Civometry

ONS · Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables

Sexual offences (police-recorded)

Year ending March 2026 Final

217,567offences

Sexual offences (police-recorded) were 217,567 offences in the year ending March 2026, up 4.0% (8,453) from 209,114 in the year ending March 2025.

▲ 4.0% · +8,453 against Year ending March 2025 (year on year)

  1. ONS count
  2. Year ending March 2026
  3. published 23 July 2026
  4. Table A5a
  5. row “TOTAL SEXUAL OFFENCES [note 28]”
  6. column “Apr 2025 to Mar 2026”
  7. cell value 217567

Year ending March 2026 is the highest figure in the published series: 217,567. Rule: highest of the 24 periods published here (Year ending March 2003 to Year ending March 2026).

Year ending March 2003 to Year ending March 2026

Sexual offences (police-recorded): Year ending March 2003 to Year ending March 2026LabourLabourLabourLabourCoalitionCoalitionConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabour0100k200k20052010201520202025Year ending March 2003: 56,652 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2004: 60,412 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2005: 60,924 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2006: 60,287 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2007: 56,042 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2008: 52,166 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2009: 50,185 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2010: 53,006 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2011: 53,940 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2012: 52,760 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2013: 53,599 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2014: 64,232 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2015: 88,576 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2016: 107,326 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2017: 123,058 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2018: 152,842 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2019: 164,393 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2020: 163,346 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2021: 147,742 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2022: 193,098 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2023: 194,595 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2024: 188,702 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2025: 209,114 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2026: 217,567 offences · published 23 July 2026
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

Breakdowns

What this measures

Police-recorded rape and other sexual offences in England and Wales in a 12-month period.

What this doesn’t measure

Sexual offences not reported to the police; historical offences are counted when reported, not when they happened.

Important caveat

Police-recorded crime counts offences reported to and recorded by the police. It is affected by whether people report crime and by changes in police recording practice, so it does not measure all crime that happens. The Crime Survey for England and Wales is the better guide to long-term trends in the crimes it covers. Police recorded crime is not designated as National Statistics.

Revision history

No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.

Source

Publisher
ONS
Publication
Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables
Release
Year ending March 2026, published 23 July 2026
Source file
appendixtablesyemar2026.xlsx
File SHA-256
9e4a930ec090b4b4a7dfda22f6f5f3b418cfa6a034f977ae99977562f8502ac9
Retrieved
4 September 2026
Sheet
Table A5a
Table
Table A5a
Row
TOTAL SEXUAL OFFENCES [note 28]
Column
Apr 2025 to Mar 2026
Cell value
217567
Geography
England and Wales
Unit
offences
API
/api/metrics/prc_sexual_offences · /series · /vintages

Related metrics

Government periods

Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.

Labour 2024–188,702Year ending March 2024217,567Year ending March 2026↑ 15.3%
Conservative 2019–2024164,393Year ending March 2019188,702Year ending March 2024↑ 14.8%
Conservative 2017–2019123,058Year ending March 2017164,393Year ending March 2019↑ 33.6%
Conservative 2015–201788,576Year ending March 2015123,058Year ending March 2017↑ 38.9%
Coalition 2010–201553,006Year ending March 201088,576Year ending March 2015↑ 67.1%
Labour 2005–201060,924Year ending March 200553,006Year ending March 2010↓ 13.0%

Full comparison with chart

Release
Year ending March 2026 · publication page
Last updated
23 July 2026
Next scheduled release
22 October 2026 (official date)