Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2026

Crime against individuals and households has generally decreased over the last 10 years with some notable exceptions, such as fraud. The latest figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) year ending (YE) March 2026 showed that in the last year there were an estimated:

• 9.6 million incidents of CSEW headline crime; no statistically significant change compared with the YE March 2025 survey (around 9.4 million incidents); CSEW headline crime includes theft, robbery, criminal damage, fraud, computer misuse, and violence with or without injury

• 2.6 million theft incidents, no statistically significant change compared with last year's survey (2.8 million incidents); however, there was a 21% increase in other household theft (to around 791,000 incidents) because of increases in theft from outside a dwelling

• 4.5 million fraud incidents, no statistically significant change compared with last year's survey (4.2 million incidents); however, there was a 10% increase in the number of fraud victims (to 3.8 million victims) compared with the previous year's survey (3.4 million victims)

Experiences of domestic abuse, sexual victimisation, stalking and harassment, and anti-social behaviour from the CSEW are presented separately as prevalence estimates in our statistics. Latest data from the YE March 2026 CSEW showed that in the last year, among people aged 16 years and over, an estimated:

• 2.1% (or around 1 million people) had experienced sexual victimisation (estimates are not comparable with the previous year)

• 10.0% had experienced some form of harassment in the last year, an increase compared with the YE March 2025 survey (8.3%); however, repeated harassment (which is closer to the police definition of harassment) decreased from 3.1% in the YE March 2025 survey to 2.2% in the YE March 2026 survey

• 40.9% of people experienced or witnessed anti-social behaviour (ASB), a statistically significant increase from the previous year (35.5%) and levels are now similar to YE March 2020; although some of this increase was genuine, it was inflated because of changes to how questions in the CSEW were asked from April 2025

Domestic abuse and stalking estimates from CSEW for YE March 2026 will be released separately later this year; additional time is being taken to complete quality assurance and further analysis of the data before publication.

Police recorded crime is not always a good indicator of general trends in crime, because of changes in how it is recorded over time. 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 March 2026 showed that:

• the number of homicides decreased by 7% (to 499 offences) compared with YE March 2025 (539 offences); this was the lowest figure since current police recording practices began in YE March 2003

• offences involving knives or sharp instruments fell by 8% (to 48,774 offences) compared with YE March 2025 (53,096 offences); falls were seen across most regions in England and Wales

• offences involving firearms decreased by 8% (to 5,151 offences) compared with YE March 2025 (5,596 offences)

• the number of robbery of personal property offences fell by 9% (to 57,693 offences) compared with the previous year, however, overall robbery increased by 10% (to 87,362 offences) mainly because of improvements to recording practices for robbery of business property

• Following a period of increases in shoplifting, there has been a 4% decrease (to 507,086 offences) in YE March 2026, when compared with the previous year (530,324 offences)

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is an interviewer-administered face-to-face survey asking people (aged 16 years and over and resident in households) about their experiences of crime in the past year. It provides a reliable measure of crime trends for the population, and the offence types it covers. This is because it is unaffected by police reporting or recording changes.

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 crimes where there is not a specific victim, such as drug possession, and other crimes against the state.

Estimates of CSEW headline crime are reported as both incidents (the estimated number of crimes) and prevalence (the estimated proportion of the population that were victims).

Domestic abuse, sexual victimisation, stalking, and harassment are not included in CSEW headline crime figures. They are collected in a separate self-completion section of the survey (except harassment) to ensure respondent privacy. Prevalence estimates only are reported separately in Section 8: Domestic abuse, Section 9: Sexual victimisation, and Section 10: Stalking and harassment. Survey questions on sexual victimisation have been redeveloped to improve measurement. Therefore, our latest estimates are not comparable with previously published measures.

The domestic abuse and stalking estimates for the year ending March 2026 will be released separately later this year. Additional time is being taken to complete quality assurance and further analysis of the data before publication. This means that the latest estimate for our combined measure of domestic abuse, sexual victimisation and stalking will now be available later this year. For further information on this combined measure, please see our Developing a combined measure of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking, England and Wales: July 2025 article.

