Sexual offences 2003 to 2017

You asked

Please provide the number of sexual offences, as defined by the Sexual Offences Act 2003, reported to the police yearly from 2003 to present (or the end of 2017).

We said

Thank you for your enquiry.

While we do not hold the requested data regarding the numbers of sexual crimes reported to police forces in England and Wales, we do hold data on the numbers of sexual offences reported to and recorded by the police in England and Wales. Please note that these data will exclude offences that are reported to, but not recorded by the police (for example, if it transpired that an offence that was reported to the police did not take place).

Data for the year ending March 2002 to the latest available date (year ending September 2017) on the numbers of sexual offences recorded by the police, are available in appendix table A4 of our ‘Crime in England and Wales: year ending September 2017’ release;

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesappendixtables

Please note that as the Sexual Offences Act 2003 came into force on 1 May 2004, we do not hold police recorded crime data that cover the exact time period requested; the closest available starting reference period is the year ending March 2005 (which includes April 2004).

Please additionally note that while the large majority of sexual offences recorded by the police are covered by the Sexual Offences Act 2003, one category: ‘Abuse of children through sexual exploitation’ contains an offence: ‘Possess a paedophile manual’, which falls under the Serious Crime Act 2015. We are not able to separately identify the number of ‘Possess a paedophile manual’ offences recorded by the police as we do not hold data to this disaggregated level and as such, it is not possible for us to provide numbers of sexual offences recorded by the police during your requested reference period that are solely covered by the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

If you would like any further information in the future, you can email us at crimestatistics@ons.gov.uk and we will endeavour to help. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask.