Next steps

4.1 Our previously published review of the quality of police recorded crime statistics for England and Wales set out a framework for ONS, the Home Office and others to improve the quality of the data and statistics in the areas that we deemed critical to address before we can undertake a reassessment of compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

4.2 Given the range of quality issues that we identified, and the planned changes to the Action Fraud system, we currently see no credible way for the police recorded fraud and computer misuse statistics to become accredited official statistics. Nevertheless, users must be assured about the quality of these statistics, and therefore ONS, the Home Office and the City of London Police should work together to make necessary quality improvements.

ONS and the Home Office should develop an action plan that sets out how they are going to address our recommendations. This should be published by the end of 2025.

Related links: The quality of police recorded crime statistics for England and Wales