Police recorded crime figures cover a wider range of offences and populations, but do not capture all crimes. For example, they include those aged under 16 years, residents of institutions, tourists, crimes against commercial bodies, and crimes against society.

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.

The new national fraud and cybercrime reporting system, Report Fraud, was launched by the City of London Police (CoLP) on 4 December 2025 to replace Action Fraud and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB). The new system will improve the quality, consistency and transparency of fraud and cybercrime data. The Home Office and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have agreed that while the CoLP is fully transitioning to using this new system that they can temporarily suspend their supply of recorded cybercrime and fraud data. This is to enable the CoLP to give priority to aligning the legacy Action Fraud data against Report Fraud. This will ensure consistency, while also improving the experience for victims reporting cybercrime and fraud incidents and providing essential information needed for the police to manage investigations. Therefore, recorded cybercrime and fraud data are not presented in this bulletin.

Estimates of fraud and computer misuse from our preferred source, the CSEW, are unaffected and continue to be presented.

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

• computer misuse

Police data are preferred for:

• homicide

• offences involving weapons

• robbery

Table 1: Number of crime incidents by main crime types, to year ending March 2026

Notes:

1. CSEW data cover people aged 16 years and over. PRC data include crimes against individuals (including children), households, businesses, and society.

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

There were an estimated 9.6 million incidents of CSEW headline crime in the YE March 2026 survey, which shows no statistically significant change compared with the YE March 2025 survey (9.4 million incidents).

Providing context from a longer time period, CSEW headline crime remains 14% lower than in the YE March 2017 survey (11.2 million incidents), when fraud and computer misuse were first included.

The CSEW also presents prevalence estimates (the proportion of people who were a victim of crime in the last 12 months). For more information, see Table A3 in our Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables.

In YE March 2026, the police recorded around 5.2 million crimes (excluding fraud and computer misuse), a 1% decrease compared with last year (5.3 million), but up from 3.6 million in YE March 2015. It is important to note that not all crimes are reported to the police. For example, only an estimated 36% of CSEW headline crime incidents (excluding fraud and computer misuse) were reported to the police in the CSEW YE March 2026.

Police recorded crime is not considered a reliable indicator of overall crime trends because of changes in police activity and recording practices. Increases in volume over the last 10 years have been largely influenced by improvements in recording standards. For further information, see His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services' How effectively do the police record crime?. 

Police recorded crime data 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 499 homicide offences in year ending (YE) March 2026, a 7% decrease from 539 offences in the previous year. This meant the homicide rate was 8.1 per 1 million people in YE March 2026, down from 8.9 in YE March 2025. This was the lowest rate since current police recording practices began in YE March 2003.

This decrease in homicide was mainly because of a 14% fall in knife or sharp instrument homicides to 176 offences compared with the previous year (204 offences). Using broadly comparable data from the Home Office Homicide Index, this is the lowest number of knife or sharp instrument homicides since YE March 1991 (see Table A15 in our Crime in England and Wales: Annual supplementary tables.

For the latest analysis on homicide offences held within the Home Office Homicide Index, see our Homicide in England and Wales: year ending March 2025 article. As the Homicide Index takes account of court outcomes, figures from this source will differ from the main police recorded crime collection and are not directly comparable. Figures based on the Homicide Index are accredited official statistics.

Offences involving a knife or sharp instrument (knife-enabled crime) include offences where a knife or sharp instrument has been used to injure a victim, attempt to injure, or used as a threat. This includes offences where the weapon may not have been seen, but was believed to be present, at the time of the offence by the victim or another witness.

Knife-enabled crime recorded by the police decreased by 8% in year ending (YE) March 2026 (to 48,774 offences), compared with YE March 2025 (53,096 offences). Levels remained 12% lower than YE March 2020 (55,170 offences).

