United Kingdom
The United Kingdom regularly reports hate crime data to ODIHR.
Authorities collaborate closely with civil society, including through Information Sharing Agreements concluded between the police and the Community Security Trust (CST), Galop and Tell MAMA, which enable the exchange of recorded data about incidents. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) regularly convenes the external consultation group (ECG) on hate crime together with community organizations, victim advocacy groups, academics with relevant expertise and others. ECG members scrutinize CPS policies and practices, and inform about necessary changes and improvements.
In Northern Ireland, the Department of Justice chairs a multi-agency Hate Crime Delivery Group (HCDG) to identify strategic, cross-governmental priorities and develop new approaches to dealing with hate crime. The group meets quarterly and includes representatives of government departments, criminal justice agencies and victim groups. The Department of Justice and Northern Ireland Policing Board jointly fund Policing and Community Safety Partnerships (PCSPs) to engage and consult with the local community, and work with local partners to identify and prioritize local community safety and policing issues and develop initiatives and projects to address these.
In Scotland, there is the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group (SPG), which brings together criminal justice agencies and civil society organizations with hate crime expertise. The SPG helped ensure a multi-agency strategic approach was taken to the develop the Hate Crime Strategy for Scotland. The Hate Crime and Public Order Act (Scotland) Act 2021 became an Act of Parliament on 23 April 2021. The Act was commenced on 1 April 2024.
The UK's College of Policing has developed guidelines for police on responding to hate crime, and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has issued relevant guidance for prosecutors and published public policy statements on particular hate crime strands.
Police and prosecution data, which cover the reporting period from April to March of the following year, are regularly published by the relevant criminal justice agencies of England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
OFFICIAL DATA REPORTED BY STATES
| Year | Hate crimes recorded by police | Prosecuted | Sentenced |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 148,735 | Not available | Not available |
| 2022 | 147,447 | 296 (NI) | 1,107 |
| 2021 | 158,018 | 5,984 | 932 |
| 2020 | 125,848 | 16,824 | 9,510 |
| 2019 | 106,672 | 14,058 | 9,340 |
| 2018 | 111,076 | 18,055 | 10,817 |
| 2017 | 95,552 | 14,535 | 11,987 |
| 2016 | 80,763 | 20,321 | Not available |
| 2015 | 62518 | 21300 | 13103 |
| 2014 | 52853 | 4872 | 549 |
| 2013 | 47986 | 19689 | 12353 |
| 2012 | 47676 | 19205 | 10794 |
| 2011 | 50688 | 19802 | 12651 |
| 2010 | 53946 | 19342 | 11405 |
| 2009 | 58692 | 13030 | 10690 |
About 2012 Data
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Police data include recorded hate crimes in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, and do not include figures for Scotland. Prosecution data breakdown is as follows: 13,070 England and Wales, 555 in Northern Ireland and 5,580 in Scotland. Data on sentencing do not include Scotland and Northern Ireland. prosecution and sentencing data were reported in 2015 only. All data cover period from April 2012 to March 2013.
Hate crime recorded by police
KEY OBSERVATION
ODIHR observes that the United Kingdom has met OSCE commitments on hate crime data collection and reporting. ODIHR further observes that data on certain OSCE-mandated bias motivations have not been reported and that the United Kingdom did not report prosecution data from 2012.
INCIDENTS REPORTED BY CIVIL SOCIETY
INTERNATIONAL REPORTS
Racist and xenophobic hate crime
The UN Human Rights Council, in its Universal Periodic Review, encouraged the United Kingdom to continue work monitoring hate crime, investigating and sanctioning such crimes, working with affected communities, as well as strengthening its data collection in terms of disaggregated data.