the earliest comparable year for CSEW headline crime, including fraud and computer misuse).

Looking at the short-term picture, there has been no change across many crime types in the last year. However, we have seen falls in fraud while seeing increases in computer misuse and some forms of theft, such as shoplifting and theft from the person. Notably, shoplifting has continued to see increases and remains at its highest level in 20 years. In addition, robbery, offences involving knives or sharp instruments and offences involving firearms have also increased over the last year while remaining below pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic levels.

Although our latest data showed there was no statistically significant change in CSEW headline crime compared with YE March 2023, there were changes in fraud, computer misuse and theft from the person. The data showed that:

• fraud decreased by 10%, with reductions in bank and credit account fraud (12%), advance fee fraud (23%), and other fraud (39%)
• computer misuse increased by 37%, mainly because of a 42% rise in unauthorised access to personal information
• while there were no statistically significant changes in overall theft, there was a 40% increase in the sub-category of theft from the person

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

• 4.8% (approximately 2.3 million people) had experienced some form of domestic abuse in the last 12 months)
• 3.2% (approximately 1.5 million people) had experienced stalking
• 2.1% (approximately one million people) had experienced sexual assault

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 March 2024 showed:

• the number of homicides were similar (583 offences) compared with YE March 2023 (581 offences)
• offences involving knives or sharp instruments (excluding Greater Manchester Police) increased by 4% (to 50,510 offences) compared with YE March 2023 (48,409 offences); this was 3% lower than YE March 2020 (51,982 offences)
• offences involving firearms (excluding Devon and Cornwall Police) increased by 6% (to 6,268 offences) compared with YE March 2023 (5,917 offences), attributed mainly to a 24% increase in imitation firearms
• robbery offences increased by 8% (to 81,019 offences) compared with YE March 2023 (75,012 offences)
• shoplifting offences rose by 30% (to 443,995 offences) compared with the previous year (342,428 offences)

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

The CSEW remains the best estimate of long-term trends in crimes against the household population for the crimes included in the survey. However, CSEW estimates have been temporarily suspended of their accredited official statistics status because of the potential impact of lower response rates on data quality after the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) is currently reviewing our request for reaccreditation following our CSEW data quality review, which showed that the quality of CSEW data for year ending (YE) March 2023 was broadly similar to CSEW data for YE March 2020, when they were last accredited official statistics.

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

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

Other crimes not included in CSEW headline crime, such as homicide, are well reported to, and well recorded by, the police. Homicide is covered separately in this report in Section 4: Homicide. The survey excludes crimes against commercial or public sector bodies, tourists, or those living in communal establishments (such as care homes, student halls of residence, and prisons). Separate prevalence estimates for children aged 10 to 15 years are reported annually in July in our Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables. The survey does not cover “victimless” crimes, such as drug possession and other crimes against the state. For more information, see our Crime trends in England and Wales and how we measure them article.

Our Annual trend and demographic and Annual supplementary tables have been released alongside this bulletin. This year, the annual supplementary tables present new CSEW estimates on experiences of being stopped and searched by the police. 

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

Changes in recording practices have led to discontinuity in police recorded crime figures over time, with changes having a particularly large impact on the recording of violent crime over the last 10 years. Therefore, police recorded violence does not provide reliable trends in crime but is a better indicator of police activity. For further information, see Section 18: Strengths and limitations.

Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime data can be used together to develop a more complete picture of crime against individuals and households (Table 1). The CSEW provides our preferred measure for incidents of violence with and without injury, theft offences, criminal damage, fraud and computer misuse while police recorded crime is our preferred source for homicide, offences involving weapons and robbery. While robbery is included in the CSEW, there can be some volatility in these estimates from year-to-year because of the relatively small number of victims.

Table 1: Overview of main crime types

Notes:

1. CSEW data for the year ending (YE) March 2023 and YE March 2024 and police recorded crime are not designated as accredited official statistics.
2. CSEW data relate to people aged 16 years and over. PRC data relate to crimes against individuals (including children), households, businesses, and society.
3. Estimates for fraud and computer misuse are statistically significant at the 5% level. PRC figures are not subject to significance testing because they are not estimates but counts.
4. Data on knife or sharp instrument offences exclude Greater Manchester Police for the whole time series back to YE March 2011.

