Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) is a survey of the extent of crime and crime related issues experienced by business premises in England and Wales. It provides additional detail on the extent of crime to be used alongside the other main sources of information on crime. These are the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) (formerly the British Crime Survey), which covers crimes against private individuals and households, and the Police Recorded Crime statistics, which cover crimes reported to the police. In common with the CSEW, the CVS also includes crimes that are not reported to the police. The Police Recorded Crime data tables are available from the GOV.UK website.The CVS was previously run as a standalone survey in 1994 and again in 2002. The CVS was then run as an annual publication from 2012 onwards. A break occurred from 2019 to 2021 where CVS underwent a re-design following a consultation, where the coverage of the survey was expanded to cover all commercial business premises. A standalone CVS was run in 2021, covering only the Wholesale and Retail sector, to provide insights on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.Further information on the CVS, with links to findings by year, can also be found on the GOV.UK Crimes against businesses statistics webpage.

Main Topics:Businesses were asked which of a number of types of crime they had experienced in the 12 months prior to being interviewed. For each one they had suffered, they were asked about the number of occasions they had been victim to that type of crime, the effect of it on their business and the cost of the most recent incident. The survey also asked respondents whether they had reported the incidents to the police; the extent of the losses suffered; their crime prevention precautions; and their concerns about problems of crime and antisocial behaviour in the local area.

One-stage stratified or systematic random sample

Telephone interview