In England and Wales, a hate crime is any criminal offence that the victim, or anyone else, perceives to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone’s race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity. Despite the name, “hate crime” is mostly not a separate offence. An assault, a threat or damage to property becomes a hate crime because of the hostility behind it, and the law responds in two ways: a set of racially or religiously aggravated offences with higher maximum sentences, and a duty on courts to treat hostility as an aggravating factor when sentencing any offence.
At a glance: Nexis CPD’s £9 Hate Crime Awareness course covers the definition, the five monitored strands, the difference between a hate crime and a hate incident, and how to respond and report. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Awareness covers the Equality Act 2010, and Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace covers the civil law side at work. They are CPD accredited and 100% online with a verifiable e-certificate, and any three courses cost £18. This article is general information, not legal advice.
What is a hate crime?
The police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) use a shared definition for identifying and flagging hate crime. The CPS puts it as “any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice” based on a person’s disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or transgender identity, or their perceived membership of one of those groups. The Home Office says this common definition was agreed in 2007 by the police, the CPS, the Prison Service and other criminal justice agencies.
Three parts of that definition do most of the work:
- It must be a crime. Something offensive or upsetting that is not a criminal offence is not a hate crime, although it may be recorded or handled in other ways, as explained below.
- Perception starts the process. If the victim, a witness, a support worker or a police officer perceives hostility, the offence should be flagged as a hate crime. Nobody has to prove anything to make a report.
- Perceived identity counts. A person attacked because the offender wrongly believed they were gay, or of a particular religion, is still a victim of hate crime. So is someone targeted because of their association with a group, such as a partner, friend or carer.
The CPS notes there is no legal definition of hostility, so it uses the everyday meaning, which includes ill-will, spite, contempt, prejudice, unfriendliness, antagonism, resentment and dislike. Hate crime can be committed face to face or online, and it covers a wide range of offences, from verbal threats and harassment to criminal damage and serious violence.
What are the five strands of hate crime?
The police in England and Wales centrally monitor five strands of hate crime: race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability and transgender identity. The College of Policing’s guidance, as summarised in the Home Office’s annual statistics, describes each broadly. Race includes any racial group or ethnic background, including countries within the UK and Gypsy and Traveller groups. Religion includes people with no religious faith. Disability includes physical disability, learning disability and mental health or developmental conditions.
These strands overlap with, but are not the same as, the nine protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010. Age, sex, pregnancy and maternity, and marriage and civil partnership are protected characteristics in equality law but are not centrally monitored hate crime strands. The Home Office bulletin says an offence may be motivated by hostility towards a characteristic that is not centrally monitored, giving age and sex as examples, and the True Vision reporting site has a category for “other” hate crime. Such an offence is still a crime, but it is not counted in the national hate crime figures.
Is hate crime a separate criminal offence in the UK?
Mostly not. There is no single offence of “committing a hate crime” in England and Wales. Instead, the law adds hostility to existing offences in three main ways.
Racially or religiously aggravated offences
Sections 28 to 32 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 create aggravated versions of certain offences. Under section 28, an offence is racially or religiously aggravated if, at the time of the offence or immediately before or after it, the offender demonstrates hostility towards the victim based on their membership, or presumed membership, of a racial or religious group, or if the offence is motivated wholly or partly by that hostility. The aggravated offences cover:
- Assaults (section 29): common assault, actual bodily harm, wounding or grievous bodily harm under section 20 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, and strangulation or suffocation.
- Criminal damage (section 30): with a maximum of fourteen years’ imprisonment.
- Public order offences (section 31): causing fear or provocation of violence, and intentional or non-intentional harassment, alarm or distress under sections 4, 4A and 5 of the Public Order Act 1986.
- Harassment and stalking (section 32): under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
Each carries a higher maximum sentence than the basic offence. Racially or religiously aggravated common assault, for example, can be tried in the Crown Court with a maximum of two years’ imprisonment.
Hostility as an aggravating factor at sentencing
For every other offence, and for hostility based on disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity, the route is section 66 of the Sentencing Act 2020. Where an offence is aggravated by racial or religious hostility, or hostility related to disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity, the court must treat that as an aggravating factor and must say in open court that the offence is so aggravated. Section 66 does not apply to racial or religious hostility for the aggravated offences above, because the hostility is already part of those offences.
The CPS describes this as an “uplift” in sentence. It is the CPS’s job to put the evidence of hostility before the court, and the police’s job to gather it.
Stirring up hatred
The Public Order Act 1986 contains separate offences of stirring up hatred, which target words, behaviour or material aimed at a group rather than an individual victim. Part 3 covers racial hatred and applies to threatening, abusive or insulting words, behaviour or material that are intended or likely to stir up racial hatred. Part 3A covers religious hatred and hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation, and is narrower: the words or behaviour must be threatening and the person must intend to stir up hatred. Part 3A also contains express protections for freedom of expression, including discussion, criticism and expressions of dislike of religions and beliefs. Prosecutions under both Parts need the consent of the Attorney General.
