Sexual offences recorded by police in England and Wales have more than doubled in the last decade, even as overall crime has fallen. New figures reveal the hotspot areas, with Blackpool having the highest recorded rate.
Police recorded 217,000 sexual offences across England and Wales in the year ending March 2026. The figure includes rape, sexual assault, exposure, voyeurism, and grooming offences.
Rise in reports
While overall recorded crime has generally fallen over the past decade, sexual offending has soared. Sex crime increased by 4% last year and has more than doubled since 2016, although that may reflect a greater victim confidence in coming forward to report offences.
Despite the rise in reports, conviction rates remain low. Of crimes recorded in the last year, fewer than one in 20 (4.7%) resulted in an offender being charged with a crime.
Charge rates
Charge rates were even lower for rape. Just 3.6% of reported rapes involving a female victim, and only 1.4% involving a male victim, ended with a suspect being charged.
Analysis of Home Office data reveals that reported sex crimes vary significantly across different parts of the country. For volume, major cities recorded the highest total numbers of sexual offences, led by Birmingham (5,734), Leeds (3,697), and Manchester (3,323).
Crime rates by area
However, crime rates - which are calculated by measuring the number of offences per 1,000 residents - offer a clearer picture when comparing areas of different population sizes. On this measure, Blackpool had the highest recorded sex crime rate in England and Wales.
Police recorded 989 sexual offences in the resort last year, including 301 rapes. That equates to 6.9 crimes for every 1,000 residents.
Lincoln recorded the second-highest rate at 6.0 offences per 1,000 people (628 offences, including 261 rapes). Norwich was third-highest rate with 5.9 crimes per 1,000 people (873 offences, including 331 rapes).
Top 10 areas by rate
- Blackpool: 6.9 per 1,000 residents
- Lincoln: 6.0 per 1,000 residents
- Norwich: 5.9 per 1,000 residents
- Manchester: 5.6 per 1,000 residents
- Hartlepool: 5.6 per 1,000 residents
- Middlesbrough: 5.5 per 1,000 residents
- Bristol: 5.2 per 1,000 residents
- Nottingham: 5.2 per 1,000 residents
- Plymouth: 5.1 per 1,000 residents
- Stoke-on-Trent: 5.0 per 1,000 residents
There were 1,603 sexual offences recorded in Westminster last year, including 433 rapes. However, it has been excluded from the main rate rankings as its residential population is heavily skewed by millions of annual visitors and commuters.
