Key Indicators
Recorded Crime & Policing
The headline series: what the police record, and how many officers there are to record it. Both lines have been shaped as much by policy - recording standards, austerity cuts, the recruitment Uplift - as by crime itself.
Police Recorded Crime
Police recorded 5.2 million crimes in England and Wales in the year to March 2026 (excluding fraud and computer misuse), down 1% on the year. The Crime Survey, a better guide to trends, estimated 9.6 million incidents, statistically unchanged.
Police Officer Numbers
The number of police officers in England and Wales. About 20,000 were cut in the 2010s, then numbers were rebuilt to record levels by 2023.
Charge / Summons Rate
The share of victim-based offences ending in a charge or summons more than halved over the last decade, from 11.1% in 2015/16 to a low of 4.6% in 2021/22. It has recovered partly since, reaching 7.3% in the year to March 2026.
Violent Crime
Serious violence drives more public concern than any other category. These charts track knife crime, which has stayed stubbornly high, and homicide, which has quietly fallen - two trends that rarely appear in the same headline.
Knife Crime (England & Wales)
Police recorded 48,774 knife-enabled offences in the year to March 2026, down 8% on the year and 12% below the year to March 2020, but still well above the level of a decade ago.
Homicides (England & Wales)
There were 499 homicides in England and Wales in the year to March 2026, down 7% on the year. The homicide rate, 8.1 per million people, was the lowest since current police recording practices began in the year to March 2003.
Fraud & Crime by Type
Crime has moved online faster than the justice system has followed. Fraud now accounts for around two in five offences people actually experience, transforming what "crime" means in practice.
Fraud & Computer Misuse
Fraud is the most commonly experienced crime, with an estimated 4.5 million incidents in the year to March 2026, close to half of all Crime Survey headline crime. Most is online and little is prosecuted.
Crime Breakdown
Crime Survey headline crime by type, year to March 2026. Fraud alone accounts for close to half of all incidents people experience. Survey figures are used here because police recorded fraud is currently suspended from publication.
Offences by Category
The full breakdown of what police actually record - a useful corrective to perceptions shaped by news coverage, which heavily over-represents the rarest offences.
Police Recorded Offences by Type
| Offence Type | Year to Mar 2026 | Change on year |
|---|
Police recorded offences for the year to March 2026. Fraud and computer misuse are not shown: their supply was suspended while City of London Police move to the new Report Fraud system.
About this data
Figures come from the Office for National Statistics - which publishes both the Crime Survey for England and Wales and police recorded crime - and from Home Office police workforce statistics. Scotland and Northern Ireland publish separate crime statistics and are not included here.
The single most important caveat: the Crime Survey measures people's actual experience of crime, while recorded crime measures what police log - and the two can move in opposite directions when reporting or recording practices change. For long-term trends in overall crime, the ONS treats the survey as the more reliable guide; for rare serious offences like homicide, recorded figures are definitive.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common crime in the UK?
Fraud is the most common crime in England and Wales, with millions of cases a year, most of it committed online. Only a small share is ever prosecuted.
Is crime rising in the UK?
The Crime Survey, which asks people directly about their experience, shows overall crime well below its 1990s peak. Police-recorded crime rose during the 2010s, partly because of improved recording rather than more offences.
Is knife crime going up in the UK?
Recorded knife crime rose sharply from the mid-2010s and, despite falling in the year to March 2026, remains far above that period. It is concentrated in cities and affects young people most. The government has pledged to halve it within a decade.
Why do the Crime Survey and police recorded crime show different trends?
The Crime Survey measures people's experience of crime directly, including offences never reported to police, while recorded crime only counts what forces log. Changes in reporting willingness or police recording practice move the recorded series without any change in actual crime, so the two can and do diverge.
Is crime in England and Wales going up or down?
It depends on the offence and the measure. The charts on this page show both survey-based and police-recorded series over time so you can see the trends directly. For long-term trends in overall crime, the ONS treats the Crime Survey as the more reliable guide.
What counts as knife crime?
Knife crime statistics count police-recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument - including assault, robbery, threats to kill and homicide. Possession offences are usually reported separately.
Why is fraud such a large share of crime?
Fraud, much of it online, is now the most commonly experienced offence in England and Wales according to the Crime Survey. Because it is typically reported to Report Fraud (which replaced Action Fraud and the NFIB in December 2025) rather than to local police, it is heavily under-represented in traditional recorded crime figures.
Where do these crime statistics come from?
The data comes from the Office for National Statistics, which publishes both the Crime Survey for England and Wales and police recorded crime, and from Home Office statistics on the police workforce. Scotland and Northern Ireland publish their own separate crime statistics.