Crime in the United Kingdom
Crime in the United Kingdom describes acts of violent crime and non-violent crime that take place within the United Kingdom.
The interpretation of crime statistics in the UK can be problematic without being aware of limitations in the data. Since 1998, apparent increases in some high-harm offences such as knife crime and other 'violence against the person', are largely due to changes in police counting rules, particularly since 2014. However, consistent data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales makes reliable comparisons for most crimes possible from 1981.
In common with many countries around the world, crime overall in the UK has fallen very significantly since 1996, while some categories such as fraud and computer misuse have seen increases together with sporadic rises in racial hate crimes.
The United Kingdom's crime rate remains relatively low when compared to the rest of the world, while somewhat higher than some of its European neighbours. Police recorded crime rates in Scotland are not directly comparable to the rest of the UK due to differences in counting rules.
The portrayal, mythology and reporting of crime has played a signficant cultural role in Britain from at least the eighteenth century.
Justice and enforcement
Responsibility for crime in England and Wales is split between the Home Office, the government department responsible for reducing and preventing crime, along with law enforcement in the United Kingdom; and the Ministry of Justice, which runs the judicial system, including its courts and prisons. In Scotland, this responsibility falls on the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, which acts as the sole public prosecutor in Scotland, and is therefore responsible for the prosecution of crime in Scotland.Demographics
, the strength of the police force in England and Wales was 236,588. 72% were police officers and the remaining 28% support staff, designated officers and Police Community Support Officers. 35% were female, and 8% declared themselves as being from a minority ethnic group.In 2019, 74% of individuals dealt with by the criminal justice system were male and 26% were female, with these proportions remaining constant over the previous 5 years. This compares to males comprising 96% of the prison population in 2023.
In 2017, 25,700 children above the age of criminal responsibility, and beneath the majority, were found guilty of indictable offences. A further 13,500 were cautioned
Extent of crime
While the UK is generally considered safe and has significantly lower rates of certain serious crimes compared to many countries globally, its standing in relation to other Western European or developed nations is often less favourable.West Yorkshire Police have tended to record the most crimes per head of population compared to other urban forces, but the difference in the figures is low.
England and Wales
The Crime Survey for England and Wales is the preferred source for long-term trends since 1981, although the Office for National Statistics supplements its limitations for some categories using police data and other sources.Fraud
Fraud is the most common crime experienced in the UK. While it is estimated that only one in eight incidents are reported to police, fraud consistently accounts for around 40% of all crimes reported by victims in the Crime Survey for England and Wales. In 2022, the majority of online fraud in the United Kingdom was found to be perpetrated by industrial-scale scamming call centres in Asia.In 2023, the UK's National Strategy marked a fundamental shift in how the government intended to respond to fraud against individuals. The strategy directs a multi-agency approach to fraud, but has been criticised as being poorly formulated to address the characteristics and nature of the crime itself, while the UK's police inspectorate HMIRCS has expressed concerns over the rise in fraud cases, variations in police responses and priorities, poor service to victims, and the need for a focus on prevention.
In 2025, out of the estimated 4.1 million incidents of fraud, around 3 million incidents involved a loss. Victims said that they were fully reimbursed in 2.2 million of these cases. Bank and credit account fraud is the most prevalant, followed by consumer and retail, advanced fee, and other fraud types. These latter types formed most of the increase in 2024-25.
Total estimates of losses from all types of fraud vary considerably. In July 2016, the National Crime Agency stated a figure for annual losses at more than £190 billion, with the anti-fraud charity Fraud Advisory Panel setting business fraud at £144 billon and individuals losing approximately £9.7 billion. A figure of £2.11 billion was cited by the Financial Times in 2017, and the government's National Strategy set estimated losses of at least £6.8 billion for the year ending March 2020. In 2021 the House of Commons Library claimed that fraud could cost the UK over £137 billion a year.