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

Our headline CSEW crime measure captures theft offences, robbery, criminal damage, fraud, computer misuse and violence with or without injury. There were an estimated 8.8 million incidents of CSEW headline crime in YE March 2024. Latest estimates do not show a statistically significant change compared with the previous year’s survey. The total number of CSEW headline crime incidents is 22% lower than YE March 2017 survey. This is the earliest comparable year for CSEW headline crime when questions on fraud and computer misuse were first included in the survey.

Likelihood of victimisation

The CSEW also presents the proportion of people aged 16 years and over who have experienced a crime included in the survey in the last year. Estimates show that 16% said they had experienced a crime included in the headline measure in YE March 2024. The likelihood of being a victim varied by individual crime type, with fraud having the highest likelihood of victimisation (5.7%), followed by vehicle-related theft (3.2%). For more information, see Table A3 in our Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables.

Our preferred measures for domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking are also from the CSEW but are presented separately in our statistics as prevalence estimates (Table 2). While over the last 10 years there has been a gradual decrease in domestic abuse, there has been an increase in sexual assault and the trend in stalking has remained relatively flat. Latest estimates from the CSEW for YE March 2024 showed no statistically significant change among people aged 16 years and over compared with the previous year:

• 4.8% (approximately 2.3 million people) had experienced some form of domestic abuse in the last 12 months
• 3.2% (approximately 1.5 million people) had experienced stalking
• 2.1% (approximately one million people) had experienced sexual assault

Table 2: Trends in the prevalence of experiences of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking for people aged 16 to 59 years, to year ending March 2024

Notes:

1. Data from the CSEW for the year ending (YE) March 2022, YE March 2023 and YE March 2024 are not designated as accredited official statistics.

2. When presenting long-term trends, we use the 16 to 59 years age range to give a comparable time-series; data for all people aged 16 years and over are only available from YE March 2022 onwards.

3. The category “sexual assault” includes attempts.

4. Estimates for domestic abuse, stalking and sexual assault are not statistically significant (NS) at the 5% level.

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Insights from police recorded crime

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

There was no change in the volume of police recorded crime in England and Wales for YE March 2024 (6.7 million crimes) compared with YE March 2023 (6.7 million crimes). However, levels of police recorded crime have increased from 4 million crimes in YE March 2014. While this may include some genuine changes in trends in crimes that are reported to and recorded by the police, it will also reflect changes in police activity and recording practices.

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

The police recorded 583 homicide offences in year ending (YE) March 2024, similar to YE March 2023 (581 offences). The rate of homicide in the population for YE March 2024 was 9.7 per 1 million people, no change from YE March 2023 (9.7 per 1 million people).

Of all recorded homicides in YE March 2024, the proportion of homicides where a knife or sharp instrument was the method of killing was 43%. This was a slight increase compared with 41% in the previous year. Proportions for homicides where a knife or sharp instrument was the method of killing exclude data from Greater Manchester Police.

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

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

Knife-enabled crime recorded by the police in year ending (YE) March 2024 increased by 4% (50,510 offences) compared with YE March 2023 (48,409 offences). A notable increase was seen in the number of robberies involving a knife or sharp instrument (up 13% compared with the previous year). However, knife-enabled crime overall was still 3% lower than pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic levels in YE March 2020 (51,982 offences). All figures exclude Greater Manchester Police. For further information, see Section 18: Strengths and limitations.

Knife-enabled crimes continue to be concentrated in metropolitan areas across England and Wales, with 30% of all offences recorded by the Metropolitan Police Service and 10% by the West Midlands Police. Compared with YE March 2023, knife or sharp instrument offences recorded by the Metropolitan Police saw an increase of 16% (to 14,961 offences), while West Midlands Police saw a 1% increase (to 5,268 offences). Levels for the Metropolitan Police were 2% higher compared with the pre-pandemic YE March 2020 (14,680 offences).

Police recorded “possession of article with a blade or point” offences decreased by 3% in YE March 2024 (27,470 offences) compared with YE March 2023 (28,391 offences). This follows substantial increases in recent years, which may have been influenced by targeted police action to tackle knife crime.

Other sources of data

The latest provisional admissions data for NHS hospitals in England and Wales showed an increase in the number of admissions for assault by a sharp object in YE March 2024 (3,888 admissions). This was 3% higher than YE March 2023 (3,789 admissions) and 18% below the pre-pandemic YE March 2020 (4,769 admissions).

