England and Wales robbery offences 2026| ��ƽ��

Number of police recorded robbery offences in England and Wales from 2002/03 to 2025/26 (in 1,000s)

Characteristic	Number of robbery offences in thousands
2025/26	87.4
2024/25	79.3
2023/24	81
2022/23	75
2021/22	66.2
2020/21	59.7
2019/20	90.2
2018/19	85.9
2017/18	77.3
2016/17	59.4
2015/16	51.2
2014/15	50.2
2013/14	57.8
2012/13	65.2
2011/12	74.7
2010/11	76.2
2009/10	75.1
2008/09	80.1
2007/08	84.8
2006/07	101.4
2005/06	98.2
2004/05	91
2003/04	103.7
2002/03	110.3

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Release date

July 2026

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Region

United Kingdom (England, Wales)

Survey time period

April 1, 2002 to March 31, 2026

Supplementary notes

This statistic is using original data from the Office for National Statistics and includes copyright material from © Crown, licensed under the .

Citation formats

In 2025/26, there were approximately 87,400 robbery offences reported by the police in England and Wales, compared with 79,300 in the previous year. During the provided time period, the reporting year with the highest number of robberies was 2002/03, when there were around 110,300. From 2002/03 onwards, robberies in England and Wales generally declined and reached a low of just 50,200 offences in 2014/15. Robberies increased from this year onwards, however, with 2019/20 seeing the highest number of offences since 2006/07.

What types of crime are increasing?

Unfortunately, the rise in robbery offences seen recently has not occurred in isolation. Overall crime in England and Wales also fell for several years before 2014/15 before suddenly climbing upwards and reaching a peak of over 6.74 million offences in 2022/23. Violent crime and sexual offences have both increased substantially, and while overall theft has declined, shoplifting offences have surged since the pandemic, with over 530,600 offences in 2024/25. This crime spike has led to a focus on the police and if they have enough manpower and resources to reverse this trend. The number of police officers was cut by around 20,000 between 2010 and 2016, while ��Ի徱�Բ��was reduced in a similar period, though expenditure has since increased and officer numbers are comparable to 2010 levels.

Robbery and the UK justice system

Robbery is considered one of the most serious criminal offences, defined as both a violent and property crime. The offence carries one of the longest average prisons sentences in England and Wales, at 45.2 months, or almost four years. Serious crimes such as this would typically be tried in Crown Courts, yet as of 2025, there is a significant backlog of cases awaiting trial. This has led to an increasingly delayed justice system, with the average time an offence reached a conclusion in crown courts reaching 407 days in 2022. At the back end of the justice system, prisons are struggling with capacity issues and have been operating with very little spare capacity for several years.