About one in 10 people victims of domestic abuse, stalking or sexual assault
It is the first time an estimate has been made of the combined prevalence of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking.
The figures have been published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) using data collected as part of the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
The survey measures experiences of crime, with domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking referred to as 'crime types' because in some cases a criminal offence may not have occurred.
Some 10.6% of all people aged 16 and over are likely to have experienced one or more of these crime types in the year to March 2025, with 12.8% for women and 8.4% for men.
The figures equate to an estimated 5.1 million people aged 16 and over in England and Wales, of which 3.2 million are women and nearly 2.0 million are men, the ONS said.
A slightly higher estimate of 5.4 million people or 11.3% has been made for the previous 12 months – the year to March 2024 – which equates to 3.4 million women (14.0%) and 2.0 million men (8.6%).
The ONS said that because these estimates are still in development and are subject to change, caution should be taken when making comparisons between the two years and is it not possible to say whether the difference is statistically significant.
The new estimate of the prevalence of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking will be used as the main way for the Government to track its efforts on tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG).
Ministers have promised to halve levels in a decade, and are expected to set out more details on how the data will be used in its VAWG strategy that will be published later this year.
Elsewhere, data published on Thursday shows the number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales has climbed to another record high.
Some 530,643 offences were logged in 2024-25, up 20% from 444,022 in 2023-24 and the highest total since current police recording practices began in 2002-03.
Retail bosses have warned that official statistics are likely to be the tip of the iceberg, and that shop owners need to see immediate results as ministers have pledged thousands more officers for neighbourhood policing.
Theft from the person offences also remain at record levels, with 151,220 recorded by forces in the year to March, up 15% from 131,584 in the previous 12 months.
However, the number of knife crime offences recorded by forces slightly dropped.
The figure stood at 53,047 in 2024-25, down 1% from 53,685 in 2023,24 and 4% below the pre-pandemic level of 55,170 in 2019,20.
Commenting on published figures on Thursday, Billy Gazard of the ONS, said: 'Police recorded crime paints a mixed picture. While homicide, and offences involving knives and guns, declined nationally, there were variations across police forces.
'Meanwhile, the number of recorded shoplifting offences continues to rise.'
In total, police forces recorded 6.6 million crimes in England and Wales in 2024-25, down slightly by 1% from 6.7 million in 2023-24.
This is up from 6.1 million in the pre-pandemic year of 2019-20, and from 4.2 million a decade earlier in 2014-15.
This is likely to reflect 'changes in police activity and recording practices' as well as genuine changes in trends in crimes reported to and recorded by forces, meaning the figures do 'not tend to be a good indicator of general trends in crime', the ONS said.
Separate figures from the ONS Crime Survey for England and Wales published on Thursday suggest people aged 16 and over experienced 9.4 million incidents of crime in the year to March 2025, up from 8.8 million in the previous 12 months.
The rise is mainly due to a 31% rise in fraud, which accounts for 4.2 million incidents.
The overall total of 9.4 million incidents in 2024-25 is 16% lower than the total of 11.2 million for 2016-17, however.
Mr Gazard added: 'The increase we've seen in crime estimated by our survey has been mainly driven by fraud, specifically bank and credit account fraud, and retail and consumer fraud.
'Both have risen sharply over the past 12 months and, overall, the number of fraud incidents is at the highest since it was first reported on the survey in 2017.'
The survey covers a range of personal and household victim-based crime, including theft, robbery, criminal damage, fraud, computer misuse and violence with or without injury, but does not include sexual offences, stalking, harassment and domestic abuse, which are presented separately.
Experiences of theft, criminal damage and violence with or without injury, as measured by the ONS survey, have been on a broad downwards trend since the mid-1990s.
