How Do Burglars Get In UK | The Free Fix

The ONS published its crime bulletin for the year ending March 2026 on 23 July. Recorded burglary dropped 9%, down to 223,456 offences across England and Wales. That's genuinely good news, and the headlines ran with it.

But buried in the accompanying Nature of Crime dataset is a number that hasn't moved in years: one in four residential burglaries involved entry through an unlocked door or window. Twenty-five percent. A quarter of all break-ins, no force required.

I'll be direct. That figure isn't a lock problem. No cylinder upgrade solves it.

Autumn Is When This Actually Bites

We're heading into the period when opportunistic burglary picks up. Evenings get dark earlier, people are busier, kids are back at school, and routines shift. A house that sits dark at 5pm in Gants Hill or Seven Kings sends a different signal in October than it did in July. Opportunists notice. They try doors. A surprising number open.

I've been called to properties in IG2 and IG4 where the residents were convinced someone had picked or snapped their way in. They hadn't. Back door, unlocked. Side gate, unlatched. It's embarrassing for the homeowner to find out, and I say that without any judgement, because it happens to careful, sensible people. Life is busy. Habits slip.

The Cylinder Upgrade Is Still Worth Having

Here's where I'll push back on the simplest reading of this data, because some commentators will use it to suggest that better locks don't matter. That's wrong.

The 75% of burglaries that aren't through unlocked entries still happened somehow. Snap attacks on cheap euro cylinders are real. A TS007 3-star cylinder from Ultion or Avocet ABS, combined with a BS3621-compliant deadlock, will stop a large chunk of those. If your Barkingside or Clayhall semi has the original builder-fit cylinder from 2005, replacing it costs £60 to £120 fitted and it's genuinely worth doing.

But if your door has a £150 Mul-T-Lock cylinder and you're leaving the back window on the latch while you pop to the shops, the cylinder is irrelevant.

The Free Fix

Check the door is locked when you leave. Every time. Back door, front door, any ground-floor windows you've had open during the day. In a terrace in Goodmayes or a flat above a shop in IG1, that takes thirty seconds.

If you share a property with tenants or family members and locking up isn't consistent, consider a BS8621 key-locking handle that requires a key to retract the latch from inside as well as outside. It introduces a bit of friction, but it means the door can't be left on the latch accidentally. Around £80 to £120 fitted, and it addresses exactly the unlocked-entry problem the ONS keeps flagging.

The ONS data is a useful reminder that security spending and security behaviour are two different things. Right now, in late summer, before the dark evenings arrive, the behaviour change is the one that actually needs to happen.

If you want the locks looked at while you're thinking about it, Rapid Response covers Ilford and the surrounding IG postcodes and we're usually with you in under 30 minutes. Pricing is given honestly on the call before any work starts.