Conservatives oversee a “burglar bailout” as 3 in 4 cases go unsolved

EMBARGO: 00:01 Monday 29th January

New analysis from the Liberal Democrats of Home Office statistics have shown that a whopping 213,814 burglaries went unsolved across England and Wales in the year ending September 2023 - an average of 586 cases a day. 

This accounts for 3 in 4 - or 76% - of all burglary cases. Meanwhile, just 6% of burglaries resulted in a suspect being charged. 

South Yorkshire was the worst performing police force, where 84% of burglaries went unsolved. Surrey followed closely behind, with 82% of burglaries going unsolved. 

The overall number of unsolved burglaries has also risen by 4% compared to the previous year. 

The Liberal Democrats have slammed the Conservative Government for these figures, arguing that years of ineffective resourcing have left local police forces overstretched and unable to focus on frontline crime like burglaries. 

This includes taking over 4,500 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) off the streets since 2015 and assigning just 12% of officers to neighbourhood policing teams. 

The party is calling for a new “Burglary Response Guarantee,” under which all domestic burglaries would be attended by the police and properly investigated. 

This would be accompanied by a return to proper community policing, where officers are visible, trusted and focused on tackling neighbourhood crime. 

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said: 

“Up and down the country, too many people feel unsafe in their own home. With the vast majority of burglaries still going unsolved, it’s hard to blame them.

“Time and again, this Conservative Government has failed to deliver the absolute basics of tackling crime.

“Enough is enough. The Home Secretary must implement our Burglary Response Guarantee, so that every burglary is responded to, and bring an end to this shameful burglar bailout.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Full data, broken down by police force, is available here. Source: Home Office, Crime Outcomes in England and Wales, year to September 2023. 

Data on PCSO workforce available at: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 30 September 2023: data tables’, Table 3. 

Liberal Democrats are calling for a new statutory guarantee that all burglaries must be attended by police and properly investigated. 

To implement this guarantee, Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to: 

• Return to proper community policing, where officers have the time and resources they need to focus on preventing and solving crime;

• Urgently draw up a strategy to tackle the shortage of detectives; and

• Set up a new national Online Crime Agency, to better protect people from online crime while freeing up local forces’ time to tackle burglars.