Eight Months of Cheltenham Crime Missing From Police Data After IT Change

Police.uk has published almost no Cheltenham crime since February 2026, after Gloucestershire Constabulary moved to a new crime recording system.

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Police.uk, the national website where police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland publish their recorded crime, has shown almost no crime in Cheltenham since February 2026: 35 crimes across Cheltenham’s 14 policing neighbourhoods in eight months, against 8,547 in the same months of 2025. Gloucestershire Constabulary says a new records system stopped the data being published, and two months after it said so, it still hasn’t been fixed. Until it is, the official figures can’t show whether crime in Cheltenham is rising or falling.

Police.uk published 35 crimes in Cheltenham from February to September 2026, compared with 8,547 in the same eight months of 2025.

Source: Police.uk.

• Key: Crimes recorded crimes published on police.uk for Cheltenham’s 14 policing neighbourhoods. September 2026 is the latest month published.

• Data from Police.uk, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Last updated 2026-11-03.

What the Police Say

Gloucestershire Constabulary told Cheltenham Open Data on 4 September 2026 that it rolled out a new crime recording system across the force at the start of 2026, as part of a wider investment in its IT systems.

The force’s Performance Team, which manages and publishes its data, has found that “an issue has been identified with downloading the required data” since the new system went in. The force says the problem is being looked into, that partner agencies have been told, and that the data will be updated and published once it is fixed. It did not give a date.

Two months later, none of the missing months has been filled in on police.uk, and the September figures published since show no Cheltenham crimes at all.

What It Means

The force’s explanation is that the problem is in getting data out of the new system, not in recording crime. What is missing is the published record. Until it is fixed, police.uk, and every website and app that uses its data, cannot show how much crime there has been in Cheltenham this year, which neighbourhoods are most affected or whether crime is rising or falling.

Based on the twelve months to January 2026, when police.uk published an average of 1,065 Cheltenham crimes a month, around 8,500 crimes from February to September are missing from the published data.

Notes to Editors

• Method: Monthly totals are the sum of crimes published on police.uk for Cheltenham’s 14 policing neighbourhoods. The estimate of missing crimes uses the average of the twelve months from February 2025 to January 2026.
• Sources: Police.uk street-level crime data for Gloucestershire Constabulary, and Gloucestershire Constabulary’s written reply to Cheltenham Open Data of 4 September 2026.
• Caveats: The estimate of missing crimes assumes crime continued at a similar level. The true figures will only be known once the force republishes the data.
• Data and updates: The crime data pages are checked against police.uk every day and will update when the missing months are published. For questions or interviews, use the contact page.

Cite This

Please credit Cheltenham Open Data and link to this page. Suggested citation:

Cheltenham Open Data (2026). Eight Months of Cheltenham Crime Missing From Police Data After IT Change. Published 2026-11-04. https://cheltenham-od.uk/news/cheltenham-crime-data-missing. Data: Police.uk, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

To embed the chart on your own site, copy this code:

<a href="https://cheltenham-od.uk/news/cheltenham-crime-data-missing"><img src="https://cheltenham-od.uk/assets/findings/cheltenham-crime-data-missing.svg" alt="Bar chart of crimes published on police.uk for Cheltenham each month, August 2023 to September 2026. Every month to January 2026 has between 917 and 1,216 crimes. From February to September 2026 the counts are 6, 3, 6, 9, 0, 5, 6 and 0." width="640"></a>

The chart and data are free to reuse with credit. The underlying data is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it, with a note on this page saying what changed and when.

FAQs

Where Does the Data Come From?

• Crime counts come from police.uk, which publishes street-level crime for forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, usually around two months after the end of each month. Cheltenham Open Data’s crime data pages collect the figures for Cheltenham’s 14 neighbourhoods.

Will the Missing Months Be Filled In?

• Gloucestershire Constabulary says the data will be updated and published once the problem is fixed. Cheltenham Open Data checks police.uk every day and will update its crime pages as soon as the missing months appear.

Does This Mean Crime in Cheltenham Has Fallen?

• No. The low numbers are because crimes have not been published, not because fewer have happened. Figures for February 2026 onwards should not be compared with earlier months until the data is backfilled.

Can I Use This Chart?

• Yes. Credit Cheltenham Open Data and link to this page. The embed code and a CSV of the figures are in the Cite This section above.