Official Statistics

Crime outcomes in England and Wales 2025 to 2026

Published 23 July 2026

Applies to England and Wales

Frequency of release: Annual

Forthcoming release: Research and statistics

Home Office responsible statistician: John Flatley

Press enquiries: pressoffice@homeoffice.gov.uk; 0300 123 3535

Public enquiries: crimeandpolicestats@homeoffice.gov.uk

Privacy information notice

Overview of crime outcomes recorded in the year to March 2026, England and Wales

This bulletin reports on investigative outcomes that police forces have assigned to notifiable offences recorded in England and Wales between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026. Findings are presented separately for:

• victim-based offences in Section 2 and non-victim-based offences in Section 3 (see Section 1.3 for definitions)
• selected offences involving a firearm or a knife or sharp instrument in Section 4

This bulletin usually includes a chapter on fraud and Computer Misuse Act (CMA) outcomes, which uses data provided to the Home Office by City of London Police (CoLP), who manage the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) and Report Fraud. On 4 December 2025, Report Fraud was launched to replace the NFIB and legacy Action Fraud. While CoLP transition to the new system, the Home Office have agreed they can suspend the supply of recorded cybercrime and fraud data as official statistics. This is to enable the CoLP to give priority to aligning the legacy Action Fraud data against Report Fraud to ensure consistency, whilst also improving the experience for victims reporting cybercrime and fraud incidents and providing essential information needed for the police to manage investigations. As a result, the fraud chapter is excluded from this publication and will be released at a later date.

Headline findings

Offences involving a firearm and offences involving a knife or sharp instrument are not distinct offence categories, rather a subset of other offence categories and are also included in the figures reported in Section 2 and Section 3, on victim-based and non-victim-based offences respectively. Non-victim-based offences are also often described as ‘state-based’, or ‘other crimes against society’ in other crime and justice statistics publications (more detailed definitions can be found in Section 1.3).

The likelihood of the police being able to close a case with a charge/summons outcome varies greatly by offence type, as does the average time take to assign an outcome, depending on the complexity of the different crime types for investigation. Key findings for the victim-based offences were:

• the percentage of offences resulting in a charge/summons outcome rose across all offence types, with robbery offences seeing the largest increase when compared with the previous year (up from 7.5% to 10.5%), followed by theft offences (up from 7.3% to 9.1%)
• sexual offences, including rape, were more likely than other victim-based offences to be assigned to one of the evidential difficulties outcome categories, which accounted for 47.6% of sexual offences and 51.7% of rape offences (compared with 39.0% of all victim-based offences)
• as in previous years, rape offences assigned a charge/summons outcome took the longest time to investigate (an average of 438 days compared with 55 days for violence against the person offences and 27 days for theft offences) and were thus less likely to result in a charge/summons at the year-end (3.4% of offences), but an increase in this charge/summons rate is expected in subsequent quarters as more cases are finalised
• the most common reason for closing a victim-based offence remained no suspect having been identified (40.9% of cases were closed this way, a similar proportion to the 42.1% the previous year); this figure was highest for theft offences, with 69.4% of cases being closed this way

See Section 2 for more detailed findings on outcomes assigned to victim-based offences.

For non-victim-based offences, the key findings were:

• more than a third (35.6%) were closed due to evidential difficulties, while 22.8% were closed due to no suspect having been identified, 12.1% were assigned an out-of-court disposal and 9.5% remained under investigation (compared with 37.2%, 22.3%, 11.0% and 10.9% respectively for the previous year)
• overall, an average (median) of 17 days was taken between the date the crime was recorded and the day the outcome was assigned, a decrease of 2 days compared with the previous year; charge/summons outcomes took longer to assign, on average, at 40 days (down from 47 the previous year)
• drug offences showed a decrease in the average time taken to assign a charge/summons outcome, from 62 days last year to 53 days in the year ending March 2026, as did possession of weapons offences, which were down from 22 days last year to 18 days in the latest year
• public order offences were also assigned a charge/summons outcome within a shorter timeframe than in the previous year (down from 36 days to 28 days)

See Section 3 for more detailed findings on outcomes assigned to non-victim-based offences.

Offences involving the use of a weapon showed both relatively high proportions of investigations resulting in a charge/summons and cases still under investigation when compared with all offences. This may reflect the serious nature of these offences. Key finding from this chapter were:

• around 1 in 8 offences involving a firearm resulted in a charge/summons outcome (12.9%), an increase from 12.0% the previous year
• the charge/summons rate for knife-enabled offences was also 1 in 8 (13.0%), an increase from 11.5% the previous year; the charge/summons rate (13.0%) was also higher than for the equivalent offences not involving a knife (7.5%)

See Section 4 for more detailed findings on outcomes assigned to weapons offences.

1. Introduction

1.1 Overview

This bulletin reports on investigative outcomes that have been assigned to notifiable offences recorded by the police in England and Wales. It covers all territorial police forces, and British Transport Police (BTP).

In April 2013, the Home Office introduced the current crime outcomes framework, replacing a more narrow-focused one based on ‘detections’ (see Technical annex for further information).

As well as this annual publication, the Home Office also publishes quarterly outcomes tables, without commentary. These are published in the Crime outcomes in England and Wales statistics collection.

Aggregated crime and crime outcomes data is also published alongside justice outcomes data from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in the Criminal Justice System Delivery Data Dashboard. For more detailed background on the outcomes framework and how it was developed, see Annex A6 of the Technical annex.

1.2 Data issues

In Sections 2 and 3, when comparing trends to previous years, figures for the year ending March 2024 exclude Devon and Cornwall, as figures were not available when published in July 2024.

1.3 Victim-based and non-victim-based offences

Earlier publications included separate sections on trends in crime outcomes and timeliness of assigning outcomes. In recent years, the 2 sets of commentary have been merged to present the overall narrative more clearly. Chapters are now split to report on findings for victim-based and non-victim-based offences separately, as types and timeliness of outcomes assigned naturally differ between these 2 broad offence categories:

• victim-based - crimes which are reported by an individual victim, business or other organisation’ these comprise the broad offence categories of violence against the person, sexual offences, theft, robbery, and criminal damage and arson
• non-victim-based - crimes which do not have a direct individual victim but are instead committed against society; an offender may have already been apprehended at the time of recording the offence (for example, an offender in possession of drugs); these comprise the broad offence categories of public disorder, drug offences, possession of weapons and other items, handling stolen goods and other miscellaneous offences committed against the state

How crimes are resolved varies considerably by the type of crime and reflects a range of factors including: the nature of the offence and the varying challenges in gathering evidence. For example, it will generally be far more difficult to identify a suspect for a criminal damage offence that was not witnessed or caught on CCTV, than one where such evidence is available.

In contrast, for some crimes, such as drug possession offences, the police may apprehend the offender at the time the crime comes to their attention, making a formal or informal criminal justice sanction much easier to achieve. Formal and informal criminal justice sanctions consist of the following outcomes: Charged/Summonsed (outcome 1), Taken into consideration (outcomes 4), Out-of-court formal (outcomes 2, 3 and 6) and Out-of-court informal (outcomes 7 and 8). For an offence where substantial forensic evidence exists, it will be easier to proceed to a charge than for one where such evidence does not exist. The willingness of victims or witnesses to engage with the police can also vary by type of offence and the relationship between the victim and the offender. Fear and the vulnerability of the victim are often a key factor.

1.4 The full outcomes framework

Since its introduction in April 2014, the framework has developed to cover a broader range of outcome types for police forces to use. Detailed descriptions of each outcome type can be found in the Technical annex.

The main recorded crime data presented in this report provides a snapshot, at the time of analysis, of the current case status of offences recorded during the year ending March 2026.

The outcomes of some cases, especially those recorded towards the end of the financial year, may be subsequently revised once investigations have been completed, or new lines of enquiry have been opened. While all crimes will eventually have an outcome, this may take considerable time for some offences, particularly so for rape, sexual offences and other complex investigations.

At any given point, police forces will be undertaking crime investigations to which they will not yet have assigned a final outcome. Police forces will therefore submit revised data to the Home Office as investigations are completed and some data previously published will be revised in subsequent releases.

As such, for those offences where there are a significant volume of investigations still open, the data (as first published) does not present a complete picture of police performance. This is illustrated in Figure 2.5 and Figure 2.7 with the case of rape offences where the proportion of investigations resulting in a suspect being charged rises over time and also in a data table, Table 1.6, showing the progression of cases, from their status as first published, alongside this release to allow users to view this at offence group level.