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

The recording of offences involving firearms covers a wide range of weapon types, from imitation firearms to handguns and shotguns. Offences involving firearms increased by 6% (to 6,268 offences) compared with year ending (YE) March 2023 (5,917 offences). The rise in offences involving firearms follows a downward trend seen in previous years and remains 43% less than it was at its peak in YE March 2006 (11,088 offences). Figures exclude Devon and Cornwall police for YE March 2023 and YE March 2024. For further information, see Section 18: Strengths and limitations.

Recent trends have mainly been influenced by the increased use of imitation firearms, such as replica weapons and BB guns. Offences involving imitation firearms increased by 24% (to 2,661 offences) when compared with YE March 2023 (2,152 offences). Over the same period, offences involving shotguns decreased by 30% (from 427 offences to 298 offences). Offences involving imitation firearm weapons have recently overtaken handguns as the most used weapon and this trend has continued for YE March 2024.

For data relating to offences involving weapons, see our Offences involving the use of weapons: data tables. For data relating to offences involving firearms, see our Crime in England and Wales: Other related tables.

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

According to the CSEW for year ending (YE) March 2024, people aged 16 years and over experienced an estimated 1.1 million violence with or without injury incidents, indicating no change compared with YE March 2023 survey. This follows on from a general downward trend in violent crime since its peak in 1995.

The prevalence of CSEW violence with and without injury was 0.5% where the perpetrator was an acquaintance and 0.7% where the perpetrator was a stranger in YE March 2024. There was no statistically significant change compared with YE March 2023.

Overall, the police recorded 1.4 million offences of violence with or without injury in YE March 2024, a 2% decrease compared with YE March 2023 (approximately 1.4 million offences). This follows a period of large increases in police recorded violence against the person since 2015, after His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) Crime-recording inspection report (PDF, 1,106KB) highlighted under-recording of such offences. While this decrease may reflect some genuine falls in these offences, it may also be that the impact of inflationary changes because of recording improvements has fallen away. It could also reflect the way in which offences linked to conduct crimes are being recorded since May 2023. For further information, see Section 18: Strengths and limitations.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) self-completion module provides a more reliable measure of long-term trends for domestic abuse than police recorded crime data. Estimates from the CSEW showed that 4.8% of people aged 16 years and over experienced domestic abuse in year ending (YE) March 2024, no statistically significant change compared with YE March 2023.

When analysing long-term trends, we use the 16 to 59 years age range to give a comparable time series. There has been a gradual decrease in domestic abuse over the last 10 years. The CSEW for YE March 2024 estimated that 5.4% of people aged 16 to 59 years experienced domestic abuse in the last year compared with 6.5% in YE March 2014.

The police flagged 857,810 recorded offences as domestic abuse-related in YE March 2024, including 672,864 violence against the person offences. Overall, the number of domestic abuse-related offences decreased 6% compared with YE March 2023 (911,248 recorded offences). This decrease is mainly because of decreases in violence against the person offences (from 719,681 offences). The proportion of violence against the person offences that were flagged as domestic-abuse related was 33%. This is similar to the previous year (34%).

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

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) self-completion module provides a more reliable measure of long-term trends for sexual offences than police recorded crime data. Latest estimates from the CSEW for year ending (YE) March 2024 showed that 2.1% of people aged 16 years and over had experienced sexual assault (including attempted offences), no change from YE March 2023 (2.1%).

For analysing long-term trends, we use the 16 to 59 years age range to give a comparable 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. The CSEW for YE March 2024 estimated 2.6% of people aged 16 to 59 years had experienced sexual assault (including attempted offences) in the last year compared with 1.5% in YE March 2014.

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

Police recorded sexual offences decreased by 3% in YE March 2024 (188,893 offences) compared with the previous year (194,478 offences). Roughly 36% (67,928 offences) of all sexual offences recorded by the police in YE March 2024 were rape offences. This was a 1% decrease compared with YE March 2023 (68,762 offences). This follows general increases in sexual offences over the last decade largely because of improvements in police recording practices.

There was no change in the proportion of police recorded sexual offences that had taken place over a year prior to the crime being recorded compared with the previous year (21%).

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

CSEW data on the prevalence of domestic abuse, sexual assault, and stalking for YE March 2024 can be found in Tables S41 to S43 of our Crime in England and Wales: Annual supplementary tables, year ending March 2024.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) self-completion module provides a more reliable measure of long-term trends for stalking than police recorded crime data. Latest estimates from the CSEW for year ending (YE) March 2024 showed that 3.2% of people aged 16 years and over had experienced stalking in the last year compared with 3.4% in YE March 2023. When analysing long-term trends, we use the 16 to 59 years age range to give a comparable 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 (Figure 8).