Most knife-enabled crimes were categorised as assault with injury and assault with intent to cause serious harm (44%) and robbery (39%) 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 28% of all knife-enabled offences, the West Midlands Police recorded 8%, and Greater Manchester Police recorded 6%. The MPS recorded a 15% decrease in knife-enabled crime compared with the previous year (to 13,806 offences), West Midlands police a 15% decrease (to 3,790 offences), and Greater Manchester Police a 17% decrease (to 2,855 offences).

The MPS provide more detailed information in their Knife enabled crime in London bulletin (PDF, 757KB). For example, within all knife-enabled crime recorded by the MPS in YE March 2026:

• the knife was used to threaten and seen by the victim in 56% of offences

• the knife was used to threaten but not seen by the victim in 19% of offences

• the knife was used to injure the victim in 24% of offences

Total knife-enabled crime figures in monthly MPS reports may not match our official statistics as they are based on data extracted from their crime recording system on different dates.

The latest provisional admissions data for NHS hospitals in England and Wales showed a 5% decrease in the number of admissions for assault by a sharp object in YE March 2026 (to 3,337 admissions), compared with YE March 2025 (3,523 admissions).

Offences involving firearms cover various weapon types, from imitation firearms to handguns and shotguns. Police recorded 5,151 offences in year ending (YE) March 2026, an 8% decrease compared with YE March 2025 (5,596 offences).

Firearm offence levels were at their lowest since YE March 2015 (4,911 offences) and were much lower than their peak in YE March 2006 (11,088 offences).

Imitation firearms like replica weapons and BB guns were the most used, followed by handguns. In the last year, 38% of these offences involved imitation firearms, and 31% involved handguns.

More detailed data on offences involving firearms are available for YE March 2025 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 view 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.

Our preferred prevalence estimate can be found in Section 8: Domestic abuse. For information on sexual offences, stalking and harassment, see Section 9: Sexual victimisation, and Section 10: Stalking and harassment.

In year ending (YE) March 2026 CSEW, people aged 16 years and over experienced an estimated 989,000 incidents of violence with or without injury. There was no statistically significant change compared with the previous year's survey. However, this was 33% lower than estimated a decade ago (1.5 million incidents in YE March 2016) and 78% lower than its peak in YE December 1995 (4.5 million incidents).

In YE March 2026, around 0.7% of people aged 16 years and over reported being a victim of violence, with or without injury, where the perpetrator was a stranger; 0.4% reported being a victim where the perpetrator was an acquaintance. There was no statistically significant change compared with the previous year's survey.

While there was a 2% increase in police recorded violence without injury (to 829,017 offences) in YE March 2026 compared with YE March 2025 (815,599 offences), there was a 3% decrease in police recorded violence with injury (to 507,169 offences). This follows large increases in these offences since 2015, mainly because of improvements to recording practices over this period.

Domestic abuse estimates from the year ending (YE) March 2026 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) will be released separately later this year. Additional time is being taken to complete quality assurance and further analysis of the data before publication. Our latest estimates from the YE March 2025 survey showed that an estimated 7.8% of people aged 16 years and over experienced domestic abuse in the last year (around 3.8 million people).

The police categorised 834,256 offences as domestic abuse-related in YE March 2026, similar to the previous year (816,493 offences). Of these, 643,061 were violence against the person offences.

Further information and data related to domestic abuse can be found in our Domestic abuse in England and Wales overview: November 2025 bulletin.

An estimated 2.1% of people aged 16 years and over (around 1 million people) experienced sexual victimisation (including attempts) in the last year, as reported in the self-completion module of the YE March 2026 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). This is broken down as 2.8% of women and 1.4% of men. Estimates are based on newly developed CSEW questions and are not comparable with those previously published.

There have been general increases in police recorded sexual offences over the last decade, largely because of improvements in police recording practices. There was a 4% increase in YE March 2026 (to 217,567 offences) compared with the previous year (209,114 offences). Within sexual offences, there was a 4% rise in rape offences (to 74,727 offences) compared with YE March 2025 (71,614 offences). Around 34% of all sexual offences recorded by the police in YE March 2026 were rape offences.

Further data related to sexual offences were released on 4 November 2025 in our Sexual offences in England and Wales overview: year ending March 2025 bulletin.