1.5 Outcome groupings in this bulletin

Some of the tables and charts in this bulletin show grouped outcomes to simplify presentation. For transparency, open data tables are also published that show the full range of police outcomes. These are accessible from the Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables.

For statistical purposes, all recorded crimes are assigned one outcome type. Please refer to the Home Office Counting Rules for information on recording outcomes.

Table 1.1 shows the grouping of outcomes used in this report. These were structured taking into account user feedback following a consultation in 2014.

Table 1.1: Grouping the outcomes framework from April 2013 onwards (outcomes one to 22)

Outcome group	Outcome types
Charged/summonsed	1
of which the outcome relates to an alternative offence to that recorded (from April 2016)	1a
Taken into consideration	4
Out-of-court (formal)	2, 3, 6
of which the outcome relates to an alternative offence to that recorded (from April 2016)	2a, 3a
Out-of-court (informal)	7, 8
Prosecution prevented or not in the public interest	5, 9, 10,11, 12, 13, 17
Evidential difficulties (suspect identified; victim supports action)	15
Evidential difficulties (victim does not support action)	14, 16
Investigation complete - no suspect identified	18
NFIB - Fraud case [note 1]	19
Action undertaken by another body/agency (from April 2015)	20
Further investigation to support formal action not in the public interest (police decision) (from January 2016)	22
Diversionary, educational or intervention activity, resulting from the crime report, has been undertaken and it is not in the public interest to take any further action (voluntary from April 2019)	22

Notes:

1. Outcome 19 applies to fraud offences recorded by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau only, which are reported on separately.

See Section 6 of the Technical annex for detailed descriptions of each outcome type.

Data on outcomes 1a, 2a and 3a has been included in open data and summary tables since late 2023, following quality assurance checks by Home Office analysts which deemed the data suitable for publication.

1.6 Future changes to the outcomes framework

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Act 2023 aimed to introduce a simplified, strengthened upper and lower tier out-of-court-resolutions (OOCR) framework of 2 new cautions to apply to offenders aged 18 and over. The Diversionary Caution (upper tier) and Community Caution (lower tier) will replace the previous mix of OOCDs with a tougher, more consistent framework of out of court sanctions across England and Wales. As part of this change, the use of penalty notices for disorder (PND) and Cannabis/Khat Warnings potentially were to be discontinued. The act did not make provision for changes to police use of Community Resolutions. If the provisions for the new adult OOCRs come into force this will necessitate changes to the outcomes framework.

In addition to the above, there has been growing demand from some users of these statistics for us to align our headline metrics with those used across policing to assess police investigative performance. Alongside this bulletin, we are launching a user engagement exercise with all users of these statistics on this issue.

1.7 Supplementary data tables

The chapters in this bulletin discuss key topics of interest related to the outcomes data. Data presented in these chapters, as both charts and tables, is available online via the bulletin tables published on the GOV.UK website.

In addition to the tables found in the main bulletin, several supplementary tables are available here, which provide additional data on the topics discussed, plus data on areas not covered. Alongside the outcomes data, data on transferred and cancelled records is also published.

1.8 Outcomes for offences that were recorded in the reporting period

This is the principal method used to present outcomes data in Section 2 and Section 3 of this bulletin; it looks at outcomes for offences recorded in the reporting period (previously referred to as ‘Outcomes for offences recorded in quarter’ in linked data tables) in which the offence was recorded. It allows the distribution of outcomes to be shown for individual crimes that were recorded in the reporting period. At first publication, as some investigations are ongoing there will be crimes which do not yet have an assigned outcome. As investigations close, outcomes will be finalised and revised in subsequent quarterly data tables.

1.9 Outcomes for investigations closed in the reporting period

This measure relates to outcomes to investigations closed in a particular reporting period (such as a calendar quarter or year) regardless of when the associated crime was recorded (previously referred to as ‘Outcomes recorded in quarter’). As such, it will include outcomes for cases initially recorded in a previous year. Ratios can be calculated showing the number of outcomes recorded in the year as a proportion of all crimes recorded in the same year. This is how rates were presented before it was possible to link individual crimes with their outcomes.

This approach provides a fuller measure of police activity in relation to crime in a given year. However, comparing the number of outcomes with the number of recorded offences in this way should be done with caution, since rates could appear to change from one year simply because of a shifting balance between crimes and outcomes recorded over time. For example, some crime types could show a rate of over 100% against a particular outcome, which is sometimes the case for relatively low volume crimes.

1.10 Outcomes where a charge or caution has been made for an alternate offence to the one that was recorded

In response to feedback from users, data on outcomes assigned to alternative offences was first published in the year to June 2023 data tables. These were first reported in the commentary within the annual bulletin in the year ending March 2025 release.

The Home Office Counting Rules require the police to record offences based on the crime that has been committed. However, sometimes the police or Crown Prosecution Service may decide to charge a defendant with an alternative offence. This is much more common for victim-based offences than non-victim-based offences. Approximately 12.6% of all charge outcomes recorded for victim-based offences in the year ending March 2026 were for an alternative offence, compared with 4.8% for non-victim-based offences. From the data held centrally by the Home Office it is not possible to identify the specific alternative offence that has been charged.

2. Victim-based offences

This chapter presents data on the outcomes of police investigations for victim-based crimes that appear within list of notifiable offences that the police in England and Wales are required to report to the Home Office.

Victim-based crimes are offences committed directly against individuals, businesses, or other organisations and include the offence groups of violence against the person, sexual offences, theft, robbery, and criminal damage and arson.

Victim-based offences differ from non-victim-based crimes in both nature and the distribution of the investigative outcomes. Victim-based offences can present more challenges in evidence collection and can require more time to investigate.

Note: Data may differ for previously published reporting periods as it may include revisions where new or additional data has become available. Fraud and Computer Misuse Act offences, which are recorded centrally, are excluded.

Key findings

Key findings from this chapter include:

• in the 12 months to March 2026, around 4.4 million victim-based offences were recorded by the police, a decrease of 2% compared with 4.5 million in the previous year; at the year-end, 6.9% were still under investigation, down one percentage point from 7.9% in the previous year
• despite the fall in the offence levels, the volume of charge/summons outcomes assigned in the 12-month period to March 2026 increased by 12.8% (up from 345,521 to 389,728)
• recent years have seen a rise in the proportion of victim-based crimes resulting in a charge/summons from 6.3% in the year to March 2025 to 7.3% in the latest year; this follows a period in which there was a falling trend, between the years ending March 2016 and March 2022, when the proportion of victim-based crimes resulting in a charge/summons fell from 11.1% to 4.6%
• the percentage of offences resulting in a charge/summons outcome rose across all offence types, with robbery offences seeing the largest increase when compared with the previous year (up from 7.5% to 10.5%), followed by theft offences (up from 7.3% to 9.1%); at the same time the number of recorded offences for robbery increased by 10.2%, while theft offences decreased by 7.9% over the same period
• sexual offences, including rape, were more likely than victim-based offences overall to be assigned to one of the evidential difficulties outcome categories; such outcomes accounted for 47.6% of sexual offences and 51.7% of rape offences, compared with 39.0% of all victim-based offences
• the most common reason for victim-based investigations being closed remained no suspect having been identified, with 40.9% of cases closed this way in the year ending March 2026; a similar proportion to that recorded the previous year (42.1%); this figure was highest for theft offences, with 69.4% of cases being closed this way

Figure 2.1: Proportion of victim-based offences resulting in a charge and/or summons or evidential difficulties outcome, or no suspect identified, year ending March 2016 to year ending March 2026, England and Wales

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH), Table 1.2, Crime outcomes in England and Wales, year ending March 2026: data tables

Notes:

1. Data excludes fraud offences, which are recorded by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) rather than by police forces.
2. Proportions show the percentage of crimes recorded in the year receiving each outcome.
3. Based on data from 43 forces (including British Transport Police). The data excludes Greater Manchester Police (GMP) from July 2019 to March 2020. Following the implementation of a new IT system in July 2019, GMP has been unable to supply data for this period.

