Understanding the impact of the pandemic on levels of crime in England and Wales

The coronavirus pandemic and government instructions to limit social contact have had a significant impact on patterns of crime.

But, as ONS explain, the pandemic has also had an impact on how we collect data and why the picture for certain crime types is difficult to interpret.

Today’s crime quarterly bulletin reinforces the view that patterns of crime have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Periods of national lockdown have seen decreases in the incidence of many types of crime. This has generally been followed by a return towards previous incidence levels once lockdowns ended.

Go to ONS release