Stalking estimates from the year ending (YE) March 2026 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) will be released separately later this year. Additional time is being taken to complete quality assurance and further analysis of the data before publication. Our latest estimates from the YE March 2025 CSEW showed an estimated 2.9% of people aged 16 years and over had experienced stalking in the last year (around 1.4 million people).

The CSEW also measures experiences of harassment, including one-off incidents. In the CSEW YE March 2026, of people aged 16 years and over, 10.0% (around 4.9 million people) had experienced some form of harassment in the last year. This represents a statistically significant increase compared with the YE March 2025 survey (8.3%).

Around 7.8% had experienced some form of non-sexual harassment while around 3.9% had experienced some form of sexual harassment in the YE March 2026 survey.

An estimated 2.2% of people experienced repeated harassment in the last year, according to the YE March 2026 survey (around 1.1 million people). This was a decrease compared with the YE March 2025 survey (3.1%). Our estimate of repeated harassment is more closely aligned to how the police define and record harassment (a course of conduct or behaviour comprising at least two related events). This is explained in the Home Office's Crime Recording Rules for frontline officers and staff guidance.

Police recorded stalking and harassment increased by 4% to 623,574 offences. This was because of a 6% rise in stalking (to 143,704 offences) and a 6% increase in harassment (including racially or religiously aggravated harassment) to 320,914 offences.

Robbery involves the use of force, or threat of force, to attempt or complete a theft (for a definition see Section 18: Glossary). Police recorded robbery of personal property decreased by 9% (to 57,693 offences) in year ending (YE) March 2026, while overall robbery offences increased by 10% (to 87,362 offences).

A clarification of Home Office Counting Rules with police forces in April 2025 has contributed to an increase in the number of robbery of business property offences during this period (a 91% rise to 29,669 offences). It was made clear to forces that if an offender enters a retail premises, steals, and either uses or threatens violence against a shop worker, or security guard, or any other person at the time, or uses or threatens violence to escape, then an offence of robbery of business property should be recorded. This clarification is likely to also have had a small effect on reducing the number of shoplifting offences.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated 71,000 robbery incidents in YE March 2026. There was no statistically significant change compared with the previous year's survey. Police data are the preferred measure 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 offences that are well reported and well recorded, such as residential burglary, and can highlight emerging trends.

The CSEW for year ending (YE) March 2026 estimated 2.6 million theft incidents, no statistically significant change compared with the previous year's survey (2.8 million incidents). However, this was 29% lower compared with the YE March 2016 survey (3.7 million incidents), and 77% lower than the peak in the YE December 1995 survey (11.6 million incidents).

Within CSEW theft, incidents of other household theft increased by 21% (to around 791,000 incidents) because of increases in theft from outside a dwelling.

Further information on CSEW theft, such as mobile phone theft, were recently published in our Property crime tables, England and Wales: year ending March 2025.

The police recorded 1.6 million theft offences in YE March 2026, an 8% decrease compared with the previous year (1.8 million offences).

Police recorded vehicle offences decreased by 11% (to 312,250 offences) during this period and police recorded burglary, which includes both residential and non-residential burglaries, fell by 9% to 223,456 offences. Police recorded theft from the person also fell by 20% to 121,161 offences, following increases in these offences since YE March 2021 (49,666 offences).

Following a period of increases in shoplifting, there has been a 4% decrease (to 507,086 offences) in YE March 2026, when compared with the previous year (530,324 offences).

Recent increases in police recorded shoplifting likely reflect both growth in offences and improved reporting resulting from closer engagement between police and retailers. Reporting rates for shoplifting are known to be very low and police are actively encouraging the reporting of all incidents and the submission of supporting evidence, such as CCTV, to strengthen intelligence, identify offenders, and link related offences.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) year ending (YE) March 2026 estimated around 646,000 incidents of criminal damage. This showed no statistically significant change compared with the YE March 2025 survey. However, this was 47% lower compared with the YE March 2016 survey (1.2 million incidents), and 81% below the peak in the YE December 1995 survey (3.4 million incidents).