For all victim-based offences where the investigation resulted in a charge/summons, the average (median) number of days taken to reach this outcome decreased by one day to 40 days compared with 41 the previous year. However, as previously found, the length of time it took police forces to assign an investigative outcome for a victim-based crime varied considerably by both the type of offence and the type of outcome:

• there was a decrease of 8 days in the average number of days to assign a charge/summons outcome for robbery offences (down from 67 to 59 days)
• for sexual offences, including rape and other sexual offences, the time to reach a charge/summons decision increased by 9 days when compared with that reported last year, (275 days last year and 284 days in the current reporting period); however within this category, rape offences took on average 4 days longer for investigations to reach a charge/summons outcome compared with the year to March 2025 (from 434 to 438 days in the current year)
• criminal damage and arson offences took on average 26 days for a charge/summons decision to be reached, a decrease of 5 days compared with last year

Table 2.1: The average (median) length of time taken to assign an outcome between the year ending March 2020 and the year ending March 2026, by offence type, England and Wales

	Year ending March 2020	Year ending March 2021	Year ending March 2022	Year ending March 2023	Year ending March 2024	Year ending March 2025	Year ending March 2026
Violence against the person	18	18	21	23	22	22	20
Sexual offences	66	69	62	72	68	65	71
of which: Rape	98	97	94	104	107	104	113
Robbery	28	42	46	65	42	35	34
of which: Robbery of business property	45	48	46	61	42	33	33
of which: Robbery of personal property	26	39	37	55	42	36	34
Theft offences	4	3	3	4	6	8	7
of which: Residential burglary	6	7	10	16	17	18	18
of which: Shoplifting	7	7	6	6	7	10	10
Criminal damage and arson	4	4	5	6	6	8	6

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH),Table 3.1, Crime outcomes in England and Wales, year ending March 2026: data tables

Notes:

1. Median days for the year ending March 2020 to the year ending March 2023 are as first published.
2. Only includes data for forces who send record-level data to HODH.

2.1 Variation in outcomes by offence group

As in previous years, the way crimes were resolved continues to vary considerably depending on the offence type. This variation reflects a combination of factors, including the nature of crime, differing police priorities, and the challenges associated with gathering evidence. For instance, identifying a suspect in a criminal damage case is generally far more difficult when the incident is neither witnessed nor captured on CCTV, compared with cases where such intelligence is available. In contact crimes, such as violence or sexual offences, the police are much more likely to be able to identify the suspect than in non-contact crimes, such as criminal damage and many types of theft.

In contrast, for certain crimes, such as shoplifting offences, the police may have apprehended the offender at the time the crime came to their attention, making it much easier to achieve a formal or informal criminal justice sanction. Similarly, when substantial forensic evidence is available, progressing to a charge is typically easier than in cases where such evidence does not exist. Additionally, the willingness of victims or witnesses to engage with the police can vary depending on the type of offence and the nature of the relationship between the victim and the offender.

These factors may also subsequently influence the length of time needed to complete an investigation and on the distribution of outcomes. For example, a fairly large proportion of sexual offences recorded in a year will remain under investigation in the subsequent year. Over a quarter (26.3%) of sexual offences recorded in the year ending March 2026 had not yet been assigned an outcome at the end of the year. Where investigations into sexual offences were closed, almost 5 out of 10 offences were due to evidential difficulties (47.6% for the year ending March 2026, slightly up from 44.3% the previous year). This reflects challenges associated with investigating such crimes, such as those related to evidence and/or support of the victim. The variation in outcomes across offence groups is illustrated by the differences in the 6 offence types selected to highlight such variation in Figure 2.2 (a more detailed offence breakdown can be found in Table 2.2, Crime outcomes in England and Wales, data tables).

Figure 2.2: Proportion of outcomes assigned by outcome group and offence group for offences that were recorded in the year ending March 2026, England and Wales

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH), Table 1.2, Crime outcomes in England and Wales, year ending March 2026: data tables

Notes:

1. Data excludes fraud offences. Fraud offences are recorded by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) rather than by the police forces.
2. Evidential difficulties include evidential difficulties where the suspect was/was not identified, and the victim does not support further action.
3. The outcome group “Other” includes all other outcomes presented under the ‘Outcomes framework – April 2014 onwards’ in the Technical Annex
4. Based on data from 43 territorial police forces and the British Transport Police.

2.2 Violence against the person

This is a broad offence group covering a wide spectrum of physical violence, from homicide and serious violent crime through to lower harm and less serious common assault. It also includes offences involving psychological or emotional (rather than physical) abuse, such as harassment and stalking. The nature and circumstances of violent offences can also vary considerably, which impacts the distribution of outcomes.

Within violence against the person offences, there is a significant difference between domestic abuse and non-domestic abuse offences. In the former, the victim/suspect relationship is known, whereas other violence can involve strangers and be committed in public rather than private spaces. While the suspect may be known, victims of domestic abuse may be wary of supporting prosecution and evidence is more contested. On the other hand, domestic abuse offences tend to be seen as a higher priority but can take longer to investigate, therefore there is more risk of attrition, for example because the victim gets frustrated with the process. In the regular quarterly crime statistics tables published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS; July 2026), typically around a third (32.8%) of violence against the person offences were flagged as domestic abuse related.

Around 4 in 10 (41.4%) of all violence against the person offences recorded in the 12-months period to March 2026 were closed because victims did not support police action - a proportion similar to the 42.5% reported in the previous year. In addition, published data from the ONS on domestic abuse and the criminal justice system (ONS, November 2025) showed that, in the year ending March 2025, over half (58.4%) of domestic-abuse related violence against the person crimes were closed due to evidential difficulties where the victim did not support further action. In contrast, this was the case for over a third of those that were not domestic-abuse related (36.9%).

In the year ending March 2025, the charge rate for domestic abuse-related violence against the person offences was slightly higher (7.3%) compared with the charge rate for non-domestic abuse-related violence against the person offences (5.7%). For domestic abuse-related violence against the person offences, the percentage of cases closed with an outcome of ‘charged or summonsed’ was higher compared with the previous year (7.0%), though still lower than in the year ending March 2019, when the data was first published. In that year, 11.3% of the recorded domestic abuse violence against the person crimes closed with a charge/summons and 8.0% of those that were non-domestic abuse related.

Due to the nature of the victim-offender relationship, domestic abuse-related violence against the person offences were less likely to be closed because no suspect was identified (1.8%) compared with non-domestic abuse-related violence against the person crimes (19.5%). While the domestic abuse-related rate remained unchanged from the previous year (1.8%), the non-domestic abuse-related rate decreased from 23.2%.

Outcomes within this offence group varied depending on the type of crime. The charge/summons rate for violence with injury offences was slightly higher than that for violence without injury (8.6% compared with 6.7%). This difference was largely due to a greater proportion of victims of violence without injury not supporting police action (44.2% compared with 39.5% for violence with injury). In contrast, there was a much higher charge/summons rate for homicide offences, with around 6 in 10 cases closed with this outcome (61.5%), up from 55.9% the previous year. Homicide offences can take a relatively long time to investigate and for an outcome to be assigned. For example, for homicides recorded in the 12 months period to March 2023, around 36.4% of the offences were still under investigation - a proportion similar to that for the latest year (34.1%). However, the latest updated figures for that year show the percentage of the offences without an outcome went down to 7.9% as more crimes were closed following an investigation. Similarly, the charge rate went up from 58.2% when first published in July 2023 to 77.6%.

Generally, most of the stalking and harassment offences were closed due to evidential difficulties (66.3%), with 39.6% of these closed due to victims not supporting police action, a level similar to that seen in the previous year (41.2%). The charge rate for these offences was slightly higher (4.5%) than last year’s (4.1%).

For violence against the person offences, there was a decrease of 2 days in the average (median) time taken to assign an outcome, from 22 days to 20 days in the year ending March 2026. Despite this recent decrease, the average time has generally increased since the year ending March 2018, when it stood at 15 days, peaking at 23 days in the year ending March 2023. This is likely to be due to a combination of factors, including a rise in caseloads following better identification of these offences and more priority being given to improve outcomes.

Overall, the average days to outcome were lower for most of the outcome types with only taken into consideration and out-of-court disposals (formal) slightly higher or similar compared with the previous year.

Figure 2.3: The time taken (median days) for outcomes to be assigned to offences, by offence group, year ending March 2026, England and Wales

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH)

Figure 2.4: The time taken (median days) for charge/summons outcomes to be assigned to offences, by offence group, year ending March 2026, England and Wales

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH)

2.3 Sexual offences

Sexual offences, including rape (covered in section 2.4) and other sexual offences, had the highest proportion of investigations still open and without an assigned outcome at the year-end (26.3%). This was largely due to the greater complexity and extended time required to investigate such offences compared with other crime types. This also impacts on the distribution of other outcomes and contributes to the apparently low charge/summons rate for the year when the data is first published.

