The number of crimes recorded by the police has soared past seven million a year for the first time.

Official figures showed an 8 per cent jump in recorded crime in the year to June, hitting 7,084,375 incidents in England and Wales.

It was the first time the total surpassed seven million since modern crime recording practices began at the turn of the century, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed.

The surge was largely down to a massive 41 per cent leap in reported fraud, to 1.8million offences.

The increase corresponded with the launch of a new service, Report Fraud, in December last year which allows the public to log cyber crime or fraud with City of London Police, which has national responsibilities in relation to financial crime.

The total included a 79 per cent increase to 1.02million in the number of frauds reported to the new service by the banking and financial services body UK Finance.

The surge indicates just how poorly fraud was being recorded under the previous system, Action Fraud, which was repeatedly criticised as ‘not fit for purpose’ by MPs leading it to be dubbed ‘Inaction Fraud’.

A separate measure of crime – the Crime Survey of England and Wales – also showed a surge in fraud.

The survey, which aims to estimate total crime levels including offences which are not reported to police, said there were 4.5million fraud incidents in the year, up 11 per cent.

It said the increase was due to a 13 per cent jump in bank and credit account fraud to 2.8million.

The ONS data shows how the number of ‘real-world’ crimes is continuing to fall as criminals go online.

Police recorded 5.2million crimes in the year excluding fraud and ‘computer misuse’ offences, down 1 per cent in a year.

However, robbery was one category of crime to witness a surge, with a 10 per cent increase year-on-year to its highest level since before the pandemic.

Police forces in England and Wales recorded 88,282 robberies in the year to June, up from 80,469 in the previous 12 months.

The surge was down to a sharp rise in robberies of businesses, which jumped 67 per cent year-on-year to just over 31,000 – the highest on record.

Robbery of personal property, however, dipped 7 per cent to just over 57,000 incidents.

The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) said the rise in robbery may reflect increasing violence used by shoplifters, which is leading to a shift in the way the crime is recorded by forces.

Recorded shoplifting fell 2 per cent to 519,516 from a near-peak the previous year.

An ACS spokesman said: ‘The reason for the marked increase in robberies is likely due to a change in the way that some offences are now recorded as robberies that previously would have been counted as shoplifting offences.’

Read More: Recorded crime rockets past 7m incidents a year for first time