Violence against women and girls
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) covers domestic abuse, rape and sexual offences, stalking, harassment, so-called 'honour'-based abuse, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, and technology-facilitated abuse. In 2024 the National Police Chiefs' Council declared it a national emergency, and in December 2025 the UK government published a strategy committing to halve it within a decade.
Prevalence
The scale of VAWG in England and Wales
The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is the most reliable measure of how many people experience VAWG, because most incidents are never reported to the police. The figures below are for the year ending March 2025 - based on a half sample, so the survey notes that caution should be taken when using them.
| Women | Men | |
|---|---|---|
| Any sexual assault (last year) | 3.0% | 0.7% |
| Rape or assault by penetration (last year) | 0.4% | 0.1% |
| Indecent exposure or unwanted sexual touching (last year) | 2.8% | 0.7% |
| Rape (since 16) | 7.3% | 0.5% |
| Assault by penetration (since 16) | 5.7% | 0.4% |
Source: ONS, Crime Survey for England and Wales, year ending March 2025. Based on a half sample.
Around 72.5% of victims of police-recorded domestic-abuse-related crimes are female. Police recorded crime is influenced by changes in recording practice and victim reporting, so trends should be read alongside the survey above rather than as a direct measure of incidence.
Trends
Recorded offences, charges and homicides over time
National figures for England and Wales from the ONS and Home Office. Each chart notes the main changes in how the figures are collected.
Police-recorded rape and sexual offences, England and Wales
Recorded crime reflects reporting and recording as well as offending. Rises since about 2014/15 partly reflect better police recording after a 2014 inspection and more reporting of non-recent offences. New Online Safety Act offences were added from January 2024.
Rape offences resulting in a charge or summons
Share of rape offences recorded in each year that had been charged or summonsed when the Home Office first published that year's figures. The rate rises as investigations conclude, so recent years are revised upwards later.
Adults experiencing domestic abuse in the last year (Crime Survey)
Adults aged 16–59. No estimate for 2007/08 or 2020/21, when the survey was disrupted. From 2024/25 the survey uses new questions covering all adults aged 16+, which are not comparable with earlier years: on that measure 9.1% of women and 6.5% of men experienced domestic abuse in 2024/25.
Domestic abuse-related crimes recorded by the police
ONS advises these are not a reliable measure of trends, as they are affected by changes in recording practice.
Female homicide victims, and those killed by a partner or ex-partner
Home Office Homicide Index. Partner or ex-partner refers to the principal suspect; recent years are most likely to be revised as cases go through the courts.
- Police-recorded sexual offences and domestic abuse — latest: Year ending March 2026 · ONS · Year-ending-March figures, usually July; quarterly updates in between
- Rape charge rate — latest: 2025/26 · Home Office · Annual, usually July
- Domestic abuse (Crime Survey) — latest: Year ending March 2025 · ONS · next update 25 November 2026
- Homicide victims — latest: Year ending March 2025 · ONS · next update 4 February 2027
Government response
The 2025 VAWG strategy
In December 2025 the Labour government published Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls. It is the latest in a series of UK VAWG strategies dating back to 2010, and the first under the current government. The headline commitment is to halve VAWG within a decade as part of the broader Safer Streets Mission.
The strategy is built on prevention, pursuing perpetrators, and supporting victims. Headline measures include specialist rape and sexual offences investigation teams in every police force in England and Wales; a £20 million prevention package focused on schools and tackling misogyny among young men; expanded Domestic Abuse Protection Orders; Raneem's Law, embedding domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms; and a new statutory aggravating factor for murders involving strangulation. A January 2025 National Audit Office report had found that previous strategies struggled to deliver a genuine 'whole-of-government' response, and the new strategy is the government's answer to that critique.
Data availability
Why this page has no constituency-level data
Other pages on this site present data at parliamentary constituency level. This page does not, because that data does not exist.
The Office for National Statistics maintains a published inventory of VAWG data across government, academia, and the voluntary sector - 231 sources at the November 2023 update. None publish below local authority level for England, and the great majority publish only at England-and-Wales, UK, or country level. The CSEW, which produces the most reliable prevalence estimates, is a sample survey that cannot statistically support estimates below regional level. Police-recorded crime is published by police force area - there are 43 in England and Wales, none of which align cleanly with the 650 parliamentary constituencies.
Imputing constituency-level VAWG figures from force-area or regional data is technically possible but produces errors large enough to be misleading. This site does not do that. The figures above are the most granular reliable data the public sources publish.
By police force area
Recorded sexual offences and stalking by police force
The same map as the crime page, opened on sexual offences. Switch the offence group to stalking and harassment or violence against the person. Differences between forces partly reflect local recording practice.
Switch the offence group to compare recorded-crime rates across the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales.
Loading England boundaries
Preparing the England-focused constituency layer and locking the viewport to the intended political geography.
/data/boundaries/westminster-parliamentary-constituencies-july-2024-uk-bsc.geojsonPolice-recorded crime is influenced by changes in recording practice and victim reporting, and is not designated as accredited official statistics for trend purposes. The Crime Survey for England and Wales is a more reliable measure of trends but cannot be broken down to police force area.
Sources
Data sources
- ONS, Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables, year ending March 2026 (Tables A5a and B9)
- Home Office, Crime outcomes in England and Wales
- ONS, Domestic abuse prevalence and victim characteristics
- ONS, Homicide in England and Wales (Home Office Homicide Index)
- ONS, Sexual offences in England and Wales overview: year ending March 2025
- ONS, Violence against women and girls: Data landscape (November 2023)
- HM Government, Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy (December 2025)
- National Police Chiefs' Council, Violence Against Women and Girls National Policing Statement (July 2024)
- House of Commons Library, Tackling violence against women and girls (CDP-2024-0183)