Crime in England and Wales: year ending September 2022

This is the first Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) to use a full 12 months of data from face-to-face interviews since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Comparing it with the year ending March 2020 gives us a comparable estimate to the period before the coronavirus pandemic. It is important to note that because of the Crime Survey methodology, the latest figures include some experiences of crime that took place during social restrictions [note 1].

The latest figures from the CSEW for the year ending September 2022 showed that compared with the pre-coronavirus pandemic year ending March 2020, total crime decreased by 10%. Focusing on individual crime types:

• the year ending September 2022 estimates showed that overall theft decreased by 20% compared with year ending March 2020 

• the year ending September 2022 estimates showed that fraud has now returned to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels (no significant change compared with the year ending March 2020); this suggests increases may have been specific to the coronavirus pandemic period, rather than a sustained change in trends

While police recorded crime is not generally a good indicator of trends in crime, for some crime types, it can give more insight into lower-volume but higher-harm crimes, including those that the survey does not cover, or capture well. For such crimes, there have been increases in the last year (since the removal of social restrictions), though they remain below pre-coronavirus pandemic levels, for example:

• the number of homicides decreased by 8% to 663 offences compared with the year ending March 2020, where there were 719 offences; this compares with a 2% increase with the year ending September 2021

• police recorded offences involving knives or sharp instruments is down 8% to 50,434 offences compared with the year ending March 2020; this compares with an 11% increase with the year ending September 2021

• the number of police recorded robbery offences also remained 21% lower (70,881 offences) than the year ending March 2020 (90,204 offences); more recently, robbery offences increased 15% compared with the year ending September 2021 (61,521 offences)

Police recorded sexual offences have risen by 22% compared with the pre-coronavirus pandemic year ending March 2020. This increase to 199,021 offences was the highest annual figure recorded in England and Wales. When interpreting police recorded sexual offences, it is important to note that these figures may reflect a number of factors, including the impact of high-profile cases and campaigns on victims’ willingness to report both recent and historical incidents. For a subset of forces supplying data to the Home Office Data Hub, 22% of all sexual offences in the year to September 2022 had taken place over a year prior to the incident being recorded.

From data gathered by both police recorded crime and the CSEW to September 2022, it appears too early to say whether or not the decreases seen in most crime types occurring during the coronavirus pandemic will come to represent a sustained change in long-term trends. The CSEW remains the best estimate of long-term trends, although it is also important to note that additional caution must be taken when using these data. Both CSEW and police recorded crime are not designated as National Statistics. 

Notes for main points:

1. The year ending September 2022 refers to 12 months of data collection between October 2021 and September 2022. Data collected during this period include experiences of crime in the 12 months before the interview month, and therefore includes crimes committed during the coronavirus pandemic and as early as October 2020. Further information can be found in Section 2.4 of our User guide to crime statistics for England and Wales: March 2020 methodology.

According to Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimates for the year ending September 2022, adults aged 16 years and over experienced 9.1 million offences. This was a statistically significant decrease (10%) compared with the year ending March 2020 survey data. This was predominantly because theft offences decreased by 20% (from 3.3 million to 2.6 million offences).

Since the mid-1990s, there have been long-term falls in overall CSEW crime estimates (Figure 1). Long-term trends also vary by crime types.

For the crime types and population it covers, the face-to-face 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.

Likelihood of victimisation

The latest CSEW year ending September 2022 estimates showed that approximately 8 in 10 adults did not experience any of the crimes asked about in the CSEW (Figure 2). The likelihood of being a victim of crime varied by crime type, with fraud having the highest likelihood of victimisation (6%), followed by vehicle-related theft (3%).

Trends in police recorded crime

Police recorded crime levels in England and Wales have been substantially affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and restrictions on social contact. In line with CSEW comparisons, police recorded crime levels are compared with pre-coronavirus pandemic levels in the year ending March 2020. Comparisons with the year ending September 2021 show patterns in crime since the easing of social restrictions.