Police recorded 433,251 criminal damage offences in YE March 2026, a 2% fall compared with the previous year

There were an estimated 4.5 million incidents of fraud in the year ending (YE) March 2026 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), which showed no statistically significant change compared with the YE March 2025 survey (4.2 million incidents). However, there was a 0.7 percentage point increase in the prevalence (the proportion of all people who were victims in the previous 12 months) of CSEW fraud (to 7.8%).

Within CSEW fraud, there was a 15% increase in bank and credit account fraud (to around 2.8 million incidents) and a 37% decrease in other fraud (to around 151,000 incidents) compared with the previous year's survey.

Levels of fraud have increased by 32% compared with the earliest comparable year, YE March 2017 CSEW (around 3.4 million incidents).

Police recorded fraud statistics are not presented in this bulletin as the Home Office and the Office for National Statistics have agreed that while the City of London Police are starting to use a new reporting system, they can temporarily suspend their supply of recorded cybercrime and fraud data. For further information, see Section 19: Data sources and quality.

There were an estimated 798,000 incidents of computer misuse in the year ending (YE) March 2026 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), no statistically significant change compared with the previous year's survey. CSEW computer misuse was around 55% lower than the YE March 2017 survey (around 1.8 million incidents), which is the earliest comparable year.

Police recorded computer misuse is not presented in this bulletin as the Home Office and the Office for National Statistics have agreed that while the City of London Police are starting to use a new reporting system, they can temporarily suspend their supply of recorded cybercrime and fraud data. For further information, see Section 19: Data sources and quality.

Computer misuse is also a concern for businesses and organisations. Findings from the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025 to 2026 showed that 19% of businesses and 14% of charities had been victims of at least one cybercrime in the past year. This was similar to the previous year's survey.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for year ending (YE) March 2026 showed that an estimated 40.9% of people experienced or witnessed anti-social behaviour (ASB). This was a statistically significant increase from the previous year (35.5%) and levels are now similar to YE March 2020. Although some of this increase was genuine, it was inflated because of changes to how questions in the CSEW were asked from April 2025. We will publish a supporting methodology article with more details on 25 August 2026.

The number of police-recorded ASB incidents, including those by the British Transport Police, remained similar at 1 million incidents. Recent inspections by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) have found that many forces needed to improve how they identify and record anti-social behaviour. For further information, see HMICFRS' Policing response to anti-social behaviour report.

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 that 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

• 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). The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimates cover a broad range of fraud offences including:

• "Bank and credit account fraud", which usually involves falsely obtaining or using personal bank or payment card details to carry out fraudulent transactions; this can involve using a false identity, deceitful credit application, credit or debit cards, cloned cards, cheque books, or online accounts

• "Consumer and retail fraud", which occurs when goods or services were paid for but failed to materialise, were misrepresented at point of sale, or were faulty or stolen; this includes bogus callers, ticketing fraud, phone scams, and computer software service fraud

• "Advance fee fraud", which occurs when a payment is made to fraudsters, who claim to be in a position of authority, to transfer money or for a promise of employment, wealth, or gifts (including lottery scams and inheritance fraud)

• "Other fraud" includes types of fraud not covered elsewhere, such as investment or charity fraud

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".

Sexual victimisation

Sexual victimisation captures a range of sexual offences including rape or assault by penetration (including attempts), being forced to penetrate, indecent exposure, unwanted sexual touching and sharing or receiving intimate images.

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 2026.

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 and recorded fraud and computer misuse are not designated as accredited official statistics and are published as official statistics. Their accreditation was removed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) in January 2014 following an assessment that found evidence that the quality and consistency of the underlying data may not be reliable.

Crime Survey for England and Wales

The CSEW covers selected crimes experienced in the 12 months before the survey interview, including those not reported to the police. However, it excludes crimes against non-household populations and businesses, and does not cover all crime types.

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. Domestic violence and sexual victimisation are also covered, but because of underreporting in interviews, these are better captured via a self-completion section and reported separately.