The proportion of sexual offences resulting in a charge or summons outcome by year end was slightly higher than in the previous year (4.7%, compared with 4.2%). This remained higher than the (initially published) levels recorded in earlier years: 3.6% in the year ending March 2023, 2.9% in the year ending March 2022, 3.5% in the year ending March 2021, and 3.2% in the year ending March 2020.

We expect the charge/summons rate to increase as more crimes are closed following an investigation. For example, for sexual offences recorded in the year ending March 2025 the rate increased from 4.2% when first published in July 2025 to 7.4% in the latest figures (see figure 2.5 for further years).

Figure 2.5: Proportion of sexual offences recorded in the years ending March 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 assigned a ‘Charged/Summonsed’ outcome, as when first published compared with subsequent updates, England and Wales

Chart inspired by presentation of outcomes data by Gavin Hales from London Metropolitan University, 2024. See Operation Soteria – Transforming the Investigation of Rape (npcc.police.uk) for further information on the progress of Operation Soteria work.

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH), Table 1.6, Crime outcomes in England and Wales, year ending March 2026: data tables

Notes:

1. Figures for the year ending March 2020 exclude Greater Manchester police (GMP) as they were unable to provide full data to the Home Office Data Hub (HODH) in this period.
2. Figures for the year ending March 2022 exclude Devon and Cornwall police as they were unable to provide full data to the HODH in this period.

A higher-than-average proportion of cases were assigned to one of the evidential difficulties categories when compared with other crime types. For example, around a third of cases of sexual offences (32.4%) were closed because the victim did not support further police action against a suspect, slightly higher than in the previous year (31.0%). Conversely, given the nature of the crime, sexual offences had a much lower level of suspects not identified (14.5%), compared with the overall rate of 40.9% for all victim-based offences combined.

As with charge rates, we expect the proportion of cases with an outcome of evidential difficulties to rise as more investigations are closed. For example, for sexual offences recorded in the year ending March 2025, 44.3% of cases were initially assigned an evidential difficulties outcome (when first published in July 2025), but this has now increased to 59.2% (in the latest published figures).

As in previous years, sexual offences took longer to assign an outcome than any other crime types. Around 42% of these offences were closed after more than 100 days – up from 39% in year ending March 2025. This was reflected in the average number of days to assign an outcome which increased to 71 days, up from 65 days in the previous year.

Figure 2.6: The time taken (median days) for sexual offences to be assigned an outcome, by outcome type, years ending March 2025 and 2026, England and Wales

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH), Table 3.3, Crime outcomes in England and Wales, year ending March 2026: data tables

2.4 Rape offences

In the year ending March 2026, rape offences accounted for 34.3% of all sexual offences which is slightly higher than in the previous year (34.2%). The proportion of rape offences assigned a charged/summonsed outcome rose very slightly from 2.8% (2,040 charge/summonses) in the previous year to 3.4% in the latest one (2,533 charge/summonses). This charge/summons rate will increase as more crimes are closed following an investigation and will be apparent in subsequent quarterly data releases. For example, for the year ending March 2025, the rate increased from 2.8% when first published in July 2025, to 5.2% charges in the latest-released figures. Trends for further years can be seen in Figure 2.7.

Figure 2.7: Proportion of rape offences assigned a ‘charge/summons’ outcome, recorded in the years ending March 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 as when first published compared with subsequent updates, England and Wales

Chart inspired by presentation of outcomes data by Gavin Hales from London Metropolitan University, 2024. See Operation Soteria – Transforming the Investigation of Rape (npcc.police.uk) for further information on the progress of Operation Soteria work.

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH)

Notes:

1. Figures for the year ending March 2020 exclude Greater Manchester police (GMP) as they were unable to provide full data to the Home Office Data Hub (HODH) in this period.
2. Figures for the year ending March 2022 exclude Devon and Cornwall police as they were unable to provide full data to the HODH in this period.
3. The outcomes open data tables for March 2020 were last updated in July 2023.

Rape offences saw an increase of 4 days in the time taken to charge/summons, from 434 days to 438 days. Just over half (53%) of investigations into rape closed after 100 days, a proportion similar to year ending March 2025 (51%). Though the average number of days taken to assign a charge/summons outcome to rape offences has always been high due to the complex nature of these cases, it was previously lower than it has been in recent years (for example, in the year ending March 2016, the equivalent figure was 243 days).

Around 51.7% of rape offences were assigned an evidential difficulties outcome (a higher level than last year, at 47.5%). Although there has been a concerted effort to improve the investigative performance for rape offences, these offences remain challenging to investigate. We expect the number of cases closed with evidential difficulties to rise as more outcomes are assigned. For the year ending March 2025, 47.5% of rape offences were assigned an evidential difficulties outcome (when published in July 2025) and this increased to 68.4% (when published in July 2026).

Rape offences saw an increase of 6 days for the average time taken to assign the ‘Evidential difficulties (suspect identified; victim supports action)’ and ‘Evidential difficulties (victim does not support action)’ outcomes - up to 252 days and 77 days respectively compared with the previous year (246 and 71 days respectively). The average time taken across all outcomes for rape offences increased by 9 days, up to 113 days compared with the year ending March 2025.

2.5 Theft offences

The overall category of theft comprises a large range of different types of acquisitive crime and, in this section, we present several of the key sub-categories of interest. More detailed breakdowns for all theft offences can be found in the Outcomes open data tables.

The distribution of outcomes for residential burglary offences largely followed those seen for all theft offences, with 72.4% of offences closed in the year ending March 2026 due to no suspect having been identified, a similar level to that in the previous year, 73.1%. Table 1.2, Crime outcomes in England and Wales, year ending March 2026: data tables.

The charge rates for residential burglary offences recorded in the year ending March 2026 were slightly higher than those recorded in the year to March 2025 (5.0% and 4.7% respectively). Within this category, the charge rate for home burglary offences was higher for both the year ending March 2025 and the year ending March 2026 (at 5.5% and 5.9% respectively), whereas the charge rate for burglaries of an unconnected building was lower (2.1% and 2.4% respectively). These categories were introduced in April 2023 following the National Police Chefs’ Council (NPCC) commitment for the police to attend all home burglaries.

Similarly, non-residential burglary offences showed a slight increase in the charge/summons outcomes (up from 7.9% in the year ending March 2024, to 8.9% in the year ending March 2025 and 9.0% in the year to March 2026). As with the general trend of theft offences, around two-thirds of offences (70.6%) were closed with no suspect having been identified in the year ending March 2026 (similar to the levels seen in the previous year, 69.6%).

For residential burglary offences, police forces took on average 18 days to close an outcome in the year ending March 2026, no change from the previous year. Within this category, the days to outcome for home burglary was higher (23 days on average), than for burglaries of an unconnected building (5 days on average). The median days taken to assign an ‘Investigation complete - no suspect identified’ outcome for residential burglary offences was 13 days during the year ending March 2026, which is also the same as the previous two years. The average number of days to assign a charge/summons outcome for residential burglary offences was 56 days, no change when compared with the previous year. The average days to charge/summons for home burglary offences was 54 days in year to March 2026, compared with 47 days in the year to March 2025.

Vehicle theft comprises three broad categories (theft from a vehicle, theft of a motor vehicle, and vehicle interference). The majority of vehicle offences were closed in the year ending March 2026 with no suspect having been identified (83.2%), a similar level to the previous year (83.9%). The charge rates were at 2.8% slightly higher compared with the year ending March 2025 at 2.4%.

Around half of shoplifting offences were closed in the year ending March 2026 due to no suspect having been identified (52.7%, a level slightly lower than the year ending March 2025, at 55.3%).

Charge rates for shoplifting offences were on average higher than charge rates for other theft offences (23.2% and 2.8% respectively), which could be the result of more accessible evidence, for example, CCTV within the shop or the offender being detained on the premises. This was a 4.7-percentage point rise from 18.5% in the year ending March 2025. In the year ending March 2026 the proportion of the out-of-court (formal) disposals, such as Cautions and Penalty Notices for Disorder (PNDs), for shoplifting offences were also higher at 0.5%, compared with 0.1% for other theft offences (vehicle offences, theft from the person, and residential burglary). Around 14% of shoplifting cases were assigned an evidential difficulties outcome, 2.9 percentage points lower than in the previous year (16.8%).

The median days taken to assign an outcome for shoplifting offences was 10 days in the year ending March 2026, no change when compared with the previous year.

2.6 Robbery

Robbery is an offence in which force, or the threat of force, is used either during or immediately before a theft or attempted theft. It is disproportionately concentrated in large cities, and London trends tend to impact on the national picture as the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) accounts for almost 4 in 10 (37.1%) of all robberies across England and Wales.