Police recorded crime in England and Wales in the year ending September 2022 exceeded pre-coronavirus pandemic levels. The 6.6 million crimes recorded were 10% higher compared with the year ending March 2020 (6.1 million offences). This overall increase was largely driven by increases in the offence categories, which are most subject to changes in reporting and recording practices. Therefore, these estimates should be treated with caution as they may not reflect a genuine increase in crime.

In the year ending September 2021, police recorded crime fell to 5.8 million offences, driven by national lockdowns and restrictions to social contact during this period. The impact that government public health restrictions had during the coronavirus pandemic on levels of police recorded crime can be clearly seen when looking at quarterly figures (see Figure 3). Since the year ending September 2021, police recorded crime has increased by 14% in the year ending September 2022.

Information on case outcomes can be found in the Home Office's Crime outcomes in England and Wales publication.

Crime survey and police recorded crime data can be used together to develop a more complete picture of crime (Table 1). The CSEW data showed decreases in computer misuse and theft offences compared with the year ending March 2020 survey. Police recorded crime showed decreases in individual theft offences, such as robbery, compared with the year ending March 2020.

The police recorded 663 homicide offences in the year ending September 2022, an 8% decrease compared with the year ending March 2020 (719 offences) [note 1]. Levels have increased by 2% since the year ending September 2021 (648 offences) during which social restrictions were still in place.

The rate of homicide in the population for the year ending September 2022 remains low, and the same as the year ending September 2021 at 11 per 1 million people, compared with 12 per 1 million people in the year ending March 2020.

Of all recorded homicides in the year ending September 2022, the proportion of homicides where a knife or sharp instrument was the method of killing was 39%. This was similar to the year ending March 2020 (37%), and a slight decrease compared with the year ending September 2021 (42%).

For the latest analysis on homicide offences held within the Home Office Homicide Index, see our Homicide in England and Wales: year ending March 2021 article.

Notes for homicide:

1. The year ending March 2020 included the incident where 39 migrants were found dead inside a lorry.

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 the year ending September 2022 remained 8% lower (50,434 offences) than pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic levels in the year ending March 2020 (55,076 offences). This is mainly because the number of knife-enabled robbery offences (18,253 offences) was 25% lower in the year ending September 2022 than in the year ending March 2020 (24,314 offences).

Levels of knife-enabled crime fell to 45,595 offences in the year ending September 2021 because of government restrictions on social contact. It has increased by 11% in the year ending September 2022 while remaining below pre-coronavirus pandemic levels. There were increases across all knife-enabled violent and sexual offences except for homicide, which decreased by 5% to 260 offences.

The latest increase (11%) in knife or sharp instrument offences compared with the year ending September 2021 can be broken down by Police Force Area (PFA) [note 1]. Metropolitan, West Midlands and Greater Manchester PFAs are the three areas with the highest volume of knife-enabled crime. Compared with the year ending September 2021, knife or sharp instrument offences recorded by the Metropolitan police increased by 11% to 11,517 offences in the year ending September 2022. The West Midlands PFA saw an increase of 38% to 5,006 offences, and Greater Manchester PFA remained similar with 3,447 offences. Compared with the pre-coronavirus pandemic year ending March 2020, knife-enabled crime recorded in the Metropolitan PFA decreased by 22%, but in Greater Manchester PFA increased by 8%. Knife-enabled crime in the West Midlands PFA has returned to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels.

Police recorded "possession of article with a blade or point" [note 2] offences were 15% higher in the year ending September 2022 (26,643 offences) than the year ending March 2020 (23,246 offences). This was a 17% increase compared with the year ending September 2021 (22,853 offences). This could have been influenced by increases in targeted police action to tackle knife crime.

The Home Office and police forces have continued to roll out a new methodology for identifying recorded offences involving knives or sharp instruments (knife-enabled crime). Currently 38 forces have switched to the National Data Quality Improvement Service (NDQIS) data collection methodology. Work continues in moving the remaining six forces to the new methodology. Estimates in this release include a combination of both new and old data collection methods.

For more information, including the differences in data collection methods, please see our Police recorded offences involving knives or sharp instruments: methodology changes and our Improving data collection for knife enabled crime in England and Wales blog.

