Version: 5.0.0 | Published: 9 Oct 2026 | Updated: 1 day ago
Crime Survey for England and Wales
Dataset
Summary
Citation:
Office for National Statistics, released 09 October 2026, ONS SRS Metadata
Catalogue, dataset, Crime Survey for England and Wales,
https://doi.org/10.57906/bs66-9627
DOI Name:
Documentation
Associated Media:
Description:
The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) – formerly known as the British Crime Survey (BCS) – is a face-to-face victimisation survey, which asks people resident in households in England and Wales about their experiences of a selected range of offences in the 12 months prior to the interview.
Respondents to the survey are also asked about their attitudes towards different crime-related issues, such as the police and the criminal justice system, and perceptions of crime and anti-social behaviour.
In the Non-Victim Form (NVF) each case refers to an individual respondent and includes victims and non-victims. In the Victim form (VF) each case refers to an individual incident reported by a respondent. The VF dataset only includes those of who have been a victim of crime.
The NVF dataset includes perceptions of crime in the local area, attitudes towards the Criminal Justice System (CJS), experiences of the police, crime prevention and security, anti-social behaviour, demographics and media, crime incidence and prevalence rates.
The VF dataset contains offence-level data on nature and circumstances of an incident, details of offenders, security measures, costs, emotional reactions, contact with the CJS and outcomes where known.
Data from the self-completion modules and geographic variables lower than Police Force Area (PFA) are not available from the End User Licence (EUL) datasets, but can be accessed via the ONS Secure Research Service (SRS) and the Secure Lab. Analysts who need to access these data for their research can request access under the terms of the ONS Approved Researcher method through the UK Data Service.
Detailed information about the structure of the datasets can be found in the associated user guides and technical reports.
Coverage
Spatial
Spatial Coverage:
- England
- Wales
Geographical Levels:
- local authority district
- lsoa11
- msoa11
- region
Temporal
Start Date:
01 January 1981
Latest Data:
31 March 2024
Frequency:
ANNUAL
Distribution Release Date:
09 October 2026
Provenance
Source:
Survey
Access and Governance
Usage
Condition of Access:
Access needs approval
Condition of Use:
Standard conditions for the use of data in the SRS
Resource Creator:
Office for National Statistics
Access
Access Service:
- Safe Rooms, SafePods
- Assured Organisational Connectivity – office based
- Assured Organisational Connectivity – remote access
Jurisdictions:
GB-EAW
Data Controller:
Office for National Statistics
Access Level:
Access Level 3
Format and Standards
Languages:
en
Formats:
SPSS
Enrichment and Linkage
Related Datasets:
British Crime Survey - England and Wales
Origin
Name:
ONS Secure Research Service