How do conviction and charging rates for sexual assault compare across UK police forces in the latest statistics?
Executive summary
Conviction and charging rates vary markedly across CPS areas and police forces: CPS operational data shows conviction rates by CPS area ranging roughly from mid-70s percent to high-80s percent (for example 74.3%–86.7% in recent CPS summaries) while police-recorded sexual offences and rape reports have risen sharply (police recorded sexual offences were reported at over 200,000 in latest summaries and rape made up around 36% of sexual offences in year ending June 2024) [1] [2] [3]. Available sources do not publish a single comparable table that lists charging and conviction rates for every individual police force in one place; CPS quarterly publications and ONS/Home Office reporting must be combined for force- or area-level comparisons [1] [4] [2].
1. Rising recorded offending, static conviction picture
Police-recorded sexual offences have risen in recent years, meaning more reports enter the system: the House of Lords briefing noted rape made up approximately 36% (69,184 offences) of police-recorded sexual offences in the year ending June 2024, and broader datasets show police-recorded sexual offences above 200,000 in later releases [2] [3]. That rise in volume complicates percentage measures: an absolute rise in charges or convictions can coexist with a falling conviction rate because the denominator (reports) has grown [2].
2. Charging rates: patterns and programmatic response
The CPS and government reporting show charging activity has been a focal point of reform. The CPS reported increases in the numbers charged with rape in some releases but also recorded quarter-on-quarter changes in average time to charge (e.g., average time from police and CPS to charge increased to 42.7 days in one CPS bulletin) and recognised reductions in charging or conviction rates for specific categories in some quarters [5] [2]. The CPS has emphasised initiatives such as Operation Soteria to improve early decision-making and joint working with police — signalling that charging rates are as much about process and resources as they are about evidential thresholds [5] [6].
3. Wide variation by CPS area and police force
CPS operational tables show substantial regional variation in conviction rates and timeliness: conviction rates ranged from about 74.3% in London South to about 86.7% in Merseyside & Cheshire in successive CPS releases, while time from charge decision to finalisation varied greatly across areas [1] [7]. At police-force level, prosecution volumes vary massively — from under 2,000 for City of London to over 60,000 for the Metropolitan Police — which affects workload, specialism and outcomes [1] [4].
4. Attrition: the pipeline from report to conviction
Journalistic and official analyses emphasise attrition at every stage: many reported rapes never reach CPS charging, and many charged cases do not result in conviction. The BBC and parliamentary material explain that decisions by police whether to refer to CPS, CPS charging decisions, delays, and eventual court outcomes each remove cases from the pipeline [8] [2]. This explains why small conviction-rate percentages applied to large numbers of reports can still produce modest absolute conviction counts.
5. Conflicting narratives and data interpretation
Different organisations emphasise different metrics. Advocacy groups and secondary sites highlight that only a small share of recorded rapes result in conviction (figures such as “around 2%” appear in some commentary), whereas CPS operational releases emphasise conviction rates for prosecuted cases — which are substantially higher (mid-70s to mid-80s percent) [9] [1]. The House of Lords briefing cautions that percentage charged/prosecuted/convicted can fall even as absolute numbers rise, and that police recording improvements and more victims coming forward underpin much of the rise in recorded offences [2].
6. What the available sources do and don’t provide
CPS quarterly data gives area-level conviction rates, prosecution volumes and timeliness (e.g., conviction rate ranges and days to finalise) but does not publish a single police-force-by-force charge-to-conviction conversion table in the materials cited here [1] [4]. The ONS/Home Office releases document increases in recorded sexual offences and provide national context and prevalence [3] [2]. Available sources do not mention a consolidated, force-by-force comparison that matches every police force’s recorded rapes to that force’s charging and conviction rates in a single standardized table [1] [2].
7. Takeaway for readers and policymakers
The clearest facts from these sources: recorded sexual offences and rape reports have grown, conviction rates for prosecuted cases are relatively high in CPS statistics (roughly mid-70s to mid-80s percent by CPS area), but large systemic attrition means only a small fraction of police-recorded rapes progress to conviction unless police and CPS intervene earlier and more consistently [2] [1]. CPS and government programmes (Operation Soteria and related reforms) are the explicit policy response; their stated aim is to close the gap between reports and court cases by changing investigation and charging practices [5] [6].
Limitations: these sources are operational and descriptive; they require careful combination to produce force-level comparisons, and published percentages can mean different things depending on whether the denominator is “cases charged,” “cases prosecuted” or “police-recorded offences” [2] [1].