Other sources of data

The latest provisional admissions data for NHS hospitals in England and Wales showed a continued decrease in the number of admissions for assault by a sharp object in the year ending September 2022 (3,856 admissions). This was 19% lower than the pre-coronavirus pandemic year ending March 2020 (4,769 admissions) and 5% lower than the year ending September 2021 (4,059 admissions).

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

Notes for knife or sharp instrument offences:

1. Data cannot be compared across all police forces because of changes in data collection methods. Currently 38 police forces have switched to the National Data Quality Improvement Service (NDQIS) data collection method. Five remaining police forces and British Transport Police are still submitting knife or sharp instrument offences data through a special collection (North Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Mercia, and Gloucestershire). For more information, please see the methodology Police recorded offences involving knives or sharp instruments: methodology changes. 

2. Offences of "possession of an article with a blade or point" are covered separately by a specific recorded crime category, which is the specific crime of possessing an article with a blade or point illegally.

The police recorded 6,369 offences involving firearms [note 1] in the year ending September 2022 (Figure 6). This was a 4% decrease compared with the pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic year ending March 2020 (6,618 offences) and a 12% increase compared with the year ending September 2021 (5,672 offences).

Offences involving firearms can be broken down by type of weapon. In the year ending September 2022, all firearms offences remained below pre-coronavirus pandemic levels, except for imitation firearms offences, which rose 49% to 2,245 from 1,506 offences, and firearm offences in which the type of firearm was unidentified, which rose 7% to 1,056 from 985 offences when compared with the year ending March 2020 [note 2]. The largest decreases in the volume of offences were seen in the use of handguns (to 1,990 offences) and other firearms (to 558 offences). This represents a 24% decrease for handguns and a 30% decrease for other firearms compared with the year ending March 2020 [note 3].

Notes for offences involving firearms

1. Excludes offences involving the use of conventional air weapons, such as air rifles, and offences recorded by British Transport Police. Includes crimes recorded by police where a firearm has been fired, used as a blunt instrument against a person or used as a threat.

2. Imitation firearms include replica weapons, as well as low-powered weapons that fire small plastic pellets, such as BB guns and soft air weapons.

3. Other firearms include CS gas and pepper spray, stun guns and other weapons.

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.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) provides the best picture of the overall trend in violent crime. Estimates from the CSEW for the year ending September 2022 showed that there were 1.1 million violent offences. There was no significant change compared with the year ending March 2020 survey. However, there remains a general downward trend in violent crime since its peak in 1995.

Overall, police recorded violence against the person continued to increase to 2.1 million offences in the year ending September 2022, a 21% rise compared with the year ending March 2020 (1.8 million offences). Violence with injury was 7% higher (580,542 offences) than levels recorded in the pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic year ending March 2020 (540,703 offences).

Stalking and harassment rose to 719,430 offences. This was a 45% increase compared with the year ending March 2020 and a 5% rise compared with the year ending September 2021. This continued the trend of year-on-year increases since the year ending March 2012, though this was partially driven by changes in Home Office Counting Rules across this period.

In April 2022, the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) launched an experimental module with the aim to fill some important evidence gaps around the experience of harassment. The module captures single incidents of harassment as well as those committed as part of a course of behaviour, and therefore cannot provide an estimate of the number of incidents at this stage.

Estimates based on six months of data from the CSEW showed that 11% of adults aged 16 years and over experienced some form of harassment in the last year. Experiences of harassment were greater among women aged 16 to 34 years (21%) than men aged 16 to 34 years (13%), with the main difference between women and men being experiences of sexual harassment (15% and 4%, respectively).

CSEW estimates on harassment based on six months data ending September 2022 can be found in tables F13 to F15 of our Crime in England and Wales: Other related tables, year ending September 2022.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) provides a more reliable measure of long-term trends in domestic abuse and sexual offences than police recorded crime data.

Domestic abuse

Estimates from the CSEW for the year ending March 2022 showed that 5.7% of adults aged 16 to 59 years experienced domestic abuse. There was no significant change compared with the year ending March 2020 (6.1%), the last time the data were collected.

