Indian Nationals Commit Highest Sexual Offences In UK: Report

Indian nationals in the UK recorded the highest growth in sexual offence convictions since 2021, according to new data from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). 

Convictions rose 257 per cent between 2021 and 2024, increasing from 28 cases in 2021 to 100 in 2024. Nigerian nationals saw a 166 per cent increase, while convictions of Iraqi nationals rose 160 per cent over the same period. The MoJ clarified that the figures relate to sentencing occasions rather than individual offenders.

Indian nationals also experienced the third-highest increase in serious offence convictions among foreign nationals, with cases rising 115 per cent, from 273 in 2021 to 588 in 2024. Algerians and Egyptians recorded higher percentage increases for serious offences.

Home Office data indicates 293 Indian nationals arrived illegally via small boats in 2024, with 206 arrivals in the first half of 2025. Despite this, Indians remain a small share of irregular migration, with the largest groups coming from Afghanistan, Iran, and Syria.

As of June 2025, Indians accounted for 15 per cent of illegal arrivals at UK ports. Of 5,474 asylum applications by Indian nationals, roughly 4,000 were submitted by legal visa holders (mostly study visas), 400 via small boats, and the remainder through other channels. Initial asylum decisions show 2,691 refusals, 20 grants, with the rest pending.

Indian nationals also continue to dominate legal migration. They were the largest nationality to gain UK citizenship, received the highest number of work and tourist visas, and were the second-largest group to obtain study visas, with 98,014 study visas granted to main applicants by June 2025.

MoJ data also show that sexual offence convictions by all foreign nationals in the UK rose 62 per cent over the past four years. Foreign nationals accounted for one in seven (14.1 per cent) sexual offence convictions last year, including rapes. By comparison, convictions among British nationals increased 39.3 per cent over the same period.

The MoJ data, drawn from the Police National Computer (PNC) and obtained by the think tank Centre for Migration Control, came amid record migration levels. In 2025 alone, about 27,997 migrants have reached the UK in small boats, the highest number at this point in any year since the first arrivals in 2018.