This data may be out of date — the source may have published a newer figure.
Check Home Office →
Historical trend
Trend summary
Police in England and Wales recorded 6.5 million offences in the year to December 2024.
Trend
- Police-recorded crime has risen substantially since 2014, driven largely by improvements in recording practice rather than underlying increases in most offence types.
- Fraud and computer misuse are excluded from the main police-recorded total but add a further 3+ million offences if included.
- The Crime Survey for England and Wales shows a different long-run trend (falling since 1995); the two series measure different things.
Context
- Home Office crime statistics are based on offences recorded by police; they are affected by changes in recording practice, police activity, and public willingness to report.
- The CSEW is considered more reliable for long-run trend analysis; police-recorded data is better for specific offences and geographic breakdowns.
Trend summary generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 on 23 January 2025. Contains no editorial judgement — describes direction, magnitude, and official projections only.
About this indicator
- Source
- Home Office
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Last updated
- 25 July 2024 Data may be out of date
- Licence
- OGL v3
- Rising trend is…
- Negative
Statistics
- Latest
- 5291712.0 offences
- Period high
- 5291712.0
- Period low
- 4555346.0
- Period average
- 4940014.4