On the return of face-to-face CSEW interviewing in October 2021, the upper age limit of respondents completing the self-completion modules was removed (it was previously increased from 59 years to 74 years in March 2017). The CSEW for the year ending March 2022 estimated that 5% of adults aged 16 years and over had experienced domestic abuse.

The police flagged 910,980 recorded offences as domestic abuse-related in the year ending March 2022. This represented a 14% increase from 798,607 recorded offences in the year ending March 2020. This included 724,064 violence against the person offences flagged as domestic abuse-related, a 16% increase compared with the year ending March 2020. Some of this continued increase may reflect increased reporting by victims over the last few years.

Further information and data related to domestic abuse can be found in our Domestic abuse in England and Wales overview: November 2022 bulletin. The next Domestic abuse in England and Wales overview is due to be published in November 2023.

Sexual offences

Estimates from the CSEW for the year ending March 2022 showed that 3% of adults aged 16 to 59 years had experienced sexual assault (including attempted offences) in the last year. There was no significant change compared with the year ending March 2020 survey (2%). The CSEW for the year ending March 2022 estimated that 2% of adults aged 16 years and over had experienced sexual assault (including attempted offences).

High levels of non-reporting combined with changes in reporting trends can have a significant impact on sexual offences recorded by the police. The Crime Survey can provide important context to the police figures, for example CSEW estimates showed that fewer than one in six victims of rape or assault by penetration reported the crime to the police (Table 13 of our Nature of sexual assault by rape or penetration, England and Wales dataset). The CSEW also indicates that more than one in three stated that the perpetrator was a partner, ex-partner or family member (Table 12 of our Sexual offences prevalence and victim characteristics, England and Wales dataset).

In the year ending September 2022, sexual offences recorded by the police were at the highest level recorded within a 12-month period (199,021 offences). This was a 22% increase from the year ending March 2020 (Figure 8). Within these figures, the number of recorded sexual offences were lower during periods of lockdown but there have been substantial increases since April 2021.

Of all sexual offences recorded by the police in the year ending September 2022, 35% (70,633) were rape offences (a subcategory of sexual offences). This was a 20% increase from 59,104 in the year ending March 2020. Other sexual offences increased to 128,388 offences; a 23% rise compared with the year ending March 2020.

The latest sexual offences figures may reflect a number of factors, including the impact of high-profile incidents, media coverage, and campaigns on people's willingness to report both recent and historical incidents to the police, as well as a potential increase in the number of victims. For a subset of forces supplying data to the Home Office Data Hub [note 1], 22% of all sexual offences, and 31% of rape offences, in the year to September 2022 had taken place over a year prior to the incident being recorded.

Further data related to sexual offences can be found in our Sexual offences in England and Wales overview: year ending March 2020 bulletin.

CSEW data on the prevalence of domestic abuse, sexual assault, and stalking for the six months ending March 2022 can be found in Tables F15 to F19 of our Crime in England and Wales: Other related tables, year ending March 2022.

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 (for example, burglary) that are well-reported to the police and can provide a better measure of short-term trends.

There were 2.6 million incidents of theft estimated by the CSEW for the year ending September 2022. This was a statistically significant decrease compared with the year ending March 2020 (20%). This large fall was seen across most sub-categories, with a 33% decrease in "other theft of personal property", followed by a 32% fall in "theft from the person" offences and a 30% reduction in domestic burglary.

"Neighbourhood" crime, 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 estimated that there was a statistically significant decrease of 22% in the number of "neighbourhood" crime incidents compared with the year ending March 2020 data.

As with CSEW data, police recorded theft offences in the year ending September 2022 remained below pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic levels. Overall, theft offences were 15% lower (1.6 million offences) than the year ending March 2020 (1.9 million offences). This included a 28% decrease in all burglary offences [note 1]. However, levels of theft have increased in the last year after restrictions related to the third national lockdown were lifted. There was a 20% increase in total theft compared with the year ending September 2021 (1.4 million offences). This rise was seen across most subcategories, including theft from the person (59%), shoplifting (22%) and all other theft offences (29%).

