Professor John Robertson OBA

From Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Data Report: December 2025

The clear up rate for all recorded crimes was 56.0% in 2024-25, up from 54.1% in 2023-24. Crimes against society (93.8%), non-sexual crimes of violence (68.4%) and sexual crimes (56.9%) continued to have higher clear up rates in 2024-25 than crimes of dishonesty (35.1%) and damage and reckless behaviour (31.0%).¹

For England, from:

By specific crime types (year ending March 2025)²:

Theft offences: 7.3% charge/summons rate.

Violence against the person: around 5-6%.

Sexual offences: 4.2%.

Burglary (residential): around 4.7%.

Robbery: 7.5%.

Not all the categories match but clear-up rates in Scotland are clearly far higher

What might explain these differences?

First, n Scotland there is one officer for every 333 people but in England, it is one for 415: ^{3, 4}. Second, crime is twice as common in England – 110 for every 1 000 – than in Scotland – 54 for every 1 000. _{^{5, 6}}

1. https://www.gov.scot/publications/safer-communities-and-justice-statistics-monthly-data-report-december-2025/pages/statistics-on-crime-in-general/
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/crime-in-england-and-wales-year-ending-march-2025
3. https://www.gov.scot/publications/police-officer-quarterly-strength-statistics-30-june-2025/
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2025
5. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2025
6. https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2024-25/