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ONS · Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables

Drug offences (police-recorded)

Year ending March 2026 Final

231,130offences

Drug offences (police-recorded) were 231,130 offences in the year ending March 2026, up 12.3% (25,330) from 205,800 in the year ending March 2025.

▲ 12.3% · +25,330 against Year ending March 2025 (year on year)

  1. ONS count
  2. Year ending March 2026
  3. published 23 July 2026
  4. Table A5a
  5. row “TOTAL DRUG OFFENCES”
  6. column “Apr 2025 to Mar 2026”
  7. cell value 231130

The series is rising. Rule: up 12.3% from Year ending March 2025 to Year ending March 2026.

Year ending March 2003 to Year ending March 2026

Drug offences (police-recorded): Year ending March 2003 to Year ending March 2026LabourLabourLabourLabourCoalitionCoalitionConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabour0100k200k20052010201520202025Year ending March 2003: 143,320 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2004: 143,511 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2005: 145,837 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2006: 178,479 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2007: 194,233 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2008: 229,913 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2009: 243,536 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2010: 235,584 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2011: 232,922 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2012: 229,099 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2013: 208,003 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2014: 198,216 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2015: 170,689 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2016: 149,726 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2017: 139,223 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2018: 138,517 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2019: 154,382 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2020: 183,915 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2021: 211,154 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2022: 179,497 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2023: 179,871 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2024: 182,899 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2025: 205,800 offences · published 23 July 2026Year ending March 2026: 231,130 offences · published 23 July 2026
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

Breakdowns

What this measures

Police-recorded drug possession and trafficking offences in England and Wales in a 12-month period.

What this doesn’t measure

The level of drug use or supply; these offences are mostly found through police activity such as stop and search, so the figure reflects police effort as much as underlying activity.

Important caveat

Police-recorded crime counts offences reported to and recorded by the police. It is affected by whether people report crime and by changes in police recording practice, so it does not measure all crime that happens. The Crime Survey for England and Wales is the better guide to long-term trends in the crimes it covers. Police recorded crime is not designated as National Statistics.

Revision history

No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.

Source

Publisher
ONS
Publication
Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables
Release
Year ending March 2026, published 23 July 2026
Source file
appendixtablesyemar2026.xlsx
File SHA-256
9e4a930ec090b4b4a7dfda22f6f5f3b418cfa6a034f977ae99977562f8502ac9
Retrieved
4 September 2026
Sheet
Table A5a
Table
Table A5a
Row
TOTAL DRUG OFFENCES
Column
Apr 2025 to Mar 2026
Cell value
231130
Geography
England and Wales
Unit
offences
API
/api/metrics/prc_drug_offences · /series · /vintages

Related metrics

Government periods

Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.

Labour 2024–182,899Year ending March 2024231,130Year ending March 2026↑ 26.4%
Conservative 2019–2024154,382Year ending March 2019182,899Year ending March 2024↑ 18.5%
Conservative 2017–2019139,223Year ending March 2017154,382Year ending March 2019↑ 10.9%
Conservative 2015–2017170,689Year ending March 2015139,223Year ending March 2017↓ 18.4%
Coalition 2010–2015235,584Year ending March 2010170,689Year ending March 2015↓ 27.5%
Labour 2005–2010145,837Year ending March 2005235,584Year ending March 2010↑ 61.5%

Full comparison with chart

Release
Year ending March 2026 · publication page
Last updated
23 July 2026
Next scheduled release
22 October 2026 (official date)