In the year ending March 2026, police recorded robbery offences increased by 10% compared with the previous year. This headline figure concealed different trends for personal and business robbery. The latest figures for personal robbery fell by 9.5%, whereas business robbery was up by 90.8% albeit from a relatively small base (up from 15,546 to 29,669 offences). Further some of this rise may be due to improvements in recording practices following a clarification of the Home Office Counting Rules around shoplifting and robbery in April 2025. This may have resulted in police forces recording more accurately shoplifting completed by use of or threat of force as robberies rather than as separate offences of shoplifting and assault.

In the same period, the proportion of robbery offences resolved with a charge/summons outcome increased by around 3 percentage points to 10.5%. However, the overall figure masked different trends for personal and business robbery. The charge/summonsed rate for personal robbery was 6.2% while the charge/summonsed rate for business robbery was 18.7%, both slightly higher than the respective charge/summonsed rates in the previous year (5.7% and 14.9%). At the same time, the time taken to reach a charge/summons decision in the year ending March 2026 was with an average of 59 days, a decrease of 8 days compared with the previous year. Within the robbery offences group, the median days to charge/summonsed outcome were 42 for robbery of business property and 101 for robbery of personal property, similar to the levels seen in the year to March 2025 (41 and 103 respectively). There are likely to be a range of factors behind the changes in time taken for outcomes to be assigned, which will vary by crime type.

However, in the year ending March 2026, half of all robbery offences (50.3%) were closed due to no suspect having been identified (compared with 52.2% in the year ending March 2025). The patterns for personal robbery and business robbery were similar, with 52.1% of the recorded personal robbery closed this way and 46.7% of the business robbery (52.5% and 51.2% respectively in the year before). Around 2 in 10 robbery offences recorded in the year to March 2026 were closed due to evidential difficulties where the victim did not support further action (19.5%, slightly lower than 21.8% in the previous year). Within this category, the evidential difficulties where victim did not support further action for personal robbery was higher for both the year ending March 2026 and the year ending March 2025 (at 22.4% and 23.4% respectively), whereas for robbery of business property was lower (14.0% and 15.4% respectively).

2.7 Outcomes where a charge or caution has been made for an alternate offence to the one that was recorded

Alternate offences are where a suspect has been subsequently charged or cautioned with a different offence to that recorded by the police. This can arise because the crime recording standards require forces to record on the basis of the offence committed in law. This ensures a consistent approach to recording and reflects the experience of victims. However, the application of the CPS charging standards can result in some charges being downgraded, but details of which offence has been charged are not collected from forces. This is much more common for victim-based offences than for non-victim-based offences. Data on the number of charges for alternate offences was not available for Durham and Gloucestershire because these cannot be separately identified from other charges for these forces.

Approximately 12.6% of all charge outcomes recorded for victim-based offences in the year ending March 2026 were for an alternate offence. Just over 2 in 10 of charge outcomes recorded for violence offences were downgraded to a lesser offence (23.7%). This was more common for violence with injury (42.4% of all charge/summons outcomes were for alternate offences) than violence without injury (11.1%). Overall, 4.0% of all rape charge outcomes and 6.7% of all sexual offences (including rape) were downgraded to a lesser offence in the 12 months to March 2026. In the 12 months to March 2026, 47.2% of all robbery offences were downgraded, of which 21.5% robbery of personal property and 63.6% robbery of business property.

Figure 2.8: Proportion of charge/summonsed outcomes assigned to alternate offences, recorded in the year ending March 2026, England and Wales

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH), Table 1.4, Crime outcomes in England and Wales, year ending March 2026: data tables

3. Non-victim-based Offences

This chapter reports on those crimes described as non-victim-based, that is where the offence has not been committed directly against an individual victim but against society in general. Such offences comprise: public disorder, drug offences, possession of weapons and other items, handling stolen goods and other miscellaneous offences (See Section 1).

Non-victim-based crimes differ from victim-based crimes in the nature of these offences, which also impacts on the distribution of investigative outcomes these offences typically receive.

Key findings

This chapter presents data on the outcomes of police investigations for non-victim-based crimes that appear within list of notifiable offences that the police in England and Wales are required to report to the Home Office. The key findings for the year ending March 2026 are:

• the proportion of non-victim-based crimes resulting in a charge and/or summons increased, to 14.6% (from 12.4% the previous year); this was the second annual rise following a steady decline between the year ending March 2016, when it was at a high of 28.8%, and March 2023 (10.3%)
• the most common reason for a case being closed remained no suspect having been identified, with 22.8% of cases closed this way, a slight increase when compared with the previous year (22.3%)
• the proportion of offences receiving an out-of-court disposal was 12.1% this year, a one-percentage point rise on the previous year (11.0%)
• the proportion of investigations not yet assigned an outcome decreased to 9.5%, compared with 10.9% in the previous year
• the proportion of offences closed due to evidential difficulties decreased to 35.6% this year, compared with 37.2% last year

The length of time it took police forces to assign an investigative outcome for a non-victim-based crime varied by both the type of offence and the type of outcome:

• overall, an average (median) of 17 days was taken between the date the crime was recorded and the day the outcome was assigned, a decrease of 2 days compared with the previous year
• for non-victim-based offences assigned with the charge/summons outcome, the average number of days to assign the outcome was 40 days (down from 47 days the previous year)
• there was a decrease in the average days to a charge/summons outcome for drug offences (down by 9, from 62 to 53 days)
• there was also a decrease in the average days to a charge/summons outcome for possession of weapons offences (down by 4 days from 22 to 18 days) and a decrease in public order offences (down by 8 days, from 36 to 28 days)

The police recorded 4% more non-victim-based offences this year compared with last year (up from 838,842 to 873,255). There was a rise in volumes of investigations closed with 789,961 non-victim-based offences recorded in the year assigned an investigative outcome at the time the data was finalised for analysis. This was an increase from 747,283 from the previous year (a 5.7% rise).

Within this total, the volume of charge/summons outcomes increased from 104,055 to 127,530 (a 22.6% rise). The charge/summons rate for non-victim-based offences also rose this year, with the charge rate at 14.6%, an increase of around 2 percentage points compared with last year (12.4%). The proportion of offences not yet assigned an outcome (9.5%) decreased slightly, by just over one percentage point, when compared with the previous year.

Figure 3.1: Proportion of non-victim-based offences resulting in a charge and/or summons or out of court disposal, or where an outcome is yet to be assigned, year ending March 2016 to year ending March 2026, England and Wales

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH)

Notes:

1. Data excludes fraud offences. Fraud offences are recorded by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) rather than police forces.
2. Proportions show the percentage of crimes recorded in the year receiving each outcome.
3. Figures for Year ending March 2020 exclude Greater Manchester police as they were unable to provide full data to the Home Office Data Hub in this period. Figures for Year ending March 2022 exclude Devon and Cornwall police as they were unable to provide full data to the Home Office Data Hub in this period.

3.1 Variation in outcomes by offence group

As in previous years, how crimes were resolved varied considerably by the type of crime and reflected a range of factors including: the nature of the offence, differing police priorities and the varying challenges in gathering evidence. For example, it will generally be far more difficult to identify a suspect for a public order offence that was not witnessed or caught on CCTV, than one where such intelligence is available. In contrast, for some crimes such as drug possession offences, the police may have apprehended the offender at the time the crime came to their attention, making a formal or informal criminal justice sanction much more likely. Similarly, for an offence where substantial forensic evidence exists, it will be easier to proceed to a charge than for one where such evidence does not exist.

Around one in 7 (14.6%) of non-victim-based offences resulted in a charge/summons in the year ending March 2026, which was double the percentage of victim-based offences (7.3%). Around another one in 8 non-victim-based offences (12.1%) resulted in an out-of-court (formal and informal) outcome, around 10 percentage points higher than for victim-based offences (2.6%). In part these differences reflects the crime recording rules where the police are only required to record a non-victim-based offence if the points to prove in court are made out at the time the offence is identified. This is a higher bar than set out in the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) for victim-based offences (see The National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) : What you need to know). As a result, non-victim-based crimes are more likely to have sufficient evidence to allow the police to proceed with a charge/summons or out-of-court disposal within a shorter timeframe.

The variation in outcomes across the four different non-victim-based offence groups is illustrated in Figure 3.2 (a more detailed offence breakdown can be found in Bulletin Table 1.2).