In addition to directly reported losses in 2020, using the Quality Adjusted Life Years approach, costs associated with prevention, loss of productivity by victims, health treatments, and criminal justice processes set the biggest single loss at £1.3 billion while police costs in response to crime were assessed at £0.2 billion.
Figures for losses per crime also show variations. In 2020, 26% of cases reported in the Crime Survey for England and Wales involved no loss. Of those that did, 76% involved losses of less than £500 with a median loss of £150. The average loss for the 875,000 cases sent to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau for potential dissemination to police forces was just over £2,600, with an average loss £7,500 for reports to Action Fraud.
2022, in the two thirds of incidents for which victims suffered a financial loss, over three quarters incurred a loss of less than £250, with the median loss being £79; around 14% incurred a loss of between £250 and £999 and the remaining 9% incurred a loss of £1,000 or more. Data from fraud using Authorised Push Payment in 2023 showed that 4.6% of incidents relating to individuals involve amounts over £10,000 and 70% lost less than £1,000. The losses for the 4.6% represented over 13% of the payment transactions and over 60% of total losses.
Of the fraud offences recorded by the police in 2024, only 2% of were referred to territorial forces for investigation, although the number of fraud offences referred increased by 37% while positive outcomes declined 15%.
From 2024, the latest figures for police-reported fraud are published online by the City of London Police's Report Fraud Analysis Services.
Theft
While the CSEW is the best source of long-term trends in theft, specific offences such as burglary are also well reported and well recorded by police.Overall, theft has been declining. While rates were similar over 2024-25, this was 32% lower compared with the 2015 survey and 76% lower than the peak in 1995.
Violence
The CSEW is a good indicator of violence, with or without injury, for the household population. However, it underestimates domestic violence because victims may not disclose it to interviewers. From 2024, the Office for National Statistics has a separate analysis for domestic violence using the CSEW's 'self completion module', whereby victims fill in that part of the survey themselves. Comparisons cannot be made before March 2024 because of the introduction of this new method.In 2025, people aged 16 years and over experienced an estimated 1.1 million incidents of violence with or without injury. This was 34% lower than the previous decade and 75% lower than its peak in 1995. For domestic abuse in that year, the CSEW showed showed that 7.8% of people aged 16 years and over experienced domestic abuse in the last year.
Computer misuse
2025 showed a 35% fall in incidents of unauthorised access to personal information. This was 62% lower than the March 2017 survey, which is the earliest comparable year.The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau reported a 26% increase in offences in that year, compared with 2024. This was because of increases in social media and email hacking offences, personal hacking offences, and computer virus or malware offences.
Criminal damage
The CSEW estimated 587,000 incidents of criminal damage in 2025. While there was no statistically significant change compared with the previous year, this was 56% lower compared with the 2015 survey and 83% lower than the peak in the YE December 1995 survey.Police recorded 435,073 criminal damage offences in 2025, a 6% fall compared with the previous year.
Robbery
Robbery involves the use of force, or threat of force, to attempt or complete a theft. Police data is generally preferred for robbery, because the low frequency of its occurrence makes the sample rate in the CSEW too small to establish reliable trends.There were 80,297 robbery offences in 2025, a 2% decrease from the previous year. However, there was a 55% increase in robbery of business property. This was offset by a 12% decrease in robbery of personal property. Overall robbery offences were still 11% lower than 2020.
Knife or sharp instruments
Most knife-enabled crime takes place in metropolitan areas across England and Wales.In 2025, the Metropolitan Police Service recorded 30% of all offences, the West Midlands Police recorded 8%, and Greater Manchester Police recorded 6%. While the MPS recorded no change in knife-enabled crime compared with the previous year, West Midlands police recorded a 16% decrease and Greater Manchester Police recorded a 6% decrease.
Nationally, knife-enabled crime recorded by the police decreased by 5% in 2025, compared with 2024. This was 7% lower than 2020. Fewer than 1% of knife-enabled crimes were homicide offences.
Provisional data for NHS hospitals in England and Wales in 2025 also showed a 10% decrease in the number of admissions for assault by a sharp object in. This was 27% below 2020.