Crime in Pendle: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (3,689), anti-social behaviour (1,982) and criminal damage and arson (700) made up 69% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 122nd of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the upper half.

Recorded crime in Pendle peaked in the year to August 2021 (12,028 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2023 (9,141). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it fell 17%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

Compared with England and Wales, Pendle recorded notably more anti-social behaviour (29% above the national rate), and notably less theft from the person (82% below) and robbery (58% below). On the year before, drugs rose from 151 to 274 and theft from the person rose from 23 to 31, while anti-social behaviour fell from 3,200 to 1,982 and vehicle crime fell from 358 to 291.

What each category covers: crime categories.

7,041 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Pendle in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 70.6 per 1,000 residents, lower than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was up 5% on the year ending March 2025 (6,697), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Pendle had the 125th lowest rate (the street-level ranking above is among the 302 districts with street-level pages on this site, over the 12 months to August 2026).

Of the crimes recorded in the Lancashire Police area in the year ending March 2026, 2.0% were not assigned to a district. Those crimes are counted in the force and England and Wales totals but in no district, so the figure for Pendle is an undercount.

Offences recorded in Pendle, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 1,219 offences (17% of the total). No category with at least 20 offences had a rate a quarter or more above the England and Wales rate. Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for theft from the person (0.12 times), bicycle theft (0.25 times) and robbery of personal property (0.44 times).

The largest rises on the year were in possession of drugs (+59%) and non-residential burglary (+30%). The largest falls were in arson (−25%) and vehicle offences (−22%). Robbery of business property and shoplifting are not compared with the year ending March 2025: from April 2025 the Home Office Counting Rules were clarified so that a theft from a shop in which violence is used or threatened against staff or anyone else is recorded as robbery of business property rather than shoplifting (ONS).

Recorded crime in Pendle since the year ending March 2019

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2019 to 2026. Pendle's rate was above the England and Wales rate in 1 of those 8 years and below it in 7. The series starts in the year ending March 2019 because the share of crimes in the Lancashire Police area not assigned to a district moved from 0.5% in the year ending March 2018 to 1.7% in the year ending March 2019, which changes district totals without any change in crime.

Changes in how forces record crime move these figures as well as changes in crime (methodology).

Districts in the Lancashire Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 14 districts in the Lancashire Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Pendle had the 7th highest rate.

Source: Home Office police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables (released 23 July 2026), gov.uk, Open Government Licence v3.0. Financial years, excluding fraud; how they differ from the street-level figures: methodology.

6 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Pendle; the highest is Burnley district (141.4 per 1,000) and the lowest Ribble Valley (50.3).

Of the 22 areas within Pendle, Vivary Bridge had the highest crime rate (145.8 per 1,000) and Trawden the lowest (32.2), 5 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 11% of the crime recorded in Pendle over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Parking Area” (250).

Of the 7,251 crimes in Pendle with a recorded outcome, 27% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 3.4% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 1,982 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Pendle has an estimated population of 99,777 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has more residents with no qualifications (25%, against 18%), less social housing (12%, against 17%) and fewer residents with Level 4 qualifications or above (25%, against 34%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Pendle average decile 3.3 (1 = most deprived), more deprived than average.

Police-recorded crime from data.police.uk (September 2017 to August 2026), ONS population estimates and Census 2021. Definitions and limitations: methodology.