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

Police recorded stalking and harassment offences include stalking, harassment, coercive and controlling behaviour and malicious communications. The police recorded 637,605 stalking and harassment offences in YE March 2024, a 10% decrease compared with the previous year (705,653 offences). This was because of a 39% decrease in the recording of malicious communications (to 167,902 offences). The changes in recording rules for conduct crimes (stalking, harassment and coercive and controlling behaviour) in May 2023 removed the requirement to record two crimes when one of them was a conduct crime. This has led to a reduction in those crimes often associated with conduct crimes, including malicious communications.

In YE March 2024, police recorded stalking increased by 10% (to 129,076 offences) and police recorded harassment also increased by 10% (to 287,977 offences) compared with the previous year. Over the same time, there was no change in the number of coercive and controlling behaviour offences (44,212 offences).

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

The CSEW for year ending (YE) March 2024 estimated that there were 2.7 million incidents of theft offences, which was a similar level compared with YE March 2023. This remains 77% lower than its peak year in YE December 1995 (11.6 million incidents).

While there were no statistically significant changes in overall theft, there was a 40% increase in theft from the person (347,000 incidents) in YE March 2024 compared with YE March 2023 (247,000 incidents). However, this figure was not significantly different compared with YE March 2020 (367,000 incidents).

“Neighbourhood” crime, as defined in the Home Office's Beating crime plan, includes robbery and selected theft offences (theft from the person, domestic burglary, and vehicle-related theft). The CSEW for YE March 2024 estimated that there were 1.6 million “neighbourhood crime” incidents, no statistically significant change compared with the previous year’s survey.

Police recorded theft increased by 3% (to 1.8 million offences) compared with YE March 2023 (1.7 million offences). This rise was predominantly the result of increases in shoplifting offences and theft from the person offences.

There were 443,995 shoplifting offences recorded by the police in YE March 2024, a 30% increase compared with YE March 2023 (342,428 offences). Findings from the Commercial Victimisation Survey 2023 also indicated recent rises; an estimated 26% of premises in the wholesale and retail sector experienced customer theft during the previous 12 months, a statistically significant increase compared with 2014 (20%).

Police recorded theft from the person offences increased by 17% in YE March 2024 (to 131,453 offences) compared with YE March 2023 (112,225 offences).

There was a 6% decrease in vehicle offences in YE March 2024 (to 380,100 offences) compared with YE March 2023 (405,744 offences). This was because of a 12% decrease in theft from a vehicle (to 193,023 offences) compared with YE March 2023 (218,431 offences).

Police recorded burglary includes both residential and non-residential categories, such as those committed against a business premises, and therefore is broader than the residential burglary captured by the CSEW. Police recorded burglary decreased by 3% in the year to March 2024 (266,489 offences) compared with the previous year and is 70% lower than March 2003 (890,099 offences) when current recording practices began.

Increases were seen in police recorded robbery in the year to March 2024, up by 8% (to 81,019 offences) in comparison with the previous year (75,012 offences). However, it remains lower than the number of offences recorded before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, being 10% lower than in YE March 2020 (90,198 offences). Police recorded robbery was also 27% lower in YE March 2024 compared with YE March 2003 (110,271 offences). Police recorded crime is our preferred measure for robbery because we do not consider it subject to extensive changes in recording practices, while the CSEW estimates are subject to year-to-year volatility because of the small number of victims found in the sample.

The CSEW for YE March 2024 estimated that there were approximately 664,000 incidents of criminal damage, no statistically significant change compared with the previous year’s survey (approximately 664,000 offences). Police recorded criminal damage decreased 6% (to 473,131 offences) compared with the previous year (502,697 offences).

Estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for year ending (YE) March 2024 survey showed that there were 3.2 million fraud incidents experienced by people resident in households. This was a 10% decrease compared with YE March 2023 survey (3.5 million incidents) and levels were similar to YE March 2017 (earliest comparable year for fraud). Within fraud offences, there were reductions in bank and credit account fraud (12%), advance fee fraud (23%), and other fraud (39%) compared with the previous year. In YE March 2024 survey, approximately 2.4 million fraud incidents involved a loss (of money or property), and the victim was fully reimbursed in 1.7 million of these incidents.

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

Fraud offences reported to the police are recorded and collected by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) from Action Fraud and two industry bodies, Cifas and UK Finance. Overall, police recorded fraud was 7% higher (1.2 million offences) compared with YE March 2023. This increase in overall fraud was mainly influenced by a rise in offences referred from UK Finance, as they reported a 20% increase (to 554,293 offences) compared with the previous year (460,537 offences). This was partly a result of UK Finance working with member firms to improve the volume of actionable intelligence shared with the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB).

