Latest figures show an 'impressive' reduction in violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the West Midlands although sexual offences are on the rise.
Key Statistics
A report presented to the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner's Accountability and Governance Board showed 51,943 recorded VAWG related crimes in the year up to March 31, 2026 – a 16.2 per cent drop compared with the same period two years ago. Data also showed improvement in the positive outcome rate for VAWG victims increasing to 14.1 per cent – an increase of 7.4 per cent.
A total of 53,331 domestic abuse crimes were recorded, representing a five per cent reduction compared with March 2024 while the positive outcome rate for victims increased by 7.5 per cent to 13 per cent. But recorded sexual violence across the West Midlands has increased by 12.4 per cent while rape offences have also risen by 4.4 per cent.
Reasons for Increase
The report to the board said some of the increases were driven by changes in crime recording practices and the introduction of new sexual offences under the Online Safety Act 2023. VAWG offences include domestic abuse, sexual violence including rape and sexual assault, stalking and harassment, honour-based abuse including female genital mutilation, forced marriage and honour killings, exploitation and tech-enabled abuse.
Police Response
At Tuesday's (May 26) meeting, Victims' Advocate Natalie Queiroz MBE described the 16.2 per cent reduction as 'impressive' and asked police bosses what they attributed the results to. West Midlands Police's Acting Chief Constable Scott Green said they would need to study the data more closely to give a clearer picture. But he added the important thing was not to 'celebrate' any reductions in offences and ensure confidence is given to victims to come forward and report them.
He said: 'Hopefully the force's response in treating victims seriously with compassion, investing in them our investigative standards. Being offender focused, making early arrests, doing everything we can within the PACE time scale to bring those offenders to justice and where that's not easily achievable to focus on evidence-led prosecutions. Hopefully all of those things are making a real difference.'
He added: 'I do think we need to be careful with both offences of sexual violence and domestic abuse and actually complaints about policing as well which is not necessarily celebrate an increase or decrease in either of them because the reasons are always complex and it's very easy to celebrate. The drivers for it are many and complex but what I think is important is we have confidence in the accuracy of the recorded data and then we have confidence in the service we provide for victims and we have confidence in our relentless pursuit of offenders. If we're doing those three things right, we're servicing the public, the victims and survivors which is what we are here for.'