Figure 3.2: Proportion of outcomes assigned to non-victim-based offences, by offence group and outcome type, year ending March 2026, England and Wales

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH)

Notes:

1. Data excludes fraud offences. Fraud offences are recorded by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) rather than police forces.
2. Proportions show the percentage of crimes recorded in the year receiving each outcome.
3. Based on data from all 44 forces including British Transport Police.

During the year ending March 2026, non-victim-based offences took less time on average from an offence being recorded to be resolved with a formal or informal criminal justice sanction (24 days), compared with victim-based offences which on average took longer to receive a formal or informal criminal justice sanction (37 days). Victim-based crimes tend to be more complicated in nature (as explained in Section 2) and usually take longer to investigate.

Non-victim-based offences took on average 5 days less (down from 29 to 24 days) to assign a formal or informal criminal justice sanction in the year ending March 2026, compared with the previous year. Non-victim-based offences on average took around 40 days for a charge/summons outcome to be assigned (down 7 days from the previous year).

Out-of-court (formal) outcomes took longer to be assigned when compared with the previous year, averaging to around 58 days during the latest year (an increase of around 2 days when compared with the previous year). Out-of-court (informal) outcomes were assigned, on average, after 12 days during the latest year (a decrease of around 3 days when compared with the previous year).

Figure 3.3: The average (median) length of time taken to assign an outcome to non-victim-based offences between the year ending March 2021 and the year ending March 2026, by outcome group, England and Wales

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH)

Notes:

1. Data excludes fraud offences. Fraud offences are recorded by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) rather than police forces.
2. The number of median days includes 41 territorial police forces. Excludes Humberside and Greater Manchester Police. The data for these forces was identified to have quality issues, or the data was not provided at record level to the Home Office Data Hub (HODH) in time for the reporting period.

Table 3.1: Number of outcomes assigned by offence type and outcome group, for year ending March 2026, England and Wales

	Charged/summonsed	Out-of-court (formal and informal)	Investigation complete - no suspect identified	Evidential difficulties	Offences not yet assigned an outcome	Other	Total offences
Drug offences	47,046	83,304	23,835	35,712	29,174	12,059	231,130
Possession of weapons offences	19,659	4,495	6,570	20,784	7,284	3,555	62,347
Public order offences	44,053	14,559	145,823	206,399	26,239	12,353	449,426
Miscellaneous crimes against society	16,772	3,565	22,465	48,026	20,597	18,927	130,352
Total state offences	127,530	105,923	198,693	310,921	83,294	46,894	873,255
Total victim offences	319,984	111,286	1,782,256	1,700,144	301,514	146,774	4,361,958

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH)

Notes:

1. Data excludes fraud and Computer Misuse Act (CMA) offences. Fraud offences are recorded by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) rather than police forces.
2. The figures relate to the number of crimes recorded in the year receiving each outcome.
3. Based on data from all 44 forces including British Transport Police.

3.2 Drug offences

Trends in the volume of drug offences can be influenced by police activity, such as stop and search, with the latest statistics (year ending March 2025) showing that over half (52%, or 40,465) of all arrests resulting from section 1 stop and searches were made where the initial search reason was suspicion of drug possession (see: Stop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2025). This reflects that there is often evidence to apply a formal or informal sanction, due to evidence being immediately available.

Around 56.4% of drug offences received a formal or informal criminal justice sanction, with around one in 5 receiving a charge/summons outcome (20.4%) and around one in 3 (36.0%) receiving an out-of-court disposal. There was a difference between how possession of cannabis and possession of other drugs were resolved, with cannabis possession having a much lower charge/summons rate (18.1%) than for other possession of drug offences (33.2%). This reflects the fact that possessions of small amounts of cannabis for personal use will often be dealt with through Community Resolutions (53.2%), but the suspect must accept responsibility for such an outcome to be applied.

In the year ending March 2026, drug possession offences received a slightly higher proportion of charge/summons outcomes (22.9%) than drug trafficking offences (14.8%).

As might be expected, compared with other offence types, a relatively small proportion of drug offences were closed due to no suspect being identified (10.3%).

Around half (53.2%) of all cannabis offences were resolved with Community Resolutions, compared with 31.2% of possession offences involving other drugs. Most drug possession offences recorded in the year ending March 2026 related to cannabis (107,157 compared with around 50,020 offences of all other drug types) and as a result, the overall charge rate for possession of drug offences has been driven by the charge rate for possession of cannabis.

It should be noted that police forces have differing local policies on using out-of-court disposals for cannabis possessions, which needs to be considered when looking at force-level breakdowns. For example, most forces now use Community Resolutions with few forces still using Cannabis/Khat Warnings. The phasing out of cannabis and khat warnings by many police forces is likely to have reflected preparation for reforms to the out of court disposal framework outlined by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, notwithstanding that the relevant provisions have yet to been enacted.

The average number of days taken to assign an outcome for drug offences decreased from 22 days in the previous year to 17 days in the latest year. The average days taken to assign a charge/summons outcome for all drug offences has reduced by 9 days compared with the previous year (from 62 to 53 days).

Two in 10 (20.1%) drug offences were assigned with an outcome on the same day the offence was recorded and around 6 in 10 (57.8%) were assigned an outcome within the first 30 days after the offence had been recorded. Around a quarter (23.0%) of drug offences took more than 100 days for an outcome to be assigned (See Figure 3.5). Within this 27.8% of trafficking offences took more than 100 days, while possession of drug offences 20.8% more than 100 days.

Figure 3.4: The time taken (median days) for outcomes to be assigned to offences broken down by offence types, year ending March 2026, England and Wales

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH)

Notes:

1. Data excludes fraud offences. Fraud offences are recorded by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) rather than police forces.
2. The number of median days for Year ending March 2026 include 42 territorial police forces and British Transport Police. Excludes Humberside Police Force. The data for that force was not provided at record level to the Home Office Data Hub in for the reporting period.

3.3 Possession of weapons offences

Around 38.7% of possession of weapons offences received a formal or informal criminal justice sanction, with around 3 in 10 receiving a charge/summons (31.5%), the highest for any non-victim-based offence (see figure 3.2). This reflects the nature of these offences and means out-of-court disposals are often not appropriate.

Due to this relatively high proportion of cases assigned a charge/summons outcome, only 7.2% of offences received an out-of-court disposal. By comparison, the equivalent figure for drug offences was 36%, as many of these can be more appropriately dealt with out of court (See Figure 3.2).

Around a third (33.3%) of all possession of weapons offences were closed with an evidential difficulties outcome, meaning a suspect could not be proceeded against. There is likely to be more prevalence in evidential difficulties in weapon offences over some other non-victim-based offences. For example, CCTV or witness testimony may establish sufficient to show the points to prove for a weapon offence are made out. By contrast, CCTV footage alone cannot ordinarily establish a controlled drug, which generally requires forensic analysis or other corroborative evidence.

Trends in possession of weapons offences like drug offences can be influenced by police activity, such as use of stop and search.

Nearly half (47.2%) of all possession of weapons offences were those related to the possession of an article with a blade or point (such as a knife), and 34.7% of such offences resulted in a charge/summons outcome.

The average number of days taken to assign an outcome for possession of weapons offences decreased compared with the previous year (23 days in the year ending March 2026 compared with 28 days the previous year). The average number of days taken to assign a charge/summons outcome for all possession of weapons offences decreased by 4 days, to 18 days, across the same period.

Around one in 8 (12.6%) of possession of weapons offences were assigned an outcome on the same day the offence was recorded. Just over half (54.8%) were assigned an outcome within the first 30 days of the offence being recorded, and a quarter (23.8%) took more than 100 days (See Figure 3.5).

Table 3.2: The average (median) length of time taken to assign an outcome between the year ending March 2020 and the year ending March 2026, by offence group, non-victim-based offences, England and Wales

	Y.e. March 2020	Y.e. March 2021	Y.e. March 2022	Y.e. March 2023	Y.e. March 2024	Y.e. March 2025	Y.e. March 2026	Difference between y.e March 2025 and y.e March 2026
Drug offences	26	20	23	25	28	22	17	-5
Possession of weapons offences	25	28	29	26	25	28	23	-5
Public order offences	12	11	13	13	15	16	14	-2
Miscellaneous offences	25	25	28	26	25	27	25	-2

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH)

Notes:

1. Median number of days for the year ending March 2020 to the year ending March 2023 are as first published.
2. Only includes data for forces who send record-level data to HODH.

3.4 Public order offences

Around one in 8 (13.1%) of public order offences received a formal or informal criminal justice sanction (a 2 percentage point increase when compared with the previous year). Among these 9.8% (almost 2 percentage points higher than the previous year) received a charge/summons outcome.

