Photo: Richard Humphrey · CC BY-SA 2.0Spalding stands out for bicycle theft: 4.3 times the rate of a typical town its size
Spalding grades C− for safety overall (#47 of 61 in Lincolnshire): more crime per resident than 82% of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Violent crime barely moved in a year. The yearly rates were 39.7 violent and sexual offences and 13.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Spalding
One ward carries much of the rate
Spalding Castle ward, where 45% of Spalding’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 859 of Spalding’s 3,638 violent and sexual offences in three years: 111.6 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Spalding the figure is 33.1. Where in Spalding ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 216 UK towns of 21,000 to 41,000 people, Spalding has the 138th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Gorleston-on-Sea, Redhill and Newton-le-Willows, higher than Evesham, Frome and Prescot. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The C− for Spalding, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 4,860 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Spalding against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Spalding runs highest on bicycle theft (1.4 per 1,000 against 0.3), anti-social behaviour (24.7 per 1,000 against 12.4) and vehicle crime (4.5 per 1,000 against 2.8). Burglary sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,200 | 39.3 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 755 | 24.7 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 214 | 7 | 6.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 212 | 6.9 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 165 | 5.4 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 143 | 4.7 | 4.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 138 | 4.5 | 2.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 61 | 2 | 1.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 59 | 1.9 | 2.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 52 | 1.7 | 1.9 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 44 | 1.4 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 24 | 0.8 | 0.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 17 | 0.6 | 0.7 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 2 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
“Violent” is police.uk’s violence and sexual offences (which includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury), robbery and possession of weapons. Anti-social behaviour isn’t a crime category; shoplifting and other theft happen mostly in shops and town centres rather than to residents, so neither counts in the grade.
September 2025 to August 2026, per 1,000 residents. The tick on each bar is the typical (median) town among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Lowest recorded crime in Spalding Monks House, Spalding Wygate and Spalding St John's; highest in Spalding Castle
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spalding Monks House | 5,740 | 22.1 | 6.6 | |
| Spalding Wygate | 6,581 | 22.4 | 6.5 | |
| Spalding St John's | 6,536 | 30.7 | 13.4 | |
| Spalding St Mary's | 3,993 | 45.6 | 18.6 | |
| Spalding St Paul's | 5,136 | 52.5 | 15.8 | |
| Spalding Castle | 2,566 | 111.6 | 32.6 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 412 | 47% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 394 | 42% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 88 | 39% violent |
| Police stations | 80 | 41% violent |
| Car parks | 54 | 46% anti-social behaviour |
| Petrol stations | 48 | 50% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Spalding Castle records 3.4× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Spalding. police.uk places each crime at an anonymous map point; some are named for the kind of place (a supermarket, a car park), and each row adds up every place of that kind in Spalding. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Spalding’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Crime in Spalding per 1,000 residents
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can report several, and crimes in a town centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
And about 13 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 13 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Of 216 towns its size, Spalding is 138th from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 135 | Evesham Worcestershire | 28,256 | 37.2 | 15.3 | 17.4 | C− |
| 136 | Frome Somerset | 27,904 | 39.8 | 12.8 | 19.3 | C− |
| 137 | Prescot Merseyside | 39,227 | 40.6 | 12.4 | 13.1 | C− |
| 138 | Spalding Lincolnshire | 30,552 | 39.7 | 13.4 | 15 | C− |
| 139 | Ballymena Mid and East Antrim | 31,205 | 37.9 | 15.2 | 15 | C− |
| 140 | Swadlincote Derbyshire | 34,569 | 40.6 | 12.7 | 14.7 | C− |
| 141 | South Ockendon Essex | 22,441 | 36.8 | 16.5 | 10.1 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 209 | Cleethorpes Lincolnshire | 29,660 | 62.5 | 25.5 | 26.6 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 213 | Gainsborough Lincolnshire | 21,899 | 66.4 | 32 | 30.1 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 216 | Great Yarmouth Norfolk | 28,979 | 105 | 32.9 | 33.7 | D− |
Safety letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only.
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, September 2023 to August 2026, counting from the least: towns ranked near Spalding, and others in Lincolnshire.
How Spalding’s neighbourhoods rank in England
33% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 18% in the highest-crime 20%. The crime domain scores the risk of violence, burglary, theft and criminal damage where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Spalding’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (crime domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of England’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling six-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year (longer windows for smaller places, where a few crimes swing a month). In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +4% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -3% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -14% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +3% (towns its size -4%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 66% of Spalding’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 15% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (69% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 4% of household crimes reached court.
The latest outcome police.uk shows for each crime recorded in the first of the three years (September 2023 to August 2024), so most cases have closed. 1,597 crimes.
Three people died in collisions on Spalding’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 205 collisions with injuries inside Spalding in five years, in which three people died (1 was a cyclist). 45 people were killed or seriously injured: 9 on foot and 11 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: at their median rate (0.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Spalding’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Spalding’s own rate (2.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Spalding had 29.6 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8). 20% of them were on foot, against 30% across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Casualties are counted where the collision happened, not where people lived: a main road through town adds through-traffic, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Seriously injured uses the Department for Transport’s adjusted figures, which even out the police forces’ different ways of recording injuries. There’s no national rate here: more than half of road deaths in England and Wales (58%) happen outside every town’s built-up area. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), 2021–2025.
Collisions police recorded inside Spalding’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Spalding
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spalding | 30,552 | 39.7 | 13.4 | C− |
| Pinchbeck | 4,275 | 24.4 | 11.6 | C+ |
| Cowbit | 1,366 | 17.3 | 6.6 | B+ |
| Moulton | 1,605 | 12.7 | 2.9 | A |
| Surfleet | 1,042 | 22.7 | 8.3 | B− |
| Moulton Chapel | 1,120 | 7.4 | 6.6 | A+ |
| Deeping St Nicholas | 1,300 | 17.7 | 8.2 | B+ |
| Whaplode | 1,106 | 38.3 | 11.5 | C− |
Spalding records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Pinchbeck, 2 miles away, records 24.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Spalding’s 39.7.
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Where crimes happen, not where victims live. police.uk places each crime at a point near where it happened. Town centres with shops, stations, a hospital and nightlife record more crime per resident, and residents of nearby villages who come in to shop or go out are part of that count.
- Bigger towns record more per resident. Across UK towns, recorded crime per resident rises steeply with size, more than in the U.S., so a city’s grade sits low against the whole UK. The “towns its size” figures show where Spalding sits among towns like it; they are context and don’t change the grade.
- Points are approximate. police.uk moves each point to the nearest of a set of anonymous map points, so crimes near the edge of the built-up area can fall either side of it.
Questions about safety in Spalding
Is Spalding safe?
Police recorded 39.7 violent and sexual offences and 13.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Spalding’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 18% of UK towns. Among 216 UK towns of 21,000 to 41,000 people, Spalding is 138th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Spalding?
By council ward, Spalding Monks House, Spalding Wygate and Spalding St John's record the least violent and household crime per resident: 22.1, 22.4 and 30.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 111.6 in Spalding Castle.
Is crime going up in Spalding?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft fell 14% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Spalding?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,200 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (214) and shoplifting (212), with 755 reports of anti-social behaviour.
Sources: data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · MHCLG English Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain by LSOA (residents from ONS Census 2021) · Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions 2021–2025, points inside the built-up-area boundary · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.