Action Fraud also reported a 4% increase in fraud (312,009 offences) compared with YE March 2023 (300,069 offences). However, Cifas reported a 6% decrease in fraud (to 348,337 offences) compared with YE March 2023 (371,340 offences).

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

The CSEW has shown a general decrease in computer misuse since it was first collected in the survey, decreasing from an estimated 1.8 million incidents in year ending (YE) March 2017 to approximately 745,000 incidents in YE March 2023. In YE March 2024, computer misuse increased by 37% (to one million incidents) compared with the previous year because of a 42% increase (to 883,000 incidents) in unauthorised access to personal information (including hacking). Computer misuse is also a concern for businesses and organisations. Findings from the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024 showed that half of businesses (50%) and around a third of charities (32%) reported experiencing some form of cyber security breach or attack in the last 12 months.

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) record computer misuse offences and refer those with good investigative leads to the police for further investigation. The NFIB reported a 53% increase in computer misuse offences referred by Action Fraud (from 26,604 to 40,832 offences) for YE March 2024 compared with YE March 2023.

Estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for YE March 2024 survey showed that 35% of people had experienced or witnessed some type of anti-social behaviour (ASB). This is slightly higher than in YE March 2023 survey (34%). Levels of ASB varied by region. In the latest year, levels of experienced or witnessed ASB in the CSEW were highest in the North East (43%) and lowest in London (30%).

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

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

Computer misuse

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

Criminal damage

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

Fraud

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

Overall theft offences

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

Robbery

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

Violence with and without injury

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

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

Crime statistics rely on data collected from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime.

The CSEW is primarily an interviewer-administered face-to-face victimisation survey in which people (aged 16 years and over) resident in households in England and Wales are asked about their experiences of a selected range of incidents in the 12 months before the interview. It provides important information relating to long-term trends in crime from year ending (YE) December 1981 to YE March 2024. CSEW estimates are not available for YE March 2021 and YE March 2022 because of the suspension of face-to-face interviewing during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

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

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

The recorded crime figures are collated through a live administrative system that is continually being updated as forces submit data. The data represent a “snapshot” of the live database taken on 14 June 2024 (for data up to the end of March 2024).

The National Data Quality Improvement Service (NDQIS) tool is now in use for three police collections to automatically flag offences involving knives or sharp instruments, domestic abuse-related offences and child sexual abuse-related offences, rather than relying on a manually added marker. Currently, 42 police forces have switched to NDQIS for knife or sharp instrument offences, 37 forces for domestic-abuse related offences and 31 for child sexual abuse-related offences. Further forces will be moving to this methodology in future releases. The tool has also recently been applied to the online crime collection (from April 2024) and there are plans to apply it to the hate crime collection.

For more information on NDQIS methodology, please see our Police recorded offences involving knives or sharp instruments: methodology changes. More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in the 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.

Crime Survey for England and Wales

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

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

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

CSEW estimates have been temporarily suspended of their accredited official statistics status. The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) is currently reviewing our request for reaccreditation following our CSEW data quality review that showed that the quality of CSEW data for year ending (YE) March 2023 was broadly similar to CSEW data for YE March 2020, when they were last accredited official statistics.

Police recorded crime

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

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

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

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

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

Data will also not be directly comparable for child sexual-abuse related offences. This is because of a change in the way the data have been collected and processed by NDQIS. Furthermore, the way the figures are published have changed to show a greater level of detail. Data for indecent images of children offences are now published based on sub-offence code data instead of a marker added by the forces to a crime record. These data are published alongside child sexual-abuse related offences to create a new all child sexual abuse offences measure. The increase seen in these offences over the last year is likely to be partly because of NDQIS improvements, but it is not possible to provide an estimate of this increase because of the other changes in methodology. Increases may also be because of more victims coming forward to report these crimes to the police and/or increases in these offences.

Issue with Devon and Cornwall Police recorded crime data

Following the implementation of a new IT system in November 2022, Devon and Cornwall Police have been unable to supply data for the period, January 2022 to March 2024 for offences involving firearms.

Issue with Greater Manchester Police recorded crime data

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

Police recorded crime data are not designated as accredited official statistics.

For more information, see our Crime in England and Wales Quality and Methodology Information (QMI) report.