Almost half (45.9%; around one percentage point lower than the previous year) received an evidential difficulties outcome, which was the highest of any non-victim-based offence. Around a third (32.4%; similar proportion to the previous year, at 31.5%) of all public order offences received an ‘investigation complete - no suspect identified’ outcome.

The vast majority of public order offences were recorded within two specific sub-categories. Around 3-quarters (70.1%) were related to public fear, alarm or distress, and 14.0% for racially or religiously aggravated public fear, alarm or distress. There were differences between these 2 offences in the proportion of investigations closed with a charge/summons. Of the recorded offences of public fear, alarm or distress, 3.8% resulted in a charge/summons, whereas 11.2% of racially or religiously aggravated public fear, alarm or distress were closed in this way.

The average number of days taken to assign an outcome for public order offences reduced slightly to 14 days in the year ending March 2026 (down from 16 days the previous year). The average number of days taken to assign a charge/summons outcome for all public order offences decreased even more (down by 8 days to 28 days).

Around one in 8 (13.4%) of public order offences were assigned with an outcome on the same day the offence was recorded. Around 6 in 10 (65.6%) offences were assigned an outcome within the first 30 days of the offence being recorded, and around 12.7% took more than 100 days (See Figure 3.5).

Figure 3.5: The length of time between non-victim-based offences being recorded and outcomes being assigned in the year ending March 2026

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH)

Notes:

1. Data excludes fraud offences. Fraud offences are recorded by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) rather than police forces.
2. Includes 42 territorial police forces and British Transport Police. Excludes Humberside Police Force. The data for these forces was identified to have quality issues or the data was not provided at record level to the Home Office Data Hub in for the reporting period.

3.5 Charges for alternative offences

The Home Office Counting Rules for recorded crime require the police to record offences based on the offence that has been committed in law However, sometimes the police or Crown Prosecution Service may decide to charge a defendant with an alternative offence. This is much less common for non-victim-based offences than victim-based offences. Approximately 4.8% of all charge outcomes recorded for non-victim-based offences in the year ending March 2026 were for an alternate offence. Nearly one in 15 (6.9%) of charge/summons outcomes of public order offences related to an alternative offence. This was less common for offences such as drug offences (2.4% of all charge/summons outcomes were for alternate offences). From the data held centrally by the Home Office it is not possible to identify the specific alternate offence that has been charged.

4. Outcomes for offences involving knives or sharp instruments, or firearms

To provide additional context to the main police recorded crime series, which is an offence-based collection, the Home Office have a number of special collections which allow forces to provide further details on the nature and circumstances of specific recorded offences. This includes 2 collections on information on selected offences that involved the use, or threat, of a knife or sharp instrument, or a firearm. This data is supplied to the Home Office separately from the main police recorded crime and investigative outcome data. The datasets are then linked with the main recorded crime collection to produce investigative outcomes data for these offences.

This is the second year that outcomes have been published for offences involving knives or sharp instruments, or firearms. For the first time, information has also been published on number of charge/summons assigned in the last year as well as the median number of days taken to assign an outcome.

Data was available for offences involving a knife or sharp instrument and those involving firearms from all 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales. Data on outcomes for knife and sharp instrument offences was additionally provided by the British Transport Police (BTP).

Key findings

• around one in 8 offences involving a firearm resulted in a charge/summons outcome (12.9%), an increase from 12.0% the previous year
• the charge/summons rate (12.9%) for firearm offences was higher than the equivalent rate for those that did not involve a firearm (8.6%); and lethal-barrelled firearms offences had a higher charge/summons rate (14.0%) than non-lethal-barrelled ones (11.6%)
• the charge/summons rate for knife-enabled offences was also one in 8 (13.0%), an increase from 11.5% the previous year; the charge/summons rate (13.0%) was also higher than for the equivalent offences not involving a knife (7.5%)
• knife-enabled assaults had a higher charge/summons rate (14.7%) than assaults that did not involve a knife (8.3%), while knife-enabled robbery offences had a similar charge/summons rate (10.4%) to those that did not involve a knife (10.5%)

4.1 Offences involving firearms (excluding air weapons)

The firearms collection covers any notifiable offences recorded by the police where a firearm has been fired, used as a blunt instrument or as a threat. The collection covers a wide range of weapon types, from the most serious ones, such as handguns and shotguns, through to air guns and imitation weapons. To distinguish between the lethality of the weapon used, information is presented for lethal-barrelled and non-lethal barrelled firearms. Lethal-barrelled is a term used by police forces to classify offences involving more powerful weapons such as shotguns, handguns, rifles, machine guns, other converted imitation firearms and disguised firearms. Lethal-barrelled also includes firearms where the police were unable to identify which type of firearm was used in the offence. This mirrors the presentation of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) annual release of crime statistics on the volumes of these offences recorded.

Firearm possession offences are not included, and these are covered in Section 3. As these possession offences are defined as specific crimes in law, they form their own categories in the main recorded crime collection and information on the investigative outcomes of these offences can be found in the main outcomes tables.

In the year ending March 2026, the police in England and Wales recorded 5,151 offences involving a firearm. We were able to link 5,051 (98%) of these offences to an investigative outcome in the main recorded crime collection in the Home Office Data Hub. This link rate has increased since last year (96%). While this means a small proportion of cases have unknown outcomes, this should not have a notable impact on the patterns described below.

For offences recorded in the year ending March 2026, the charge/summons rate for offences involving a firearm was 12.9%, an increase compared with the previous year (12.0%). The rate was higher than it was for offences not involving a firearm (8.6%). There was also a difference by type of firearm, with lethal-barrelled offences having a higher charge/summons rate (14.0%) than non-lethal-barrelled firearms offences (11.6%). This may reflect the priority given to investigating higher severity offences.

There was also a much higher proportion of investigations with a final outcome not yet assigned for offences involving firearms (19.4%) compared with those that did not involve a firearm (7.3%). The rate was higher still for those that involved a lethal-barrelled or unknown firearm (23.9%). This may reflect the greater complexity and time required to investigate such offences.

Just over a third (33.2%) of offences involving firearms were assigned an evidential difficulties outcome, a lower proportion than those that did not involve a firearm (38.8%). This proportion was lower still for offences involving lethal-barrelled and unknown firearms, at 32.8%. We expect the distribution of outcomes will change as more outcomes are finalised. The variation in outcomes is illustrated in Figure 4.1. below.

Figure 4.1: Proportion of outcomes assigned by outcome group and type of firearm, for offences involving firearms recorded in year ending March 2026, England and Wales

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH)

Notes:

1. Proportions show the percentage of crimes recorded in the year receiving each outcome.
2. Proportions as at the time data was provided to the Home Office.
3. Based on data from 43 forces (excluding the British Transport Police).
4. Other includes: not in the public interest (CPS); Not in public interest (Police); Offender Died; Prosecution prevented (suspect under age; suspect too ill; victim/key witness dead/too ill); Prosecution time limit expired; offences asked to be taken into consideration by a court (TICs); caution - adults; caution - youths; Penalty Notices for Disorder; Cannabis/Khat Warnings and community resolutions.

The investigative outcome varied by offence group, reflecting a range of factors involved in police outcomes (see section 2.2 for more detail). For example, one of the highest charge/summons rate was for robbery offences involving a firearm (20.7%), which was around twice as high than for such offences not involving firearms (10.5%).

For criminal damage and arson, the charge/summons rate was 2.3% for those offences involving firearms and 5.2% for those that did not. This is likely to reflect that around 7 in 10 (71%) of criminal damage and arson offences with a firearm involved a BB gun. The full range of outcomes by offence group are shown in Figure 4.2 below.

Figure 4.2: Proportion of outcomes assigned by outcome group and offence group, for offences involving firearms recorded in year ending March 2026, England and Wales

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH)

Notes:

1. Proportions show the percentage of crimes recorded in the year receiving each outcome.
2. Based on data from 43 forces (excluding the British Transport Police).
3. Out-of-court includes: caution - adults; caution - youths; Penalty Notices for Disorder; Cannabis/Khat Warnings and community resolutions.
4. Other includes: not in the public interest (CPS); Not in public interest (Police); Offender Died; Prosecution prevented (suspect under age; suspect too ill; victim/key witness dead/too ill); Prosecution time limit expired; offences asked to be taken into consideration by a court (TICs).
5. Evidential difficulties includes: evidential difficulties where the suspect was/was not identified and the victim does not support further action.