What is the difference between a hate crime and a hate incident?
A hate crime is a criminal offence perceived to be motivated by hostility. A hate incident is something perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice that is not a crime. For more than two decades, following the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, police forces in England and Wales recorded many such reports as “non-crime hate incidents” (NCHIs), and since 2023 that recording has been governed by a statutory code of practice under sections 60 and 61 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.
That system is now being dismantled. On 31 March 2026 the government published its response to a review of non-crime hate incidents by the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council, accepting all of the review’s recommendations and announcing that NCHIs will be scrapped. Under the new approach, police will record an incident only where there is a clear policing purpose, the Home Office will update the national standard for incident recording with a narrower definition, and incidents that meet the threshold will not be given crime reference numbers or use terms such as “suspect” and “victim”.
The legal change is in section 182 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026, which repeals the statutory basis for the NCHI code. When we checked legislation.gov.uk on 8 October 2026, that section was listed as not yet in force, and new guidance for forces was still being developed. In practice, this means two things for anyone working with the public:
- if what happened may be a crime, report it as a crime, and say clearly that you believe hostility was behind it; and
- if it is not a crime, the police may not record it, but it still matters for the person affected and for your organisation, which can record it internally, offer support and act under its own policies.
Is misogyny or hostility based on sex a hate crime?
Not yet in England and Wales. As at 8 October 2026, sex is not one of the five centrally monitored hate crime strands, and section 66 of the Sentencing Act 2020 does not list hostility based on sex. That is about to change in part. Section 145 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026, rewrites section 28 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 so that the aggravated offences cover hostility related to disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity as well as race and religion, and, for the aggravated assault, criminal damage, harassment and some public order offences, hostility related to sex. When we checked on 8 October 2026, legislation.gov.uk listed section 145 as prospective, meaning it has been passed but no commencement date has yet been set.
Scotland has gone further on timing. The Scottish Parliament has approved regulations, made on 17 March 2026, that add sex to the Scottish hate crime legislation from 5 April 2027, for both the statutory aggravation and the stirring up offence. They define sex by reference to biological sex.
How is hate crime law different in Scotland and Northern Ireland?
Criminal law is devolved, so the rules differ across the UK. In Scotland, the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 came into force on 1 April 2024. Section 1 makes any offence “aggravated by prejudice” where the offender demonstrates or is motivated by malice and ill-will based on age, disability, race (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or variations in sex characteristics. The Act also contains an offence of stirring up hatred covering those characteristics, with sex due to be added from 5 April 2027 as described above. Hate crime in Scotland is reported to Police Scotland, not through the England and Wales online form.
In Northern Ireland, Article 2 of the Criminal Justice (No. 2) (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 requires courts to treat hostility based on race, religion, sexual orientation or disability as an aggravating factor and to say so in open court. Hate crime there is reported to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
How common is hate crime in England and Wales?
The Home Office’s Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2026, published on 8 October 2026, reports 146,825 hate crimes recorded by the police, a 7% increase on the previous year. Race accounted for 74% of them. Race and religious hate crimes rose, while recorded sexual orientation, disability and transgender hate crimes fell slightly.
Those figures need careful reading. The Home Office says police recorded figures are not a good measure of how much hate crime happens, because not all of it is reported, and that recording improvements since 2014 mean they do not give reliable long-term trends. What they do show is the demand on the police.
How do you report a hate crime?
You can report a hate crime as a victim, a witness or on behalf of someone else. You do not need to be sure it is a hate crime: describe what happened and say why you think hostility was involved.
- Get safe first. If anyone is in immediate danger, or a crime is happening now, call 999.
- For non-emergencies, contact the police. Call 101 or use the police online reporting service. In England and Wales, the True Vision website, owned by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, links to the police.uk hate crime report form.
- Use a third-party reporting route if you prefer. Some people do not want to go to the police directly. The CPS lists charities that can support you to report, including Stop Hate UK, Tell MAMA for anti-Muslim hate, the Community Security Trust for antisemitic hate, and Galop for anti-LGBT+ hate. Some local councils and community organisations also act as third-party reporting centres.
- Say why you think it was hate-motivated. Mention any words used, symbols, the timing, or anything else that suggested hostility. Your perception is enough for the police to flag it.
- Keep a reference number and a record. Note who you spoke to and what you were told will happen next.
- In Scotland and Northern Ireland, report to Police Scotland or the PSNI. True Vision’s Northern Ireland page says PSNI reports can be made on 101 option 2, using the PSNI online form, or through the True Vision form, which is sent to the PSNI.
How can you support a victim of hate crime?
Hate crime targets who someone is, so its effect often reaches beyond the incident. A person may feel unsafe at home, at work or online, and others who share the characteristic may feel targeted too. Your first response matters more than knowing the law.
- Listen and believe. Let the person tell you what happened in their own words. Do not question whether it “really” was hate, or suggest they misread the situation.
- Check safety. Are they in danger now? Do they need medical help, a safe place to go, or someone to stay with them?