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Glasgow Times
an hour ago
- Glasgow Times
Donald Trump goes golfing as protesters speak out against his visit to Scotland
Tight security around the Trump Turnberry course meant no demonstrators were seen when the president took to the greens on Saturday morning. Dressed in black, with a white cap that said USA on it, Mr Trump could be seen driving a golf buggy, flanked by a fleet of security personnel, as he played on the famous course which he bought in 2014. The outspoken Republican waved to journalists at one point, with hits including Billy Joel's Uptown Girl and Elaine Paige's rendition of Memory from the musical Cats heard playing from his entourage. But when asked about links to disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the Simon and Garfunkel hit Bridge Over Troubled Water could be heard. However hundreds gathered in both Edinburgh and Aberdeen – near the site of Mr Trump's other Scottish golf resort – to make their opposition to the president known. As the visit got under way Scottish First Minister John Swinney – who is due to hold talks with the president later in the trip – announced public money to support a tournament at the Trump International golf links in Aberdeenshire. The 2025 Nexo Championship – previously known as the Scottish Championship – is set to take place there next month, supported by £180,000 of public funding. The US president was surrounded by security as he took to the course (Robert Perry/PA) Mr Swinney said: 'The Scottish Government recognises the importance and benefits of golf and golf events, including boosting tourism and our economy.' But Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie likened the awarding of public cash to the tournament to 'handing some pocket money to the school bully'. Mr Trump will head to his golf resort in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire later on in his five-day long private visit. As part of his trip he will also hold talks with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, where the two men will refine a trade deal between the UK and the US that was agreed earlier this year. The president is also expected to talk trade with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday. Police officers and military personnel were seen earlier searching the grounds around Trump Turnberry (Robert Perry/PA) But with no talks apparently scheduled for Saturday, the president, who is well known for his love of golf, was free to take to the famous course at Turnberry. A major security operation surrounded him, with police officers and military personnel seen scouring the grounds ahead of Mr Trump teeing off. After touching down in Scotland in Air Force One on Friday night, the president was seen on the course at Turnberry on Saturday morning – although security fencing had also been erected around the resort, with road closures also in place to help protect Mr Trump, who last year survived an assassination attempt. Sniffer dogs were seen patrolling the golf course, with the Navy carrying out sweeps in the water beside the seaside course, while Army vehicles were spotted on the nearby A77 road. Police Scotland has asked for support from other forces across the UK to bolster officer numbers for the high profile visit – with Mr Swinney appealing to people to protest 'peacefully and within the law'. Protesters at the Stop Trump coalition organised a demonstration in Edinburgh (Jane Barlow/PA) In Aberdeen Green north east Scotland MSP Maggie Chapman told the crowd of hundreds: 'We stand in solidarity not only against Trump but against everything he and his politics stand for.' Speaking about the US president, Ms Chapman said: 'He believes that climate change isn't real, he believes that cutting services for those in the world with the least is the right thing to do. 'We say no to all of those things, not in our name, never in our name.' With Mr Trump having last year been convicted by a New York jury of falsifying business records, she said the president was a 'convicted felon'. And she told the PA news agency: 'He is not welcome in Scotland, he is certainly not welcome in Aberdeenshire. 'We know that he is a convicted felon. Green MSP Maggie Chapman addressed protesters in Aberdeen (Nick Forbes/PA) 'We also know that all of the promises he has repeatedly made to Scotland have come to nothing, there hasn't been the development of jobs or houses that he promised when he opened his course in Aberdeenshire a few years ago.' Mr Harvie was also critical of the president, telling PA: 'He's attacking our renewables industry once again, one of the success stories of Scotland, and he is trying to attack and undermine it. 'And that is after having trashed part of our natural environment on the Aberdeenshire coast to build his golf resort.' Anita Bhadani was one of those who organised the Stop Trump Coalition protest outside the US Consulate General's office in Edinburgh. She told PA: 'We are really excited, across this whole weekend, there's so many campaign groups turning out in the streets, tacking in action in their communities or at rallies like this – it's kind of like a carnival of resistance.' She said Mr Trump's 'huge promises' of creating thousands of jobs through development around his Scottish golf courses had not come to pass. A number of speakers addressed the crowd, condemning President Trump, including one who chanted 'death to the IDF'.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Telegraph
Councils to buy empty homes to house migrants under government plans
Migrants could be housed in empty homes and properties bought by councils under government plans to slash the number of asylum hotels. Ministers are seeking to partner with councils to buy or lease houses and vacant properties around the UK in which to place asylum seekers, amid rising anger at the use of hotels for migrants. They are proposing pilot schemes where the Government could pay councils to buy or renovate property, which they would lease back to the Home Office to house asylum seekers. Another model would see empty homes brought back into use for both local homeless people and asylum seekers. Government data show there are some 700,000 empty homes across England, including some 93,600 in London and 35,000 in Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool. Officials are also targeting former tower blocks, student accommodation and old teacher training colleges for use as 'medium-sized' sites where dozens of asylum seekers could be housed. The moves come as police are braced for fresh protests against asylum hotels this weekend, following the 16 arrests for violence at the Bell hotel in Epping, Essex, amid anger at an alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl by a 38-year-old migrant from Ethiopia. Some 32,000 asylum seekers are being housed in around 210 hotels, according to the latest Home Office data from March. This compares with just under 30,000 in June last year, days before Labour won the election, but down from the peak of 56,000 at 400 hotels in September 2023 at a cost of £9m a day. On Friday, the Home Office announced that asylum seekers face being made homeless if they refuse orders by officials to move out of hotels into alternative accommodation. Hundreds of migrants refuse to be transferred every week, according to the Home Office, which is frustrating attempts to reduce the number of asylum hotels. Some hotels have been forced to remain in use for as few as three migrants due to refusals to move out. Now, asylum seekers will be threatened with losing their taxpayer-funded accommodation and weekly £49.18 allowance if they reject a transfer request for a second time under a new 'firm-but-fair' policy to reduce the number of asylum hotels. The search for alternative accommodation has become a priority as a record 24,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, up 50 per cent. On top of 80,000 outstanding initial asylum claims in March, there is a growing backlog of 41,000 failed asylum seekers who have appealed against the decision, with many requiring housing. Sir Keir Starmer set out the Government's approach this week, when he told the liaison committee: 'A central focus of what we are doing is what can be built, arranged or taken by councils and repurposed. I am impatient for this change to be driven through. 