Robberies in England and Wales rise by 10% — The National

In England and Wales, the number of police-recorded robberies in the year ending March 2026 rose by 10% to 87,362 cases. The largest increase was recorded in business robberies: their number rose by 91% to 29,669, The National reports, citing the UK Office for National Statistics.

Changes to recording rules

The Office for National Statistics explained that the sharp increase in business robberies was mainly linked to changes in crime-recording rules. Since April 2025, police have been instructed to classify as robbery shop thefts accompanied by violence or threats. At the same time, the number of personal property robberies fell by 9%.

The overall crime estimate based on the Crime Survey for England and Wales was 9.6 million incidents. This does not indicate a statistically significant change compared with the previous year, although trends in individual types of offences varied.

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Harassment and fraud

The number of recorded rape cases rose by 4% to 74,727. The number of cases of violence without injury increased by 2%, while violence with injury fell by 3%. The ONS cautions that police statistics for these crimes are not a reliable indicator of trends, as they may be affected by changes in recording rules and victims’ greater willingness to report crimes.

The number of police-recorded harassment cases increased by 6%, although the ONS also does not consider these data a reliable indicator of trends. According to the survey, the share of adults who experienced repeated harassment rose from 2.3% to 3.5%, or approximately 1.7 million people. These estimates are provisional.

The number of adult fraud victims increased by 10% to 3.8 million. The number of bank and credit account fraud incidents rose by 15% to approximately 2.8 million. The total number of fraud incidents was estimated at 4.5 million, with no statistically significant change in the figure.