rule of law and safety · the national record
Are offenders caught? Crime outcomes in England and Wales
What happens after a crime is reported, from the Home Office crime outcomes statistics. In the year to March 2026, just 7.3 per cent of victim based crimes ended in a charge or summons, while 40.9 per cent were closed with no suspect ever identified. This page shows how the charge rate has changed, which kinds of crime are most and least likely to be solved, and how it varies between police forces.
How to read this
The Home Office reports outcomes for crimes recorded by the police. The headline charge rate here is its published recorded crime measure: the share of recorded offences that end in a charge or summons. The comparisons by crime type and by force use a second measure, the share of closed investigations that ended in a charge, computed from the open data. The second measure runs higher because it counts only cases the police have finished with, but it allows a like for like comparison.
Headline rates from the Home Office bulletin Crime outcomes in England and Wales 2025 to 2026 (year ending March 2026), published 23 July 2026. Comparisons by offence group and force computed from the police recorded crime outcomes open data, year ending March 2026, updated 23 July 2026. England and Wales.
The national picture
Fewer than one in thirteen victim based crimes ends in a charge
In the year to March 2026, 7.3 per cent of victim based crimes in England and Wales ended in a charge or summons, fewer than one in thirteen. Four in ten, 40.9 per cent, were closed with no suspect ever identified. Crimes without a direct victim, such as drug and weapons offences, were charged more often, at 14.6 per cent, because they tend to come to light through arrests. The charge rate fell by more than half over the previous decade to a low of 4.6 per cent in the year to March 2022, and has risen in each year since. For rape, just 3.4 per cent of recorded offences led to a charge.
Which crimes get solved
From most weapons cases to almost no criminal damage
Some crimes are charged routinely, others almost never. Of investigations closed in the year, possession of weapons and drug offences ended in a charge most often, while theft, violence and criminal damage rarely did. For theft and criminal damage the most common ending was that no suspect was found at all.
no suspect 10.8%
no suspect 11.1%
no suspect 18.3%
no suspect 53.1%
no suspect 32.9%
no suspect 17.2%
no suspect 70.6%
no suspect 15.8%
no suspect 59.4%
Share of closed investigations ending in a charge, by offence group, year ending March 2026. Theft was closed with no suspect identified in 70.6 per cent of cases. Source: Home Office open data.
Where you are matters
The charge rate varies more than twofold between forces
On the same closed investigations measure, the share of cases ending in a charge runs from 15.8 per cent in Cheshire down to 7.3 per cent in Gloucestershire, against an England and Wales average of 10.5 per cent. The Metropolitan Police, whose figures the Home Office notes are affected by recording and administrative backlogs, sits below average but is no longer the lowest force.
Highest charge rate
Lowest charge rate
Share of closed investigations ending in a charge, by territorial police force, year ending March 2026. City of London and British Transport Police are set aside as non comparable. Source: Home Office open data.
Questions this raises
For policing and justice
- 1.
Fewer than one in thirteen victim based crimes ends in a charge, and four in ten are closed with no suspect found. What would it take to move those numbers?
- 2.
The charge rate fell by more than half over a decade before recovering for four years running. Is the recovery durable or a cyclical bounce?
- 3.
For rape, just 3.4 per cent of recorded offences lead to a charge. Why does the charge rate for sexual offences stay so low even as reporting rises?
- 4.
The charge rate varies more than twofold between forces. How much is genuine performance and how much is differences in recording and case mix?
Sources & method
Data provenance
- Crime outcomes in England and Wales, year ending March 2026 (Home Office) ↗· Open Government Licence v3.0
- Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables (Home Office) ↗· Open Government Licence v3.0
Caveats & data notes
- The headline charge rate (7.3 per cent victim based, 14.6 per cent non victim) is the Home Office recorded crime measure: charges as a share of offences recorded in the year, corrected for cases charged under a different offence. The comparisons by crime type and force use the share of closed investigations that ended in a charge, which runs higher (about 10.5 per cent overall) but allows like for like comparison.
- Outcome rates are affected by changes in how police record crime and close investigations. The Home Office notes that Metropolitan Police figures in particular are influenced by recording and administrative backlogs, so its charge rate should be read with that caveat even though it is no longer the lowest of the territorial forces.
- City of London Police and British Transport Police are national or specialist forces and are set aside from the force comparison.
- Fraud is recorded and counted separately and is not included in these figures.
- A charge or summons is the start of the justice process, not a conviction. Many charged cases do not end in a conviction, and some crimes are resolved by other means such as a caution or community resolution.
- Sources: Home Office crime outcomes bulletin and police recorded crime outcomes open data, year ending March 2026, published and updated 23 July 2026.
Every figure on this page traces to its official source. Share it as it stands.
Keep going
Related deep dives
Police recorded 91,987 malicious communications offences in 2025/26, down from 288,939 at the peak, a fall the statisticians attribute to a counting rule change. Three in a hundred closed investigations ended in a charge and the courts convicted 2,487 people under the four offences in 2025. Arrests by offence are published by no department: a campaign group’s 62,199 tally reconciles with the Ministry on convictions and can be checked against nothing on arrests. With sentencing, the official arrests ceiling and Scotland.
Every offence recorded by police from 2012/13 to 2024/25: what gets recorded, what has gone up and down, and where rates are highest by force area.
How exposed the UK is online: breaches by business size and across education, record fraud against the public, the cost to the economy, the NCSC year, government's own resilience and the skills gap.
The monthly reading
Get the next one by email
One email a month: the national resilience score, what moved, and the newest analyses like this one, plus The Quarterly Record four times a year. Every figure traced to its official source.