'We have to take over other accommodation, and we have to drive down the asylum lists. There is no alternative... There is lots of housing in many local authorities that can be used, and we are identifying where it can be used.' Dame Angela Eagle, the border security and asylum minister, told MPs the aim was to 'evolve' away from a 'commercial' approach using private accommodation contractors to a 'more democratically accountable' system in partnership with local councils. It comes ahead of 'break' clauses next year where the Home Office could end its reliance on three contractors – Clearsprings, Mears and Serco – to find accommodation for asylum seekers. Around 200 councils have 'expressed interest' in running pilot schemes partnering with the Government. 'The pilots are looking at various ways to provide accommodation, for example, putting a grant to local authorities and leasing back the property. There are elements of: could we give grants to remediate void properties?' said Joanna Rowland, the Home Office's director general for customer services. 'Is there a support-only option, so we are not providing accommodation? There are a lot of ideas, but we will need those pilots to give us an evidence base for how we might want to move forward.' Dame Angela said: 'Maybe some of the things that we develop will go to supporting local temporarily homeless people from the area in exchange for having some of the things we develop available for our own asylum seekers as well. 'It is a kind of co-operative approach, I hope, that will be more sustainable than the situation that we find ourselves in now.' The Home Office has already faced local opposition and delays where it has attempted to set up 'medium-sized' sites. Plans to buy a 27-flat block in Fareham, Hampshire, to house 70 migrants was abandoned after a local outcry. A 9,000-strong petition has also been raised to proposals to put 35 asylum seekers in high-street flats above a vacant shop in Waterlooville in Hampshire, while plans to house almost 700 asylum seekers in former student blocks in Huddersfield have still not gone ahead more than a year after they were first mooted. Powers to seize properties Islington council in north London is, however, going ahead with plans to buy back up to 900 former council houses to house both homeless people and refugees. Angela Rayner, Communities Secretary, is also pushing for councils to get powers to seize properties that have stood empty for more than six months. The current rules only allow councils to take control of a building if it has been empty for two years and plagued by anti-social behaviour. Her department said it was 'pure speculation' to suggest the powers would be used to repossess vacant properties for asylum accommodation. The Home Office said it aimed 'to develop a more sustainable, long-term model of accommodation supply, which may be more locally led, should reduce competition for affordable housing, and help deliver new supply'.
Leader Live
a day ago
- Leader Live
Corbyn throws his weight behind striking Birmingham bin workers
A day after Birmingham City Council said it had launched contempt of court proceedings against the Unite trade union over the all-out strike which began in March, Mr Corbyn said central government was underfunding local authorities. Addressing more than 100 workers and other protesters at a 'mega-picket' event outside a council refuse depot in the Tyseley area, the MP for Islington North, told the crowd: 'It wasn't the Birmingham bin workers that spent ludicrous amounts of money on the Commonwealth Games. 'And it wasn't the bin workers who created any of the problems that Birmingham faces. They are the people that keep this city clean. 'I am here today to support you but also to make this point. 'Birmingham is not isolated and Birmingham is not alone – the financial issues that affect Birmingham are actually there in almost every local authority in the country, particularly in the big urban cities. 'And those problems are that they have not enough money. The Government is not spending enough money on local government.' Mr Corbyn warned: 'Local government services are under pressure and in many cases, even without the Birmingham model, still facing cuts. 'If we win in Birmingham and they are not allowed to cut wages, not allowed to destroy conditions, not allowed to damage the working rights of bin workers, that's a huge victory. 'But if we lose, think which city is going to be next. 'That is the point. And so I say to the wider community – get behind the Birmingham bin workers.' The second, so-called mega-picket, with speakers from other trade unions, following a similar event in May, involved members of 26 organisations protesting at fives sites in Birmingham and Coventry on Friday. The city council said on Thursday night that it had had 'persistent evidence' of a breach of a court order previously agreed with Unite. A city council spokesperson said: 'We are taking this step to ensure the safety of our city and the safety of our workforce, including those who are on strike. 'Our injunction prevents the blocking of our refuse collection vehicles, both at our depots and on the streets. Despite writing repeatedly to Unite for several weeks to highlight what we believe to be clear breaches of the injunction, the situation has worsened. 'Since the injunction was granted, vehicles have been blockaded on roads to and from our depots, with Unite representatives and members stepping in front of, and even leaning against, moving heavy vehicles and blocking road junctions.' A Unite spokesperson said: 'The court application is the latest distraction from the real task of resolving the ongoing dispute. 'The court papers will be subject to a careful review and the interests of Unite and our members will be fully represented at any future hearing.' Speaking after his speech, Mr Corbyn urged the leader of Labour-run Birmingham City Council, John Cotton, not to dig himself into a hole and to settle the dispute. Mr Corbyn said: 'There has to be a settlement and they should not be facing a wage cut. 'We just don't need to stretch this thing out.' Asked what his message to Mr Cotton would be, he added: 'John, get a deal. Get a settlement, get the bin workers back to work. 'And remember, a lot of the public support the bin workers even though obviously it (the strike) does create difficulties.'