While sexual victimisation 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.

The CSEW uses a sample, not the whole population, so 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.

It tracks long-term crime trends from year ending (YE) December 1981 to YE March 2026. 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 latest figures are based on interviews between April 2025 and March 2026, covering crimes that occurred between April 2024 and February 2026.

Domestic abuse, sexual victimisation, stalking, and harassment are not included in CSEW headline crime figures. They are collected in a separate self-completion section of the survey (except harassment) to ensure respondent privacy. Survey questions on sexual victimisation have been redeveloped to improve measurement. Therefore, our latest estimates are not comparable with previously published measures. The domestic abuse and stalking estimates for the year ending March 2026 will be released separately later this year. Additional time is being taken to complete quality assurance and further analysis of the data before publication.

For more information on the Crime Survey for England and Wales, please see Section 2 of our User guide to crime statistics in England and Wales: March 2026.

Police recorded crime

The Home Office collects crime data from the 43 police forces in England and Wales, plus the British Transport Police, covering offences on the notifiable list. Figures in this bulletin represent a snapshot taken on 08 June 2026, covering data up to March 2026.

Police recorded crime covers a broader range of offences and populations than the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). It is the main source for local crime statistics and is effective for tracking well-reported and well-recorded crimes, including lower-volume offences like homicide. It also provides timely insights into emerging trends.

However, it excludes unreported or unrecorded crimes. Trends may be influenced by changes in recording practices, police activity, and public reporting, making long-term comparisons difficult. Inconsistencies in recording quality across forces and over time have particularly affected violent crime data over the past decade.

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 (for a definition, see Section 18: Glossary). This led to fewer crimes often associated with conduct crimes, such as malicious communications offences.

To improve consistency, the National Data Quality Improvement Service (NDQIS) tool now flags offences involving knives, domestic abuse, child sexual abuse, and online crime across four police collections. NDQIS is available to 42 forces, with usage details in the relevant datasets.

Recorded fraud and computer misuse

A new national cybercrime and fraud reporting system, Report Fraud, was launched by the City of London Police (CoLP) on 4 December 2026 to replace Action Fraud and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB). It brings together all reports made through its public-facing service (Report Fraud) alongside fraud reports provided by two industry bodies, Cifas, and UK Finance.

Recorded fraud and computer misuse are not reliable indicators of overall volume or trends, as many victims do not report incidents to Report Fraud. In addition, data on fraud against businesses and organisations are based on reports from Cifas and UK Finance, which only cover their member organisations. They do not represent all businesses and organisations in England and Wales, and membership changes over time, affecting data comparability.

Before 4 December 2025, only incidents reported directly by the public to Action Fraud were classified as crimes, whereas Cifas and UK Finance reports were retained solely as information reports. In addition, Cifas and UK Finance only shared a subset of reports for intelligence purposes, meaning some reports that could amount to crimes were not passed on.

From 4 December 2025, Report Fraud has brought together all reports made through its public-facing service with fraud reports from Cifas and UK Finance. Under the new system, Cifas now shares all information reports that could amount to a crime. In addition, Cifas reports are now classified as crimes when they meet the Home Office Counting Rules. UK Finance reports continue to be used as information reports for the purpose of supporting investigations and law enforcement.

The Home Office and the Office for National Statistics have agreed that while the CoLP are starting to use this new system, they can temporarily suspend their supply of recorded cybercrime and fraud data. This is to enable the CoLP to give priority to aligning the legacy Action Fraud data against Report Fraud to ensure consistency while also improving the experience for victims reporting cybercrime and fraud and providing essential information needed for the police to manage investigations. Therefore, recorded cybercrime and fraud data are not presented in this bulletin.

For more detail on planned improvements, see our action plan: Improving the quality of fraud and computer misuse statistics in England and Wales: December 2025.

For more information on police recorded crime, please see Section 3 of our User guide to crime statistics for England and Wales: March 2026. 

Further quality and methodology information is available in our Crime in England and Wales Quality and Methodology Information (QMI) report.