Police recorded robbery increased by 15% (70,881 offences) in comparison with the year ending September 2021 (61,521 offences), but remained 21% lower than the year ending March 2020 (90,204 offences).

Notes for theft offences:

1. Police recorded crime data have a wider offence coverage than CSEW. Police recorded burglary includes both residential and non-residential burglary, such as those committed against a business premises, and therefore differs from the residential burglary captured by the crime survey.

Estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for the year ending September 2022 showed that there were 3.7 million fraud offences. There was no change compared with the year ending March 2020 survey (3.7 million offences). Within fraud offences, bank and credit account fraud significantly decreased (14%) to 2.1 million offences, and advance fee fraud increased by nine times to 546,000 offences compared with the year ending March 2020 data (60,000 offences). This may indicate fraudsters taking advantage of behavioural changes during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as shown in our How our spending has changed since the end of coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions publication. For example, advance fee fraud offences included scams where victims transferred funds to fraudsters for postal deliveries.

Previous estimates from the Telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales (TCSEW) showed that levels of fraud increased during the coronavirus pandemic, as shown in our Nature of fraud and computer misuse in England and Wales: year ending March 2022 article. CSEW estimates for the year ending September 2022 have shown that fraud has now returned to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels. As we found no differences in estimates of fraud between CSEW and TCSEW in our Update to comparability between the Telephone operated Crime Survey for England and Wales and the face-to-face Crime Survey for England and Wales article, this trend is likely to be genuine and increases in fraud were specific to the period of the coronavirus pandemic, rather than a sustained change in trends.

Fraud offences investigated by the police are recorded and collected by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) from Action Fraud and two industry bodies, Cifas and UK Finance. Police recorded fraud increased by 22% in the year ending September 2022 compared with the year ending September 2021. However, this masked variation by reporting body and needs to be interpreted in the context of differences in coverage and fraud types captured by each reporting body as well as administrative changes [note 1].

The increase was mainly driven by a rise in offences recorded by UK Finance [note 2], who reported a 157% increase (to 399,966 offences) compared with the year ending September 2021. This was a result of an increase in reporting from their existing members because of engagement from UK Finance, as well as reports coming in from new members who joined towards the end of 2021. Cifas also reported a 14% increase (to 364,835 offences) compared with the year ending September 2021.

In contrast, Action Fraud (the public-facing national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre) reported a 23% decrease in fraud offences (to 316,597 offences) compared with the year ending September 2021 (413,417 offences). This was driven by a 38% decrease in "Other fraud" (to 92,187 offences) and a 24% decrease in consumer and retail fraud (to 114,020 offences), and may be related to changes in behaviour as restrictions to social contact were lifted.

Notes for fraud:

1. The UK Finance figures and NFIB totals presented in this bulletin and accompanying data tables are supplemented by provisional data provided by UK Finance. This is as a result of inconsistencies in the data collection process impacting a small percentage of the records supplied by UK Finance. The NFIB and UK Finance are working to ensure that all referrals from this period are processed, at which point the need for provisional data will be removed.

2. UK Finance is responsible for coordinating activities on fraud prevention in the UK payments industry, and it represents members from retail banks, card payment acquirers in the UK, and credit, debit and charge card issuers. 

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) provides a better indication of the volume of computer misuse offences experienced by the adult population than those reported to the police, as it captures incidents that go unreported to the police. This can be seen by the large difference in the volume of computer misuse offences between the two sources, which also cannot be compared because of differences in coverage.

Estimates from the CSEW for the year ending September 2022 showed that computer misuse offences decreased by 21% (to 690,000 offences), compared with the year ending March 2020 data. This included a 69% decrease in computer virus offences.

