Four thousand householders throughout the country will be asked about their experiences of crime when the third national Crime and Safety Survey starts next month.
Interviewers will go door-to-door seeking information to plug the gap between crime reported to police and what people experience.
"It aims to give a fuller
picture of crime and how it affects people," says David Turner, the Ministry of Justice's director of research evaluation and modelling.
"We have statistics of crime that is reported to police, but that's not the full story."
For example, people tended to report stolen cars because their insurance required it, he said.
They were less likely to report sexual offences (only 12 per cent reported), violence by partners (18 per cent), threats (20 per cent), and robberies and thefts from homes (23 per cent).
The last survey, in 2001, found that more than 1.5 million crimes went unreported every year.
The 4000 householders will be randomly selected, and interviewees must be aged 15 years or more. Identities are kept confidential.
Sensitive questions, such as those dealing with family violence, will be asked and answered by laptop computer.
The results, which will be available by the end of the year, will be fed into crime policy and prevention programmes.
