In 2024/25, 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 conflict in the Middle East 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 Community Security Trust will receive funding of £18 million per year through the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant from 2024/25 to 2027/28.
The 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. £29.4 million of funding was available for 2024/25. Up to £29.4 million per year will be made available for protective security at mosques and Muslim faith schools from 2024/25 to 2027/28.
The £3.5 million Places of Worship Protective Security Scheme continues to provide physical protective security measures to places of worship and associated faith community centres of all other faiths in England and Wales that are particularly vulnerable to religiously or racially motivated hate crime.
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, and improve data and evidence on hate crime. and develop effective approaches to preventing hate crime and promoting community cohesion.
Notable case:
On 29 July 2024, a 17-year-old male entered a children’s dance class in Southport and violently attacked those taking part. Tragically, three young girls were murdered, and others were injured.
The British public was understandably shocked and appalled by the brutal attack. Misinformation and disinformation was spread online, and inaccurate claims about the suspect’s nationality, religion, and immigration status, as well as unfounded speculation about his motive. This was followed by protest and disorder in Southport, which spread around the country. Initial violence targeted the police and included a violent attack on a local Mosque and its inhabitants.
In the days that followed, protests and violence spread, aimed primarily at migrants and targeted hotels housing asylum seekers. The widespread violence included attempts to set fire to hotels, and violent gangs targeted people from minority ethnic communities.
On 19 August, the Prime Minister declared that the disorder was ‘intolerable and racist’. He made clear that justice will be comprehensive and swift for those who used or incited violence.
Two weeks after the murders, on 13 August, police updated that they had arrested 1,024 people and 575 had already been charged with a range of offences. Courts sat in special ‘out of hours’ sittings to deal with the caseload. Prosecution proceedings were still ongoing at the end of 2024. An Insight Report in the House of Commons Library said:
“This was the most significant disorder in the UK since the 2011 riots, in which at least 4,000 people were arrested (within one month of the event) and 1,984 prosecuted (within two months).
Amongst the convictions were offences for arson with intent to endanger life, rioting, and encouraging the violence through online posts.
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.
For 2024, ODIHR received reports of hate incidents in the United Kingdom from the following civil society organizations:
- Community Security Trust (CST)
- International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF)
- European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses
- The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC)
To learn more about these organizations, visit the Contributors page.
In addition, the Holy see also submitted reports of incidents monitored by its representatives and some incidents were recorded as part of ODIHR’s ongoing monitoring across the OSCE region.
All incidents submitted by the above organizations have been analysed by ODIHR. Those that were broadly considered to be hate crimes within the OSCE definition (criminal offence committed with a bias motive) are listed in the tables below according to the bias motivation category. Some incidents involved multiple biases and may be listed in multiple categories.
ODIHR’s insightsFor 2024, ODIHR received reports of 858 hate incidents that took place in the United Kingdom in the following bias motivation categories: anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, anti-Muslim, other religion or belief, and racist and xenophobic. Some of these incidents also intersected with a gender-based bias motivation. Just over 80 per cent of the total incidents were anti-Semitic incidents reported by one civil society organization (CST). Many of the anti-Semitic incidents also had a racist and xenophobic bias, while one fifth of the anti-Semitic incidents involved references to the conflict in the Middle East. ODIHR observes that a significant number of the anti-Semitic incidents in the United Kingdom targeted minors or schoolchildren with threatening or harassing behaviour. Visibly Jewish people were also often targeted with threatening and harassing behaviour or physical assaults, in particular on public transport. Several incidents were reported in which Jewish organizations and synagogues were threatened online or over the phone. Several anti-Muslim and racist and xenophobic incidents were reported in the context of widespread anti-Muslim and anti-migrant riots that occurred in the United Kingdom in summer 2024. Many of the anti-Christian incidents reported involved vandalism or damage to church property. It should be noted that ODIHR did not receive, or received only a very low level of, reporting on anti-Muslim, anti-Roma, and disability hate incidents. This indicates potential gaps in the information reported here. In addition, one reporting organization submitted one statistical incident motivated by both anti-Semitic and racist bias, for which a description is not available in the tables below. |
Please note that incidents reported here are based on voluntary civil society submissions and as such might not reflect of the actual number of incidents or the most targeted communities in the United Kingdom.
To address under-reporting, ODIHR encourages any civil society organizations or groups that monitor hate incidents in the United Kingdom to report these to ODIHR at hatecrimereport@odihr.pl.
To export an Excel sheet with summaries of all incidents from the United Kingdom click here and search by year and country.