Police-recorded crime in England and Wales has exceeded seven million incidents in a year for the first time.
Official figures revealed an eight per cent rise in recorded offences in the year to June, taking the total to 7,084,375.
According to data from the Office for National Statistics, the figure is the highest since modern crime-recording practices were introduced at the beginning of the century.
Fraud accounted for much of the increase, with reported cases soaring by 41 per cent to 1.8 million.
The rise coincided with the launch of Report Fraud last December. The service enables the public to report cybercrime and fraud to the City of London Police, which has national responsibility for tackling financial crime.
Reports submitted to the new service by UK Finance, the banking and financial services organisation, rose by 79 per cent to 1.02 million.
The dramatic increase suggests that fraud may have been significantly under-recorded under the previous Action Fraud system. MPs repeatedly criticised it as “not fit for purpose”, earning it the nickname “Inaction Fraud”.
Fraud also increased in the separate Crime Survey for England and Wales, which provides an estimate of offences that includes those never reported to police.
The survey recorded 4.5 million fraud incidents during the year, an 11 per cent increase.
The ONS said the rise was driven by a 13 per cent increase in bank and credit account fraud, which reached 2.8 million incidents.
The figures also highlight the continuing shift from traditional, “real-world” offences towards crimes committed online.
Excluding fraud and computer misuse, police recorded 5.2 million offences in the year to June—a one per cent decline compared with the previous year.
Robbery was a notable exception, rising by 10 per cent to its highest level since before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Police forces in England and Wales recorded 88,282 robberies in the 12 months to June, compared with 80,469 during the preceding year.
The increase was largely driven by robberies targeting businesses, which climbed 67 per cent year on year to just over 31,000—the highest total ever recorded.
By contrast, robberies involving personal property fell by seven per cent to just over 57,000 incidents.
The Association of Convenience Stores said the rise could be linked to increasing violence by shoplifters, prompting some police forces to classify incidents differently.
Shoplifting offences recorded by police fell by two per cent to 519,516, following a near-peak in the previous year.
An ACS spokesman said: “The reason for the marked increase in robberies is likely due to a change in the way that some offences are now recorded as robberies that previously would have been counted as shoplifting offences.”
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Official figures showed an eight per cent jump in recorded crime in the year to June, hitting 7,084,375 incidents in England and Wales
ACS chief executive Ed Woodall said: ‘We are extremely concerned about the changing nature of theft against retailers.
‘Offenders are becoming more confident, more brazen, and ultimately more violent in their crimes, threatening retailers and shopworkers to get away with stolen goods.’
He added: ‘The Crime and Policing Act marked a big step forward in ensuring that the police treat shop theft more seriously, but many of the key measures from the Act such as the scrapping of the £200 threshold for investigating thefts, and the separate offence for attacking a shopworker are still not in place.
‘The Government must act as soon as possible to show that it backs the hardworking people running and working in our nation’s local shops.’
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Meanwhile, sexual offences logged by police hit the highest level on record with just under 219,000 in the year – or an average of 600 every day.
It included 74,484 rapes recorded in the year, about 200 lower than the peak seen two years earlier, while other categories of sex crime increased by five per cent.
Separately, possession of weapons offences recorded by forces hit a record 63,700, up more than 10 per cent on the previous year.
It included 30,216 offences of possessing an article with a blade or point, up 8.8 per cent in a year and the highest figure since the statistical series began in 2008-09.
Separate data published by the Home Office showed the proportion of crimes which lead to a suspect being taken to court remains stubbornly low.
The year to March saw 8.5 per cent of recorded crimes leading to suspects being charged or summonsed, up to 447,514. The previous year’s figure was 7.3 per cent.
But the proportion of criminals facing justice is still far below the 15.5 per cent seen in 2015.
The latest figures showed there were 1.9million crimes where investigations were closed without a suspect being identified, making up 37.8 per cent of the total.
It represented a slight improvement on the previous year when the proportion was 39 per cent.
Further figures published by the Ministry of Justice showed a rising number of criminals who are let off with a ‘slap on the wrist’.
So-called ‘community resolutions’ – which allow offenders to dodge prosecution if they agree to apologise to their victim, for example – increased by nine per cent to an all-time high of 189,000 in the year.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Crime is spiralling out of control under Labour.
‘Record numbers of sexual offences, knife crime and shop theft show what happens when criminals know they can get away with it.
‘This is a direct consequence of Labour cutting police numbers by 2,000 and letting thousands of prisoners out of jail early.
‘Victims are being failed at every turn, with 92 per cent of crimes not being solved.
‘Labour needs to stop making excuses and back the police to ensure criminals face consequences.’
He added: ‘The Conservatives have a plan to take back our streets with 10,000 extra police officers, hotspot policing and tripling the stop and search to restore law and order and make sure crime has consequences.’
Crime and policing minister Sarah Jones said: ‘This Government is bringing down the crimes that make people’s lives a misery.
‘Since the election, knife crime is down 11 per cent, knife-point robberies have fallen by 18 per cent and overall homicides are down seven per cent.
‘Fatal knife attacks are also at their lowest level in 35 years, while thefts such as phone-snatching and pickpocketing have fallen by 20 per cent in just the last year.
‘That means fewer victims and safer streets.
“These are huge steps forward, but there is always more to do.
‘With more than 3,800 additional neighbourhood officers, our Plan to Halve Knife Crime and stronger powers to recover stolen goods, we will keep pursuing offenders, protecting the public and restoring confidence in policing.’
On spiralling fraud, a Home Office spokesman said: ‘This Government is alive to the challenge posed by fraud and is investing £250million to combat it over the next three years.
‘This includes a £31million investment for a new Online Crime Centre, combining the data, expertise and capabilities of the police, GCHQ, banks, telecommunications and tech firms.’
– Our Fraud Strategy will tackle the UK’s most commonly experienced crime by strengthening partnerships across sectors, disrupting criminal operations and delivering better support for victims.