Crime in Uttlesford: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (2,033), anti-social behaviour (851) and other theft (731) made up 61% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 249th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the lowest quarter.

Recorded crime in Uttlesford peaked in the year to August 2018 (7,801 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2025 (5,729). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it fell 25%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

No category with at least 20 crimes was notably above the England and Wales rate, and shoplifting (65% below) and theft from the person (58% below) were well below it. On the year before, other theft rose from 616 to 731, while theft from the person fell from 88 to 67.

What each category covers: crime categories.

4,866 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Uttlesford in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 51.2 per 1,000 residents, lower than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was down 3% on the year ending March 2025 (5,022), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Uttlesford had the 36th 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 Essex Police area in the year ending March 2026, 1.9% 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 Uttlesford is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in Uttlesford, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 755 offences (16% 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 bicycle theft (0.26 times), theft from the person (0.42 times) and trafficking of drugs (0.50 times).

The largest rises on the year were in trafficking of drugs (+65%) and rape (+34%). The largest falls were in vehicle offences (−31%) and non-residential burglary (−20%). 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 Uttlesford since the year ending March 2013

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2013 to 2026. Uttlesford's rate was below the England and Wales rate in every one of those 14 years. Changes in how forces record crime move these figures as well as changes in crime (methodology).

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

Of the 14 districts in the Essex Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Uttlesford had the 3rd lowest 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.

7 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Uttlesford; the highest is Stevenage district (118.8 per 1,000) and the lowest Braintree district (61.8).

Of the 38 areas within Uttlesford, Takeley and Little Canfield had the highest crime rate (281.7 per 1,000) and Ashdon the lowest (18.3), 15 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 35% of the crime recorded in Uttlesford over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Parking Area” (1,100).

Of the 5,031 crimes in Uttlesford with a recorded outcome, 39% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 3.5% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 851 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Uttlesford has an estimated population of 95,106 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has fewer households without a car (8.7%, against 23.3%), fewer students (5.2%, against 7.9%) and less private renting (15%, against 20%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Uttlesford average decile 8.0 (1 = most deprived), less 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.