This was a marked change compared with findings from the Telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales (TCSEW) for the year ending March 2022, where we reported an 89% increase in computer misuse offences compared with the year ending March 2020 survey data. While some of the reported increase in TCSEW estimates were likely to be genuine, our Update to comparability between the Telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales and the face-to-face Crime Survey for England and Wales article showed that part of this increase can be explained by survey bias. These new estimates from the CSEW provide our best estimate of the current level of computer misuse and suggest any real increase measured by TCSEW was likely specific to during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) record computer misuse offences and disseminate those that can be investigated to the police for investigation. The NFIB reported a 3% increase in computer misuse offences referred by Action Fraud (from 28,420 to 29,283 offences) for the year ending September 2022 compared with the year ending September 2021.

The police recorded 1.1 million incidents of anti-social behaviour (ASB) in the year ending September 2022. This was a 21% decrease compared with the year ending March 2020 (1.4 million incidents) and a 35% decrease compared with the year ending September 2021 (1.7 million incidents). Levels of ASB incidents were particularly high in the year ending September 2021, in part, because of people reporting breaches of coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions in their local area since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which most police forces logged under ASB on their crime and incident recording systems.

We recently consulted on the Redesign of the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and published two research reports on the transforming the Crime Survey for online data collection.

The purpose of the consultation was to update survey data users on the methodological redesign of the CSEW, including a new panel design with multi-modal waves and to provide the opportunity to comment on survey content. For more details see our Consultation response: Redesign of the Crime Survey for England and Wales (PDF, 558KB).

For more information on the research reports, please see Kantar's work package reports A: Developing and testing an online version of the CSEW questionnaire, and Work package B: Exploring the use of an online survey to measure crime among children and young people.

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. The majority of 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 prior to a theft or attempted theft. Mugging is an informal term for robbery. In this bulletin, we use the term "robbery".

Violent crime

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 type" section of our User guide to crime statistics for England and Wales: Measuring crime during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW)

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimates continue to provide important information in relation to longer-term trends in crime from the year ending December 1981 to the year ending September 2022.

The face-to-face CSEW was suspended on 17 March 2020 because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. A telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales (TCSEW) was designed to continue measuring crime while the face-to-face CSEW was suspended. TCSEW data collection took place between 20 May 2020 and 31 March 2022.

Face-to-face CSEW interviewing for adults aged 16 years and over resumed on 4 October 2021. Crime estimates for year ending September 2022 are produced from data collected between October 2021 to September 2022. Asking respondents about crimes in the previous 12 months to the interview, the current CSEW estimates continue to include crimes committed during the coronavirus pandemic period (as far back as October 2020) as well as more recent ones. This is the first full 12 months of data collection since face-to-face interviewing was paused in March 2020.

Estimates are derived from a total of 20,980 interviews conducted with household residents in England and Wales aged 16 years and over. CSEW estimates can be compared with the year ending March 2020 estimates throughout this bulletin, the last time period for which CSEW data were published before the coronavirus pandemic.

Face-to-face interviewing for children aged 10 to 15 years resumed in April 2022. The first crime estimates for children aged 10 to 15 years are expected to be published in July 2023.

CSEW estimates for the year ending September 2022 have been temporarily suspended of their National Statistics status, for more information see the Office for Statistics Regulation's Temporary suspension of National Statistics status for estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales note. Caution should be taken when interpreting these estimates because of the impact of lower response rates on the quality of the estimates.

The Appendix Table A1 presents CSEW crime for the year ending September 2022. These estimates best reflect the current extent of crime and are directly comparable with the main CSEW time-series estimates.

Further information is available in our Crime in England and Wales QMI.

Police recorded crime

Police recorded crime data are supplied to us by the Home Office, who are responsible for the collation of recorded crime data supplied by the 43 territorial police forces of England and Wales, plus the British Transport Police. These data are supplied to the Home Office on a monthly basis for each crime within the 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 8 December 2022 (for data up to the end of September 2022).

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. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.

Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW)

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.

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.

For more information see our Crime in England and Wales Quality and Methodology Information report.

Violent crime

In published crime statistics, violent crime as measured by the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime differ. This includes large volume crimes such as stalking and harassment, which the survey does not publish in its main estimates of crime but are in the police figures. For more information, see Section 4 of our User guide to crime statistics for England and Wales: March 2020.