Offences involving firearms, on average, took longer to be assigned a final outcome than those that did not. For example, the median number of days taken, from the date the crime was recorded until it was closed, for violence against the person offences involving a firearm was 47 days, compared with 20 days for those not involving a firearm. This may be due to the complexity of these crimes, or the greater investigative effort invested, reflecting the serious nature of these offences. Further information on median days can be found in (Table 5.4).

4.2 Offences involving knives or sharp instruments

The knife or sharp instrument (knife-enabled) collection includes selected notifiable offences where the weapon had been used to injure or threaten a victim. This will include offences where the weapon may not have been seen but is believed to be present at the time by the victim or another witness.

The specific selected offences covered by the collection are:

• actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm or assault with injury and assault with intent to cause serious harm
• attempted murder
• robbery
• threats to kill
• rape
• sexual assault

In the quarterly crime statistics releases published by the ONS, information for knife-enabled homicides is taken from the Home Office Homicide Index (HOHI). This data has not been included here as the HOHI contains data on court outcomes, which differs from the broader set of investigative outcomes data within the main police recorded crime collection.

In the year ending March 2026, the police in England and Wales recorded 48,598 knife-enabled offences (excluding homicide). All of these offences were linked to the main recorded crime collection in the Home Office Data Hub.

For offences recorded in the year ending March 2026, 13.0% of knife-enabled offences were dealt with by a charge or summons. This was an increase on the previous year (11.5%) and nearly twice as high as the corresponding rate for non-knife-enabled selected offences (7.5%).

The proportion of offences where the investigation was still open at the time of analysis was higher for knife-enabled crime (14.0%) than those that did not involve a knife (12.6%). We expect the distribution of outcomes will change as more outcomes are finalised.

Just over 4 in 10 (43.3%) knife-enabled crimes were assigned an evidential difficulties outcome, a lower proportion than the corresponding offences that did not involve a knife (53.7%). The variation in outcomes is illustrated in Figure 4.3 below.

Figure 4.3: Proportion of outcomes assigned by outcome group and knife-enabled and non-knife-enabled selected offences recorded in year ending March 2026, England and Wales

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH)

The charge/summons rate for assault with injury and assault with intent to cause serious harm was higher for knife-enabled offences (14.7%) compared with these offences not involving a knife (8.3%). This reflects the serious nature of these offences.

Knife-enabled robbery offences had a similar charge/summons rate (10.4%) compared with offences that did not involve a knife (10.5%). Information from the Metropolitan Police Service shows that a knife or sharp instrument was used to injure the victim in 6% of knife enabled robberies in the year ending March 2026. In the remaining offences, the knife was used to threaten but not used. Robbery is a serious offence whether a weapon was used or not, which may explain the similar charge/summons rates seen in these offences.

Just under half (48.0%) of knife-enabled robbery offences were closed with investigation complete – no suspect identified, a higher proportion than knife-enabled assault with injury and assault with intent to cause serious harm (16.0%) and a similar proportion to robberies that did not involve a knife (50.9%). Figure 4.4 gives the full breakdown of outcomes by offence group.

Figure 4.4: Proportion of outcomes assigned by outcome group and offence group, for knife-enabled selected offences recorded in year ending March 2026, England and Wales

Source: Home Office Data Hub (HODH)

Notes:

1. Proportions show the percentage of crimes recorded in the year receiving each outcome.
2. Based on data from 44 forces
3. Out-of-court includes: caution - adults; caution - youths; Penalty Notices for Disorder; Cannabis/Khat Warnings and community resolutions.
4. Other includes: not in the public interest (CPS); Not in public interest (Police); Offender Died; Prosecution prevented (suspect under age; suspect too ill; victim/key witness dead/too ill); Prosecution time limit expired; offences asked to be taken into consideration by a court (TICs).
5. Evidential difficulties includes: evidential difficulties where the suspect was/was not identified and the victim does not support further action.

Investigations of knife-enabled robbery and assault with injury and assault with intent to cause serious harm offences, on average, took longer to be closed as indicated by the assignment of a final outcome, than those that did not involve a knife. For example, the median number of days taken, from the date the crime was recorded until it was closed, for knife-enabled robbery offences was 41 days, compared with 32 days for robberies that did not involve a knife. This may be due to the complexity of these crimes, or the greater investigative effort invested, reflecting the serious nature of these offences. Further information on median days can be found in Table 5.8.

5. Further information

5.1 References

Home Office (2014), “Crime outcomes in England and Wales 2013 to 2014”. Available at: Crime outcomes in England and Wales 2013 to 2014 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Home Office (2024), “Crime outcomes in England and Wales 2024 to 2025”. Available at: Crime outcomes in England and Wales 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Home Office (2025), “Criminal justice system (CJS) delivery data dashboard”. Available at: Home - CJS Dashboard(justice.gov.uk)

Home Office (2025), “Home Office Crime Recording Rules for frontline officers and staff”. Available at: Home Office Crime Recording Rules for frontline officers and staff - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Home Office (2025), “Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables”. Available at: Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Home Office (2024), “The National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS): What you need to know”. Available at: The National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) : What you need to know (publishing.service.gov.uk)

National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) (2023), “Police now attending scene of every home burglary”. Available at: Police now attending scene of every home burglary (npcc.police.uk)

National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) (2024), “Operation Soteria – Transforming the Investigation of Rape”. Available at: Operation Soteria - Transforming the Investigation of Rape (npcc.police.uk)

Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2025), “Domestic abuse and the criminal justice system, England and Wales”. Available at: Domestic abuse and the criminal justice system, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2026), “Crime in England and Wales: Other related tables”. Available at: Crime in England and Wales: Other related tables - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2026), “Crime in England and Wales: Year ending March 2026”. Available at: Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2026

Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2026), “User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales”. Available at: Crime and justice methodology - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) (2023), “The quality of police recorded crime statistics for England and Wales”. Available at: The quality of police recorded crime statistics for England and Wales – Office for Statistics Regulation (statisticsauthority.gov.uk)

5.2 Important information

Before April 2013, official statistics about how the police deal with crimes focused narrowly on ‘detections’ (the number of cases resolved with a formal or informal criminal justice outcome). In April 2013, the Home Office introduced the new outcomes framework and changed the presentation of its crime outcomes statistics.

From April 2014 onwards, police forces have supplied data to the Home Office on a broader set of outcomes, including those that do not result in a formal or informal criminal justice outcome. The year ending March 2014 bulletin, published in July 2014, showed the first provisional statistics from the new outcomes framework. We have since developed the statistics with input from police forces and users.

Since the publication of the year ending June 2023 data in October 2023, data for outcomes 1a, 2a and 3a, have been published within the summary and open tables.

We continue to ensure that these police recorded crime outcomes statistics are:

• meeting identified user needs, including providing new analysis and greater transparency
• well explained and readily accessible
• produced according to sound methods
• managed impartially and objectively in the public interest

The statistics in this bulletin are designated as Official Statistics as in January 2014, the UK Statistics Authority found that police recorded crime statistics did not meet the required standard for designation as accredited official statistics. The full assessment report against the Code of Practice for Official Statistics can be found on the UK Statistics Authority.

In July 2014, the Home Office Chief Statistician and the UK Statistics Authority Head of Assessment agreed to badge the year to March 2014 Crime Outcomes bulletin as Official Statistics, rather than National Statistics. This reflects the move to the new outcomes framework, and also the possibility that outcomes data is affected by similar issues to those that led to the de-designation of police recorded crime statistics.

Full details are available here: Outcomes (formerly Detections) Statistics: David Blunt to Ed Humpherson; Outcomes (formerly Detections) Statistics: Ed Humpherson to David Blunt

The UKSA published a new report on the quality of police recorded crime statistics for England and Wales in 2023.

5.3 Previous releases

Earlier editions of this bulletin included a section on outcomes for domestic abuse-related offences. This has not been produced in recent years as data is now published by ONS.

Previous editions of ‘Crime outcomes in England and Wales’ bulletins

Copies of other Home Office publications (including crime statistics releases prior to April 2012)

Copies of crime statistics publications from April 2012 are available from the Office for National Statistics website

This includes the User guide to crime statistics, a useful reference guide with explanatory notes regarding the issues and classifications that are key to the production and presentation of the crime statistics.

5.4 Contact details

For further information about crime outcomes statistics, please email: CrimeandPoliceStats@homeoffice.gov.uk or write to:

Crime and Policing Statistics
2nd Floor Peel Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

Home Office Responsible Statistician: John Flatley, Programme Director for Crime Statistics. Contact via CrimeandPoliceStats@homeoffice.gov.uk