Economic and social cost of crime: Amendments to unit costs
Published 27 May 2026
Applies to England and Wales
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Amendments to unit costs
This page outlines the most recently available unit costs for crimes included in The economic and social cost of crime 2019 to 2020.
Police Activity Survey (PAS) amendments
The Police Activity Survey (PAS), published in 2025, enables more up-to-date estimates police response costs. Table 1 provides ESCC costs with updated police response costs to align with PAS data.
Table 1: ESCC costs, with updated Police Response Costs to align with the Police Activity Survey, Financial Year 2019 to 2020
| Crime types | Defensive expenditure | Insurance admin | Value of property | Physical/emotional harms | Lost output | Health services | Victim services | Police | CJS | Total(1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Anticipation) | (Anticipation) | (Consequence) | (Consequence) | (Consequence) | (Consequence) | (Consequence) | (Response) | (Response) | ||
| Individual | ||||||||||
| Homicide | £68,700 | £0 | - | £2,247,260 | £383,630 | £1,230 | £5,070 | £498,020 | £629,070 | £3,832,980 |
| Violence with injury | £280 | £10 | - | £9,060 | £3,240 | £1,060 | £20 | £1,270 | £940 | £15,880 |
| Violence without injury | £120 | £10 | - | £3,850 | £1,300 | £320 | £10 | £490 | £750 | £6,850 |
| Rape | £810 | £10 | - | £26,340 | £10,730 | £990 | £40 | £1,670 | £1,610 | £42,200 |
| Other sexual offences | £130 | £0 | - | £4,210 | £990 | £400 | £10 | £150 | £140 | £6,030 |
| Robbery | £190 | £290 | £1,600 | £4,760 | £1,740 | £450 | £10 | £1,360 | £450 | £10,850 |
| Domestic burglary | £720 | £310 | £3,080 | £1,420 | £580 | £430 | £0 | £510 | £660 | £7,710 |
| Theft of a vehicle | £2,120 | £630 | £13,830 | £590 | £290 | £250 | £0 | £1,170 | £630 | £19,510 |
| Theft from a vehicle | £140 | £20 | £740 | £230 | £100 | £60 | £0 | £120 | £40 | £1,450 |
| Theft from the person | £20 | £260 | £340 | £440 | £180 | £150 | £0 | £310 | £140 | £1,840 |
| Criminal damage | £30 | £270 | £440 | £560 | £210 | £220 | £0 | £160 | £90 | £1,980 |
| Fraud(2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Cybercrime(3) | £150 | £0 | £60 | £270 | £180 | £90 | £0 | - | £0 | £750 |
| Commercial (9 sectors only) | ||||||||||
| Commercial robbery | £990 | £40 | £1,080 | £4,310 | £2,590 | £690 | £10 | £1,290 | £450 | £11,450 |
| Commercial burglary | £3,640 | £50 | £4,340 | £530 | £440 | £150 | £0 | £540 | £350 | £10,040 |
| Commercial theft | £70 | £40 | £380 | £0 | £0 | £0 | - | £10 | £50 | £550 |
| Theft of a commercial vehicle | £6,270 | £700 | £22,390 | £370 | £220 | £10 | £0 | £1,170 | £630 | £31,760 |
| Theft from a commercial vehicle | £440 | £40 | £1,510 | £100 | £90 | £0 | £0 | £120 | £40 | £2,340 |
| Commercial criminal damage | £110 | £40 | £560 | £60 | £40 | £40 | £0 | £20 | £90 | £960 |
Notes:
- There may be discrepancies in the total figures due to the effect of rounding.
- The economic and social cost of fraud 2023 to 2024 (2026) provides more recent unit cost estimates for fraud against the individual (see relevant section below).
- Unit Police costs cannot be calculated for cybercrime as it was not recorded as a category in the ABC data in 2006 to 2007. Unit CJS costs for cybercrime are very low per cybercrime offence as the total CJS costs are low and the volumes of crime are high.
The PAS publication and accompanying costs methodology note publishes the 2022 to 2023 crime response workforce total and unit costs, which cover the 35-forces who participated in PAS. These have been adjusted to align with this report by:
1) Adjusting crime categories
The PAS publication uses slightly different crime categories to the ESCC publication, so the costs have been adjusted and mapped to their corresponding ESCC crime type. The biggest difference in terms of crime categories between Police recorded crime (PRC) data and the ESCC is that the ESCC distinguishes between crimes against the individual and crimes against businesses (‘commercial’ crimes). For PRC categories that covered both individual and commercial crimes, this meant apportioning the costs between the 2.
2) Adjusting volumes
The PAS report estimates PRC unit costs, whereas the ESCC is on an all-crime basis. To calculate these ESCC unit costs, total costs were divided by the yearly all-crime (including unreported) volumes for each crime type. For the individual crime types, the 2022 to 2023 CSEW was mostly used. The Homicide Index was used for homicide. For sexual offences (‘rape’ and ‘other sexual offences’), the ONS’ annual supplementary tables are used. For individual crimes where it was necessary, CSEW volume estimates have been scaled up using PRC-by-age data to produce estimates that cover all ages, as the CSEW only includes individuals aged 16 and over. For commercial crime types, the 2023 Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) was mostly used to obtain volume estimates except robbery and burglary, where PRC (in conjunction with non-reporting rate scalars, taken from the 2018 CVS) was used instead.
3) Adjusting price years
PAS costs are given in 2022 to 2023 price years, whereas ESCC is in 2019 to 2020 prices. The PAS costs were therefore deflated to 2019 to 2020 using the GDP deflator so they would align. This is consistent with ESCC guidance.
Cost of fraud 2023 to 2024 amendments
The economic and social cost of fraud 2023 to 2024, published in 2026, enables more up-to-date evidence for fraud costs. Note this also includes the cost of fraud against businesses with employees, which is not estimated in ESCC 2019 to 2020.
Table 2: Economic and social cost of fraud unit cost estimates, financial year 2023 to 2024
| Crime types | Defensive expenditure | Insurance admin | Industry response | Financial loss | Physical/ emotional harms | Lost output | Health services | Victim services | Police | CJS | Industry response | Business aftermath | Total(1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Anticipation) | (Anticipation) | (Anticipation) | (Consequence) | (Consequence) | (Consequence) | (Consequence) | (Consequence) | (Response) | (Response) | (Response) | (Response) | ||
| Fraud against the individual | £270 | - | - | £1,010 | £610 | £360 | £280 | £0 | £60 | £80 | £220 | - | £2,880 |
| Fraud against business(2) | £920 | £130 | £90 | £490 | - | £280 | - | - | £20 | £30 | £80 | £140 | £2,170 |
Notes:
- There may be discrepancies in the total figures due to the effect of rounding.
- Fraud against business was outside the scope of ESCC.
The economic and social cost of fraud 2023 to 2024 should be consulted when using these figures to ensure key assumptions and limitations are understood by users. The report uses the same established methodological framework as ESCC 2019 to 2020. The main differences with ESCC are:
1) The inclusion of fraud against businesses with employees, which is not estimated in ESCC 2019 to 2020.
2) The inclusion of industry response and business aftermath costs to relevant cost areas.
3) The economic and social cost of fraud covers financial year 2023 to 2024.
4) Police costs include broader law enforcement costs in responding to fraud.