United Kingdom

In 2022, the Government asked the Law Commission to conduct a wide-ranging review into hate crime to explore whether current legislation could be made more effective, and if additional protected characteristics should be added to the hate crime legislation. The Law Commission's review examined the adequacy and parity of protection offered by the law relating to hate crime and the current range of offences and aggravating factors in sentencing.

In 2022, the UK Government continued to fund True Vision, an online hate crime reporting portal, designed so that victims of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report. The UK Government also continued to fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub, which is a central capability designed to support individual local police forces in dealing with online hate crime. The Hub provides expert advice to police forces to support them in investigating these offences.

In February 2022, the UK Parliament voted against adding sex and gender to the list of protected characteristics covered by hate crime legislation. This followed the Law Commission - a statutory independent body that reviews laws and produces recommendations for their reform in England and Wales - recommending that sex or gender should not be added as a protected characteristic for the purposes of aggravated offences and enhanced sentencing. In its review of hate crime legislation published in 2021, the Law Commission found that adding sex or gender to hate crime laws may prove “more harmful than helpful” and “counterproductive”.

In 2022, the Online Safety Bill began its passage through Parliament. Hate crime is a “priority offence” in the Bill, which will become law in 2023. 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.

Also in 2022, the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill became an Act of Parliament. It included a provision which enables the Home Secretary to issue a code of practice relating to the recording of personal data in non-crime hate incident records.

Scotland

In April 2022, the Scottish Government convened the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group in order to provide a multi-agency and collaborative approach to the development of a new Hate Crime Strategy for Scotland, for publication in early 2023. Members have a range of expertise in tackling prejudice, building cohesive communities and advancing human rights.

Prior to the end of 2022, members of the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group also commenced engagement with people who have lived experience of hate crime, to inform the strategy's commitments.