Violence at Work Statistics UK: Latest Data and Sources

How many workers experience violence?

HSE estimates that 329,000 workers experienced at least one violent incident in 2024/25. The larger total of 689,000 incidents reflects the fact that a person can experience repeated assaults or threats. Physical injury resulted from 38% of assaults.

The analysis covers people aged 16–64 in paid work at interview, including those working from home. Incidents involving a domestic relationship are excluded.

Which occupations face higher risks?

Across the combined 2023/24 and 2024/25 survey years, 6.8% of protective-service workers experienced violence at least once, compared with 1.2% across all occupations. The estimate for health and social care associate professionals was 2.7%.

Transport and mobile-machine operatives, sales occupations, and other managers and proprietors also appeared among the five groups with the highest estimated proportions. The survey estimates have sampling uncertainty.

UK retail violence and abuse

The BRC’s 2026 Crime Report estimates about 1,600 incidents of violence and abuse a day for 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025. The previous report estimated 2,000 a day; the survey was updated for the 2026 edition.

The ACS 2026 report separately estimates 67,000 violent incidents and 950,000 incidents of verbal abuse in UK convenience stores. Its November 2025–January 2026 survey asked about the preceding 12 months. Responses from 43 retail companies representing around 11,000 stores were weighted to estimate the sector totals.

NHS staff experiences in England

In the 2025 NHS Staff Survey, 14.47% of staff at NHS trusts in England reported physical violence from patients, service users, relatives or the public in the preceding year. The corresponding harassment, bullying or abuse measure was 25.25%.

These weighted percentages describe staff experiences and can overlap. The briefing covers 206 trusts; bank-only and general practice staff are reported separately.

Broader workplace abuse in the UK

The Skills and Employment Survey found that 14.3% of employees had experienced at least one surveyed form of abuse over a year. Physical violence was reported by 6.9%, bullying or harassment by 9.0%, and sexual harassment by 2.4%.

The categories overlap. The analysis uses UK fieldwork from 2023 and 2024 and covers employees aged 20–65 who had also been employed a year earlier.

Injury reports and survey estimates

The Labour Force Survey estimates an annual average of 61,000 workers injured through physical violence in Great Britain during 2022/23–2024/25. RIDDOR recorded 5,900 employee injuries from violence in 2024/25, using a narrower reporting threshold.

These sources answer different questions about incidents, people affected and reportable injuries. Their populations overlap, so they are best read alongside one another rather than added into a single total. HSE has no violence-specific estimate of how complete RIDDOR reporting is.

Reporting and preventing violent incidents

Employers need to assess and manage work-related abuse, threats and assault. Incident records and workers’ experiences can identify the tasks, locations and times associated with aggression.

Physical violence is reportable under RIDDOR when it causes death, a specified injury or an injury preventing normal duties for more than seven consecutive days. Over-three-day incapacity must be recorded. Internal records should also capture threats and abuse that fall outside these injury-reporting thresholds.

Frequently asked questions

How many incidents of violence at work occur each year?

HSE estimates 689,000 assaults and threats at work in England and Wales in 2024/25, affecting around 329,000 workers. Separate UK sector surveys cover broader forms of abuse and different populations.

Is workplace violence increasing?

HSE describes annual CSEW incident estimates as fluctuating without a clear trend. Individual sectors can show different patterns: the BRC's 2026 report gives a lower daily estimate than its previous edition, although its survey was updated.

Is verbal abuse included in the statistics?

It depends on the source. The CSEW work-related violence measure includes assaults and threats. BRC violence-and-abuse figures have a broader scope; ACS reports verbal abuse separately. RIDDOR injury totals do not count verbal abuse alone.