Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.Background: The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), previously known as the British Crime Survey (BCS), has been in existence since 1981. The survey traditionally asks a sole randomly selected adult, in a random sample of households, details pertaining to any instances where they, or the household, has been a victim of a crime in the previous 12 months. These are recorded in the victim form data file (VF). A wide range of questions are then asked covering demographics and crime-related subjects such as attitudes to the police and the criminal justice system (CJS). Most of the questionnaire is completed in a face-to-face interview in the respondent's home; these variables are contained within the non-victim form (NVF) data file. Since 2009, the survey has been extended to children aged 10-15 years old; one resident of that age range has also been selected at random from the household and asked about incidents where they have been a victim of crime, and other related topics. The first set of children's data, covering January-December 2009, had experimental status, and is held separately under SN 6601. From 2009-2010, the children's data cover the same period as the adult data and are included with the main dataset. Further information may be found on the ONS Crime Survey for England and Wales web page and for the previous BCS, from the GOV.UK BCS Methodology web page. Self-completion data: A series of questions on drinking behaviour, drug use and intimate personal violence (including stalking and sexual victimisation) are administered to adults via a self-completion module which the respondent completes on a laptop computer. Children aged 10-15 years also complete a separate self-completion questionnaire. The questions are contained within the main questionnaire documents, but the data are not available with the main survey; they are available only under Secure Access conditions. Lower-level geographic variables are also available under Secure Access conditions to match to the survey. History: Up to 2001, the survey was conducted biennially. From April 2001, interviewing was carried out continually and reported on in financial year cycles and the crime reference period was altered to accommodate this change. The core sample size has increased from around 11,000 in the earlier cycles to over 40,000. Following the National Statistician's Review of Crime Statistics in June 2011 the collation and publication of Crime Statistics moved to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) from 1st April 2012, and the survey changed its name to the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) accordingly. Scottish data: The 1982 and 1988 BCS waves were also conducted in Scotland. The England and Wales data for 1982 and 1988 are held at the UKDA under SNs 1869 and 2706, but the Scottish data for these studies are held separately under SNs 4368 and 4599. Since 1993, separate Scottish Crime and Justice Surveys have been conducted, see the series web page for more details.New methodology for capping the number of incidents from 2017-18The CSEW datasets available from 2017-18 onward are based upon a new methodology of capping the number of incidents at the 98th percentile. Incidence variables names have remained consistent with previously supplied data but due to the fact they are based on the new 98th percentile cap, and old data sets are not, comparability has been lost with previous years. More information can be found in the 2017-18 User Guide and the article ‘Improving victimisation estimates derived from the Crime Survey for England and Wales’. ONS intend to publish all micro data back to 1981 with incident data based on the 98th percentile cap later in 2019.

Telephone-Operated Crime Survey for England and WalesThe Telephone-Operated Crime Survey for England and Wales (TCSEW) is a telephone victimisation survey, specifically designed to allow for measuring household and personal crime to continue during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic period while face-to-face interviewing was not possible.The face-to-face Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) was temporarily suspended on 17 March 2020 as part of the efforts to minimise social contact and stop the spread of COVID-19. (Standard EUL versions of the CSEW are available at the UK Data Archive under GN 33174, and the Secure Access version is available at SN 7280.) The TCSEW is a shortened telephone-operated version of the CSEW, which asks people resident in households in England and Wales about their experiences of a selected range of offences in the 12 months prior to the interview, as well as a short module specific to the pandemic period relating to their perceptions of crime, the police, and anti-social behaviour.  The sample design for the TCSEW differs from the CSEW, as the TCSEW sample is drawn from respondents who had previously participated in the face-to-face CSEW in the last two years and who had agreed to being re-contacted for research purposes. To maximise the sample available, and assure its longevity, the TCSEW was designed to operate as a panel survey, re-interviewing respondents at three-monthly intervals.The TCSEW ran from 20th May 2020 until 31 March 2022, although data are currently available only from fieldwork until March 2021.TCSEW estimates are not directly comparable with those previously published from the face-to-face CSEW.The study data are limited to data from the TCSEW Adult Non-Victim Form.  Due to the resource requirements involved, there are no current plans to archive the TCSEW Victim files.In the Non-Victim Form (NVF) each case refers to an individual respondent and includes victims and non-victims. Detailed information on the dataset structure is available in the associated user guide.

Main Topics:

The standard EUL adult NVF dataset includes the following topics:perceptions of crime and the local area during the COVID-19 pandemicanti-social behaviourperception and satisfaction with the police during the COVID-19 pandemicchildren and the COVID-19 pandemicdemographicscrime incidencethe lowest available geography is Government Office RegionThe Secure Access version includes all of the above, plus variables relating to:drinking behaviourdrug usehate crime and motivational crimethe lowest available geography is Community Safety Partnership/Local Authority

Re-contact sample for TCSEW

Multi-stage stratified random sample

Telephone interview