Changes to the Crime Survey for England and Wales

Overview

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is a face-to-face victimisation survey in which people resident in households in England and Wales are asked about their experiences of a range of crimes in the 12 months prior to the interview. Respondents to the survey are also asked about their attitudes towards different crime-related issues, such as the police and the criminal justice system and perceptions of crime and anti-social behaviour.

In the context of public sector financial constraints, the future level of funding for the CSEW will be reduced with effect from October 2017. Therefore we have drawn up a range of proposals to reduce the cost of the CSEW in 2017/18 and future years. Full details and information on the likely impacts of the different solutions are set out in this document.

We are now seeking user feedback on the potential options in order to inform our decision on how best to achieve the required cost savings. 

Why We Are Consulting

It is proposed that all the following questions will be removed from the CSEW questionnaire from October 2017:

•  All questions in the ‘Performance of the Criminal Justice System’ module, excepting those related to the performance of the police.

• All questions in the ‘Experiences of the Criminal Justice System’ module

•  All questions in the ‘Attitudes to the Criminal Justice System’ module

• Questions relating to victims’ experiences of the court system and use of victim services from the ‘Victimisation’ module. 

However, removing these questions alone will not yield sufficient savings. Therefore we need to find additional reductions in the survey to make up the shortfall and are seeking users views on possible options.

Please read the attached consultation document for full details of the options and their potential impact. A list of the affected questions is also available in the related links section.

You can either complete the on-line survey or fill in the attachment in the related links section and email it to crimestatistics@ons.gov.uk.

What Happens Next

We will review all of the consultation responses and use these to inform our final recommendation on the best option for making the required cost savings from the CSEW. We will publish a summary of the comments and approach chosen approximately 6 to 8 weeks after the consultation closes.