FOI reference: FOI-2025-3264
You asked
I am writing to request data on mobile phone theft in the UK. The latest report I was able to find was from April 2025, but I wanted to enquire whether there are more recent figures available, specifically on:
- The number of recorded mobile phone thefts (broken down by month and locations, if possible)
- Any breakdowns by region, demographics, or time of day
- Hotspots for phone thefts (e.g. public transport, nightlife areas, shopping districts etc)
- Estimations for December figures, EOY figures, and 2026 figures
We said
Thank you for your request.
We produce crime data primarily from two sources:
- Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) – a household victimisation survey that asks respondents about their experiences of crime, regardless of whether the incident was reported to the police.
- Police recorded crime (from the Home Office) – offences that are reported to and/or recorded by police forces in England and Wales.
For the latest estimates from the CSEW on the numbers and proportions of individual mobile phone owners experiencing theft of their phone, please see our Property crime tables. These data tables generally provide statistics based on financial year (April to March) from the year ending March 2010 to the year ending March 2024, and include demographic breakdowns for age, sex and marital status.
Estimates for when and where incidents of theft occurred, and what items were stolen in these incidents are available in our Nature of crime: personal and other theft dataset for the year ending March 2024 in the following tables:
- Table 2a: Where incidents of theft from the person occurred, year ending March 2014 to year ending March 2024
- Table 2b: Where incidents of other theft of personal property occurred, year ending March 2014 to year ending March 2024
- Table 3a: Items stolen in incidents of theft from the person, year ending March 2014 to year ending March 2024
- Table 3b: Items stolen in incidents of other theft of personal property, year ending March 2014 to year ending March 2024
Please note that tables 2a and 2b cover all theft incidents and are not specific to mobile phone thefts. While information on what items were stolen (including mobile phones) is available separately in Tables 3a and 3b, we do not hold cross-tabulations that show location or time of day specifically for incidents involving mobile phone theft.
We do not hold figures for the mentioned statistics beyond the year ending March 2024, nor do we produce estimates for future periods. The ‘Property crime tables’ and the ‘Nature of crime: personal and other theft’ datasets containing CSEW data for the year ending March 2025 are scheduled to be published in March 2026 on the ONS website as part of our routine crime statistics publications.
Data on police recorded crime figures are provided to us by the Home Office. We do not hold police recorded crime data that specifically identify offences in which a mobile phone was stolen. For further information on this, including data by month, police force area, or smaller geographic units, you may wish to contact the Home Office directly via email at: CrimeandPoliceStats@homeoffice.gov.uk. Alternatively, you can submit requests to individual police forces, who may hold the relevant detail within their own operational systems.
We do not hold crime or victimisation data covering the whole of the UK. Crime-related data for Scotland are published by the Scottish Government.
Police recorded crime data for Northern Ireland are published by the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
If you have any further questions, please contact us at CrimeStatistics@ons.gov.uk and we will endeavour to help.