Police records from Scotland are based on 2022-23 data. Police records from England and Wales cover the period of April 2023 to March 2024. Police records from Northern Ireland cover the period of 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
Prosecution records from North Ireland are available here. No figures on hate crime prosecution from England and Wales, and Scotland were submitted.
No figures on the number of hate crimes sentences were submitted.
The data below covers England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. A single hate crime may involve one or more hate motivations; therefore, the figures below do not add up to the above total. Given the different legal and policy frameworks used in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the breakdown below only displays data disaggregated by bias motivation, but not by type of crime, while both have been submitted to ODIHR.
England and Wales
The Online Safety Act 2023 made hate crime a priority offence. Under new legal duties of care, technology companies will need to prevent, identify, and remove illegal content and activity online. This means less illegal content - including content that incites hate on the grounds of race, religion, or sexual orientation - will appear online and, when it does, it will be removed more quickly. The Online Safety Act will require technology companies to remove already illegal content, such as hate crime related content, and to design their services to reduce the likelihood of being used for criminal activity in the first place.
In 2023, the UK Government introduced a code of practice for police in England and Wales relating to the recording and retention of personal data in non-crime hate incident records.
In 2018, the Law Commission conducted a review into hate crime legislation in England and Wales. In 2023, the UK Government published a response to the recommendations, agreeing with the Law Commission that sex/gender should not be added to the hate crime framework as a protected characteristic.
In 2023/24, the Home Office provided up to £50.9 million to protect faith communities. The Jewish Community Protective Security (JCPS) Grant provides protective security measures at synagogues, Jewish educational establishments and community sites. In response to the Israel/Hamas conflict and reports of increased incidents of anti-Semitism in the UK, the JCPS Grant was increased from £15 million to £18 million per year for 2023/24 and 2024/25.
The new Protective Security for Mosques Scheme provides protective security measures to mosques and associated Muslim faith community centres. Protective security measures are also available to Muslim faith schools. Additional funding of £4.9 million was made available for protective security at mosques and Muslim faith schools, bringing total funding to £29.4 million for 2023/24 and 2024/25.
Northern Ireland
In 2023, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) launched a hate crime campaign during Hate Crime Awareness Week. "Put yourself in their shoes" was rolled out across multiple media accounts and continues to be used at present. The purpose is to raise awareness of hate crime across communities and improve confidence in reporting hate crime to the Police.
Scotland
In November 2023, the Scottish Government published the Hate Crime Strategy Delivery Plan, which sets out the strategic priorities for tackling hate crime in Scotland until April 2026. It provides a vision for a Scotland where everyone lives free from hatred and prejudice and where communities are empowered, inclusive and safe.
The Strategy was developed in partnership with organizations with expertise in tackling prejudice, building cohesive communities and advancing human rights. Importantly, it was informed by communities with lived experience of hate crime. The Delivery Plan includes actions to ensure improved support for victims of hate crime, improve data and evidence on hate crime. and develop effective approaches to preventing hate crime and promoting community cohesion.
Notable Cases:
In December 2023, two 16-year-olds were sentenced to a life term in prison for murdering a 16-year-old transgender girl. The pair were sentenced after the Crown Prosecution Service successfully applied for the sentence to reflect that the murder was in part motivated by hostility towards the victim because she was transgender. The murder was found to be premeditated, the prosecution put forward evidence that suggested the murder was a hate crime – including WhatsApp messages which used dehumanizing language to describe the victim. The case triggered a national public response with messages of solidarity to the victim and her family.
Hate crimes recorded in this category include 3,767 offences recorded in Scotland, 839 offences recorded Northern Ireland and 98,799 offences recorded in England and Wales. The records for Northern Ireland include offences targeting any group defined by "race", colour, nationality or ethnic or national origin, and including anti-Roma hate offences.
Hate crimes recorded in this category include 3,282 offences recorded in England and Wales only.
Hate crimes recorded in this category include 3,866 offences recorded in England and Wales only.
Hate crimes recorded in this category include 702 offences recorded in England and Wales only.
Hate crimes recorded in this category include 48 offences in Northern Ireland, 501 case of religious hate crime, and 2,510 offences in England and Wales The records for Northern Ireland include offences motivated by anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, and anti-Christian bias, bias against members of other religions, and bias against people who hold no religious belief.
This category includes 1,805 offences recorded in Scotland, 27,619 offences recorded in England and Wales and 282 offences recorded in Northern Ireland.
This category includes 598 offences recorded in Scotland, 58 offences recorded in Northern Ireland and 11,719 offences recorded in England and Wales.
Records under this category were collected by the police in Northern Ireland and relate to "sectarian hate crime". In Northern Ireland, such crimes are motivated by "bigoted dislike or hatred of members of a different religious or political group". It is broadly accepted that within the Northern Ireland context an individual or group must be perceived to be Catholic or Protestant, Nationalist or Unionist, or Loyalist or Republican. However, sectarianism can also relate to other religious denominations, for example, Sunni and Shi’ite in Islam.
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published relevant recommendations in its "European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) - Final report on the United Kingdom adopted on 3 July 2024 by ECRI at its 95th plenary meeting (2-5 July 2024)".
ODIHR recognizes the United Kingdom's efforts to regularly report hate crime data to ODIHR and to address hate crime in a comprehensive manner. However, it observes that the United Kingdom would benefit from raising awareness among and building the capacity of criminal justice officials to address hate crime, particularly in respect of some of the more isolated victim groups.
ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, OSCE participating States committed to introducing or further developing professional training and capacity-building activities for law enforcement, prosecution and judicial officials dealing with hate crimes. ODIHR stands ready to support the United Kingdom in meeting the relevant commitments through its comprehensive resources and tailored capacity-building assistance for police, prosecution, and judiciary.
In addition to incidents submitted with detailed descriptions, this chart includes 750 anti-Semitic incidents reported as statistics by the Community Security Trust (CST).
🛈 Please note that the data in the charts above are based on voluntary civil society submissions and as such might not be representative of the actual number of incidents affecting individual communities.
🛈 Please note that the total number of incidents may be lower than the sum of incidents presented in the breakdown chart above, as some incidents involve multiple bias motivations.
🛈 ODIHR no longer presents descriptions of property attacks in the incident tables below. Data on property attacks are presented in the breakdown charts above. One property attack may target multiple properties or involve multiple types of attack.