Pro Installer August 2026 - Issue 161 | Page 22

News
22 | AUGUST 2026

News

Read online at www. proinstaller. co. uk

THE HIDDEN COST OF A BURGLARY

New ONS data reveals a decade-long shift in the emotional impact of residential break-ins and what it means for the products you specify.
Residential burglaries in England and Wales have fallen by 20 % since 2022, and the broader trend over the past decade points in the same direction. On the surface that looks like progress, and in many respects it is. But buried in the latest Crime Survey for England and Wales is a trend that tells a more complicated story. While incidents have declined, the emotional impact on victims has not fallen with them.
In 2025, 53 % of burglary victims reported a lasting loss of confidence or feeling of vulnerability( up from 31 % in 2015). Anxiety or panic attacks increased from 23 % to 37 % and fear as a reported emotional response climbed from 35 % to 46 %.
These statistics describe what happens to a homeowner after someone has been through their front door uninvited. For many people it happens to, it changes how they feel in their own home for years afterwards. The installers and locksmiths who understand that are the ones having better conversations with their customers, not conversations designed to alarm, but ones that give homeowners genuine confidence in the products protecting their homes.
Where we are most vulnerable
The decade of ONS data does more than reveal the emotional toll. It tells us how burglaries are actually happening and how that picture has shifted since 2015.
The front door is an increasingly common point of entry, rising from 52 % of incidents in 2015 to 60 % in 2025. For fabricators and installers, that means the cylinder and hardware on the front door carry more weight than ever in determining whether a break-in attempt succeeds or fails.
The standards are changing
Against this backdrop, security standards for euro cylinders are changing. From 1st January 2027, any cylinder supplied into doors requiring PAS24 certification must meet the updated PAS24:2022 + A1:2024 standard. Sold Secure SS312 has also been updated to the same 2024 standard, adding four additional attack methods to the testing requirements.
For fabricators, this is a supply chain decision that needs to be
made now. For locksmiths specifying replacement cylinders, it is an increasingly relevant conversation to be having with customers who want to know if their lock meets current standards.
Most cylinders on the market do not yet meet the updated requirements.
The cylinder to specify
Ultion ALPS Plus is already fully compliant with both the updated PAS24 and Sold Secure
SS312 2024 standards. It protects against all six known attack methods including thermal manipulation and twist attacks, two methods that most cylinders on the market still leave unprotected.
Importantly, the way security products are tested has also evolved beyond the written standard. Accredited test houses in the UK are now applying more sophisticated techniques within the existing
test parameters, reflecting real-world attack methods more accurately than before. Ultion ALPS Plus has been developed specifically to withstand these techniques, not just to satisfy the minimum requirements on paper.
Available to trade now, ALPS Plus is backed by a £ 5,000 security guarantee and comes with KeyControl as standard, giving homeowners the ability to block unauthorised copies.