Cost of crime soars under the Conservatives, reveals new Labour analysis

New analysis by the Labour Party has revealed how British taxpayers have been left counting the cost of the Conservatives’ failure on crime, as the hit to the economy rose to £95 billion in the last year, up from £59 billion in 2015/16.

Shadow Policing Minister Sarah Jones MP said that the figures show “the huge impact crime has on our economy”, as well as the “devastating impact on people and their communities”.

Labour has updated the Government’s own 2018 study on the ‘cost of crime’, which shows that crimes against individuals are estimated to have cost £72.5bn, up from £50.1bn in 2015/16, driven by increases in homicide, violence, rape and robbery.

While costs for crimes against businesses have more than doubled, from £8.7bn in 2015/16 to £22.8bn in the year to September 2020, driven by increases in theft and robbery.

The Labour leader Keir Starmer will visit Bedfordshire on Friday to meet local shopkeepers affected by crime alongside Labour's Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) candidate, Dr David Michael, and Labour's Shadow Policing Minister, Sarah Jones.

Responding, Sarah Jones MP, Shadow Minister for Policing and the Fire Service, said:

“Under the Conservatives, criminals have never had it so good – and it’s law-abiding taxpayers who are picking up the bill. Crime has a devastating impact on people and their communities, but these figures show the huge impact it has on our economy as well.

“The vast scale of this increased cost shows how out of control crime has got under this Conservative government. Rising theft and robbery in particular are incredibly traumatic for victims and cause real financial damage.

“The Conservatives must take responsibility for these massive rises, following their devastating cuts to policing and preventative services.”

Ends

Notes to Editors

• The total estimated costs of individual crime has risen by over £20bn since 2015/16.

ONS, Crime in England and Wales, Appendix Table A2 and A4, 3 February 2021, https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesappendixtables

Home Office, Economic and Social Costs of Crime, July 2018, Table 4, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/954485/the-economic-and-social-costs-of-crime-horr99.pdf

HMT, GDP deflators, 31 Mar 2021, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/gdp-deflators-at-market-prices-and-money-gdp-march-2021-quarterly-national-accounts

• For commercial crime, total costs have risen by £14bn in the past six years.

Home Office, Crimes against Businesses 2018, 5 September 2019, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/crime-against-businesses-findings-from-the-2018-commercial-victimisation-survey-data-tables

HMT, GDP deflators, 31 Mar 2021, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/gdp-deflators-at-market-prices-and-money-gdp-march-2021-quarterly-national-accounts

• Analysis carried out by updating unit costs and estimated number of crimes from Home Office research published in 2018 on the costs of crime.

Home Office, Economic and Social Costs of Crime, July 2018, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/954485/the-economic-and-social-costs-of-crime-horr99.pdf

• As not all crime is reported to the police, the Home Office’s research calculated a multiplier value to apply to recorded crime statistics to get a true estimate for each offence.

• By applying multiplier values to the most recent police recorded crime statistics and updating unit costs for inflation, a new estimate for each offence can be calculated.

• As with the Home Office’s original research, estimates for fraud and cyber crime are derived separately from Crime Survey figures.

• Similarly, for commercial crime estimates of the total number of crimes are calculated in the same way as the 2018 research – by applying the prevalence amongst businesses surveyed to the total number of businesses in a sector.