About this data

Source: Home Office, Historical crime data (1898 to 2001/02); ONS, Crime in England and Wales: year ending June 2026

• Calendar years up to 1997, then financial years (April to March).
• The counting rules changed in April 1998, and the National Crime Recording Standard was introduced in April 2002. Both increased the number of offences recorded, so the series is shown with breaks.
• Many offences have been added to the list of recorded (notifiable) crimes over time — for example, common assault from 1998 — so early and recent figures are not like-for-like.
• Fraud and forgery are excluded throughout, to match ONS's current headline measure.

More on this topic: Crime.