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 5.24 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
There were 145,886 full-time equivalent police officers at 31 March 2026, down 0.4% on the year. Numbers fell by about 21,000 between March 2009 and March 2018, then were rebuilt to a peak of 147,745 in March 2024.
Charge / Summons Rate
8.5% of offences recorded in the year to March 2026 had ended in a charge or summons when first published, up from 7.3% a year earlier and the highest since 2017/18. The rate fell from 15.5% in 2014/15 to a low of 5.6% in 2021/22. Each year is shown as first published, so all years are measured at the same point; rates rise later as more cases close.
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 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument in the year to March 2026, down 8% on the year and 12% below the peak of 55,170 in the year to March 2020, but still well above the level of a decade ago.
Homicides (England & Wales)
Police recorded 499 homicides in England and Wales in the year to March 2026, down 7% on the year and the lowest since this series began in the year to March 2003. Earlier spikes include the 96 Hillsborough victims recorded in 2016/17.
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
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. There are no comparable estimates for 2020/21 and 2021/22, when the face-to-face survey was suspended during the pandemic.
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 not published for this year.
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, with the change on the year before. Fraud and computer misuse are not shown because no police-recorded figure is published for this year while recording moves to Report Fraud.
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 commonly experienced crime in England and Wales. The Crime Survey estimated 4.5 million fraud incidents in the year to March 2026, close to half of all the crime it measures.
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 and crime outcomes. Scotland and Northern Ireland publish their own separate crime statistics.