- Explain the options and respect their choice. Reporting to the police, using a third-party route or getting support without reporting are all valid. If you work with children or adults at risk, follow your safeguarding procedure, which may require you to share information.
- Point them to support. Victim Support is an independent charity offering free, confidential support to people affected by crime in England and Wales, including a 24-hour Supportline, and the specialist charities above support particular communities.
- Follow up. A short check-in a few days later tells the person they were taken seriously.
How to preserve evidence
Good evidence helps the police show hostility, which is what turns an offence into a hate crime at court. Encourage the person to:
- write down what happened as soon as possible, including exact words, descriptions of the people involved and the names of witnesses;
- keep messages, emails and social media posts, and take screenshots that show the date, time and account name, rather than deleting or replying to them;
- leave damaged property or graffiti in place until the police have seen it, or photograph it if it must be removed; and
- note any CCTV that may have captured the incident, since many systems overwrite recordings within days or weeks.
What should employers and services do about hate crime?
Employers, schools, care providers and other services are often where hate crime is first disclosed, or where it happens. A good response has four parts.
- A clear policy. Say that hate-motivated behaviour by staff, service users, customers or visitors will not be tolerated, and explain how to report it internally and how the organisation will support anyone affected.
- Internal reporting and recording. Record incidents even when they are not crimes. Patterns of low-level hostility, such as repeated comments aimed at one group, are often the early warning sign.
- Support for police reporting. Help staff and service users report to the police if they want to, including giving them time to do so and preserving CCTV and records.
- Training. Managers and frontline staff need to recognise hate crime, respond well and know where to refer. For public bodies, this also supports the public sector equality duty in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, which includes having due regard to the need to foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
It also helps to keep the two legal systems separate. Hate crime is criminal law, dealt with by the police and the CPS. Discrimination and harassment at work are civil matters under the Equality Act 2010, enforced through employment tribunals and civil courts. Under section 26, harassment is unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic that violates someone’s dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them. The same behaviour can be both: a racist assault in the workplace can be a hate crime and also unlawful harassment for which the employer may be liable. Conduct can also be unlawful harassment without being a crime at all. Our guides to whether bullying is illegal at work and what equality, diversity and inclusion mean cover the civil law side.
Where hate is linked to extremist ideology, staff in schools, health, local authorities and other specified bodies may also need to consider the Prevent duty. Our guide to Prevent training requirements explains who that applies to.
What hate crime training is available online?
Nexis CPD’s Hate Crime Awareness course explains the perception-based definition, the five monitored strands, the difference between hate crime and hate incidents, the impact on victims and communities, and how to respond, preserve evidence and report. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Awareness covers the Equality Act 2010 and inclusive practice, and Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace covers harassment law, employer responsibilities and how to handle complaints.
£9 per course. CPD accredited, 100% online, verifiable e-certificate. Pay for 2, get 3 — any 3 courses for £18. These are CPD-accredited awareness courses, not Ofqual-regulated qualifications or legal training. They do not replace your organisation’s own policies, safeguarding procedures or any training your regulator requires.
Frequently asked questions
What is a hate crime in the UK?
In England and Wales, a hate crime is any criminal offence that the victim or anyone else perceives to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity, including perceived membership of one of those groups.
Is hate crime a specific offence?
Mostly not. Hate crime is usually an existing offence, such as assault, criminal damage or harassment, committed with hostility. The law deals with it through racially or religiously aggravated offences in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and a duty on courts under section 66 of the Sentencing Act 2020 to treat hostility as an aggravating factor. Stirring up hatred under the Public Order Act 1986 is a separate set of offences.
What is the difference between a hate crime and a hate incident?
A hate crime is a criminal offence perceived to be motivated by hostility. A hate incident is perceived to be motivated by hostility but is not a crime. The government announced on 31 March 2026 that police recording of non-crime hate incidents will be scrapped and replaced with a narrower approach based on a clear policing purpose.
Is misogyny a hate crime in England and Wales?
Not as at 8 October 2026. Sex is not one of the five monitored strands. The Crime and Policing Act 2026 will extend some aggravated offences to hostility related to sex, but that section had not been brought into force when we checked. In Scotland, sex is due to be added to the hate crime legislation from 5 April 2027.
How do I report a hate crime?
Call 999 in an emergency. Otherwise call 101, report online through the police or the True Vision website, or use a third-party reporting organisation such as Stop Hate UK. In Scotland report to Police Scotland, and in Northern Ireland to the PSNI.
Can I report a hate crime for someone else?
Yes. Witnesses and other people can report a hate crime, and the definition includes offences perceived as hate-motivated by any other person, not only the victim. If the person affected is an adult, involve them where you can and respect their wishes unless there is a risk of harm.
This article is general information about hate crime law and reporting, not legal advice. It reflects the law and official guidance as we found them on 8 October 2026, and parts of it, including non-crime hate incident recording and the extension of aggravated offences to hostility based on sex, are changing. If you have been affected by a crime, contact the police or a victim support organisation, and for a specific legal question take advice from a solicitor. Nexis CPD courses are CPD-accredited awareness training, not Ofqual-regulated qualifications.