Campaigners last night called for more action to “urgently reverse these alarming trends”, but praised victims for showing bravery to convict perpetrators.

Tim Passmore, Suffolk’s police and crime commissioner, said more resources have been invested and insisted victims now have more confidence in the criminal justice system and awareness of support services.

There was a 40% rise in reported serious sexual offences between April 2016 and April 2017 compared to a three-year average, a Suffolk Constabulary Accountability and Performance Panel report showed. The number has risen from 892 to 1,244. The report said the figure has been “driven by contemporary offences”. A record high of 163 were reported in March 2017. The solved rate fell from 15% to 9%.

Margarida Santos Silva, chair of the trustee board at charity Suffolk Rape Crisis, said the figures were “concerning”.

She said: “Overall, it indicates how important it is to reinforce a public message that this is not behaviour which is tolerated.

“We need to continue to promote ideas of consent, bodily autonomy, and respect through education in order to urgently reverse these alarming trends. We look forward to receiving information how police will address this trend.”

Fiona Ellis, chief executive of Ipswich charity Survivors in Transition, said she was “encouraged” by the report’s suggestion more victims were coming forward. She said: “We have such a limited picture of the true scale of sexual offences. With the subject of sexual abuse being more openly discussed and high profile cases widely reported, it is not surprising that numbers continue to increase.”

Meanwhile, child sexual abuse reports rose from 559 to 804 – a 44% increase. Domestic abuse incidents rose by 28%, from 3,734 in the last three years on average to 4,796 in the last 12 months.

Sally Winston, chief executive of Ipswich domestic abuse charity Lighthouse Women’s Aid, said: “It is quite shocking and a bit of a worry. We get about 10 referrals a day. People probably don’t realise the extent of it. But all frontline officers have received training to better identify domestic abuse, such as body language, when they are called out to homes.”

Suffolk’s police and crime commissioner Tim Passmore said: “I’m aware that there has been this big increase, but I think it’s a measure of the trust and confidence that more people are coming forward.

“That’s really important, because unless you get people reporting it, we can’t deal with it, and that helps me with the chief constable to allocate resources appropriately. But we are making progress. I can assure people of that.”

Detective Superintendent David Cutler, of Suffolk’s Protecting Vulnerable People team, said: “The rise in reporting of serious sexual offences in Suffolk in the past year is a national trend seen across the country, reflecting a greater confidence of victims to come forward and tell the police what has happened to them.

“Sadly, some of our victims of sexual offences are children and so the trend correlates with an increase in child sexual abuse.

“The number of reports being made to us relating to non-recent child abuse is reducing while more recent incidents are being reported as the public becomes more aware of the potential risks that children face from on-line dangers.

“During 2016, significant investment was made in training all frontline officers in their response to incidents of domestic abuse.

“The increase in domestic abuse offences reflects a greater awareness amongst officers in their handling of these cases and corresponds with a decreasing trend in the number of domestic incidents, i.e. where no crime is recorded.

“Although the overall numbers of offences have increased, almost 100 more domestic crimes were solved last year than on average over the previous three years.”