Shocking UK Burglary Statistics 2022-2023

The Office for National Statistics have just released UK burglary statistics for April 2022 to March 2023, and it doesn’t make for good reading. If there has ever been a time to look at your home security arrangements, and improve them or bolster them, it’s now.

Between April 2022 and March 2023, there were a recorded 275,919 burglaries in England and Wales, according to ONS datasets.

In Scotland, for the same period, a total of 8,796 burglaries (housebreaking) were recorded.

And in Northern Ireland, a total of 3,604 burglaries, although the reporting period was June 2022 – May 2023.

Therefore, the total police recorded burglaries for the United Kindom for 2022-2023, was 288,319.

I’ll look at these statistics in depth below, how it compares to previous years, and what it means for your home security.

Below is a handy table of contents. Clicking on any of the article headers below will jump you straight to the place on this page you are interested in.

Table of Contents

UK Burglary Statistics – UP 4%

The 4% figure represents an increase of around 10,000 burglaries, like for like on the previous year.

However, it’s not all bad news. The 20 year trend has consistently trended downwards, so although it is shocking to think that burglary rates in the UK are on the rise, the overall trend is a decreasing burglarly rate on the whole.

Below is some other quick stats tohave a think about. Personally, I was most shocked at how many burglaries have an entry point at the front of the property.

Economic Impacts

Between the dates of April 2022 and March 2023, the UK had economic problems that were present, such as:

High fuel prices
High energy prices
Rising inflation
Rising food costs
Rising cost of living
Rising interest rates

Interestingly, shoplifting was up by a shocking 24% in that same period compared to the previous year, with a total of 342,343 recorded police crimes.

Theft from person was also up by 28%, and robbery was up 13%.

These stats represent a failing economy with people under intense pressure to do the basics, like providing shelter, providing heat, and providing food for themselves and their families.

So these latest UK burglary statistics, when looked at with external factors factored in, should come as no surprise.

Burglaries vs Dwellings

Again, according to ONS data, there was 26.4 million dwellings (homes) in England and Wales in 2021 (latest data).

If we apply the England & Wales burglary statistics of 275,919 burglaries, vs the amount of dwellings, then we come up with a percentage figure of 1.05%.

1.05% of all homes in England & Wales were burgled in the 12 months from April 2022 to March 2023.

UK 20 Year Burglary Stats – The Good News

The good news is that home burglaries have been on a downtrend for the last 20 years, shown by the bar chart below.

There’s a number of factors that have influenced this table, and most of it is down to switched on home owners who know how to use principles such as deter, detect and deny to target harden their homes.

Another factor is technology and industrial advancements – things like double glazing and UPVC doors and windows makes things a lot tougher these days, for somebody to break into your home.

Summary & Opinion

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the data that we get for 2023-2024, which should be available around July 2024, will see another increase in UK burglary statistics.

And it’s for the simple fact that the economic conditions I’ve already gone through further up this article, will still apply. In fact, these conditions will be even worse, so I’ll say the next dataset will show a further increase of between 5%-10%.

And for that reason, if you haven’t already done so, it’s really important to get your home security in order.

As I always say on this site, a criminal will nearly always take the path of least resistance.

That means they’ll choose the house with overgrown shrubs obscuring the view from the street, they’ll choose the house that has no external lighting, they’ll choose the house with the unlocked side gate.

Don’t let that house be yours.

The first link below is a huge article detailing every possible step you can take to beef up your home security. Have a read, select the idea’s appropriate to your property and take action today.

Questions & Comments

If you have a question or a comment on this article on UK Burglary Statistics 2022-2023, please use the comments box below.

I’ll try my best to reply to each and every one of your questions, comments and suggestions.

Stay Safe. Stay Secure.