In the fiscal year ending September 2022, police recorded 199,021 sex crimes.
According to the Office for National Statistics, this is a 22% increase from the year ending March 2020 (163,244) before the coronavirus pandemic (ONS).
Rapes accounted for 35% of these (70,633), a 20% increase from the 59,104 recorded in the year to March 2020.
The figures, released on Thursday, also show that the total number of crimes recorded by police forces in England and Wales surpassed pre-pandemic levels, reaching 6.6 million in the year to September.
In the scandal-plagued force, ‘two or three officers’ will appear in court each week.
This was 10% more than the previous year, when 6.1 million offences were recorded.
The number of domestic abuse-related offences reported to police increased by 14% in the year to March 2020, from 798,607 to 910,980.
In the year since movement restrictions were lifted, the number of homicides and robberies, as well as crimes involving knives and firearms, has increased.
All, however, remain below pre-pandemic levels.
The ONS urged “caution” when interpreting the data, stressing that the rise in reports of sexual offences could be affected by a “number of factors”.
In light of high-profile cases and campaigns, these include improvements in how police record crime and victims being more willing to come forward and report incidents.
The rise in overall crime was “largely driven by increases in the offence categories, which are most subject to changes in reporting and recording practises” so “may not reflect a genuine increase in crime”.
Some of the “continued increase” in crimes linked to domestic abuse “may reflect increased reporting by victims over the last few years,” according to the ONS.
Separate figures show that the proportion of suspects brought to court is still at an all-time low.