The Office for National Statistics (ONS) put headline crime measured by the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) at 9.7 million incidents in the year ending June 2026, not significantly different from 9.3 million a year earlier.
Two categories rose: fraud increased 11% to an estimated 4.5 million incidents, and computer misuse climbed 23% to 817,000. The ONS linked the fraud increase to a 13% rise in bank and credit account fraud, to 2.8 million incidents. It attributed the computer-misuse increase to a 29% jump in unauthorized access to personal information.
Even after the latest increase, computer misuse remained 54% below its earliest comparable estimate of 1.8 million for the year ending March 2017. The ONS put CSEW headline crime 14% below its year-ending-March-2017 level and said crime has generally declined over the past decade, with fraud a notable exception.
Police-recorded data showed fewer homicides, knife offenses and firearm offenses: homicides fell 1% to 512, offenses involving a knife or sharp instrument dropped 6% to 48,615, and firearm offenses declined 8% to 5,065. Shoplifting was down 2% at 519,516. The ONS said an April 2025 clarification of Home Office counting rules may have slightly reduced shoplifting counts.
Robbery measures moved in opposite directions. Personal-property robbery dropped 7% to 57,193, while total robbery rose 10% to 88,282. The ONS said the overall increase largely reflected the April 2025 clarification; business-property robbery increased 67%.
The CSEW gathers reports from household residents aged 16 and older about crimes they experienced. Police records cover a wider range of incidents, including offenses involving children, tourists, businesses, people in institutions and offenses against society. The ONS cautions that changes in recording practices can affect police figures.
The release combines accredited official statistics based on CSEW data with official statistics from police-recorded crime. The next release is scheduled for Jan. 28, 2027.
