Hate crime and hate speech – Government action

UK Government actions

• In December 2020, the UK Government published its Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper. The Government has committed to establishing a new statutory duty of care on companies to tackle harms caused by content or activity on their online services, including hate crime and hate speech. Compliance with this duty of care will be overseen and enforced by Ofcom.
• In November 2020, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government awarded £1.8 million through the Faith, Race and Hate Crime Grants scheme to support community groups and civil society organisations to run short projects to ‘champion social cohesion’ and tackle religiously and racially motivated hate crime.
• In October 2020, the Crown Prosecution Service updated its prosecution guidance on different types of hate crime in England and Wales: racist and religious hate crime; homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic hate crime; and disability hate crime.
• In September 2020, the Law Commission launched a consultation on reforms to the legal framework on hate crime in England and Wales, following a request by the UK Government for it to review the laws and consider amendments to improve their effectiveness.
• In January 2020, the Crown Prosecution Service published updated guidance for schools on LGBT+ bullying and hate crime. This guidance was withdrawn in April 2020 following a legal challenge.
• In February 2019, the UK Government published an Integrated Communities Action Plan which includes some steps to tackle hate crime in England, such as updating the membership of the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group to ensure wide community and expert representation.
• In October 2018, the UK Government launched a refreshed action plan on hate crime for England and Wales, entitled Action Against Hate: The UK Government’s plan to tackle hate crime – ‘Two years on’. It provides an update on five key areas: preventing hate crime; responding to hate crime in communities; increasing the reporting of hate crime; improving support for the victims of hate crime; and building understanding of hate crime.
• As outlined in an October 2018 report on implementing the 2016 action plan on hate crime, between 2016 and 2018 UK Government departments funded projects on prevention, response and reporting of hate crime in England and Wales. For example, the Home Office committed £900k to ‘Community Demonstration Projects’ to find new ways to respond to hate crime.
• In July 2018, the UK Government published an LGBT Action Plan to improve the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. It includes action to improve the reporting and recording of, and the response to, LGBT hate crime in England and Wales.
• In July 2016, the UK Government published a four-year action plan on hate crime for England and Wales, entitled Action Against Hate: The UK Government’s plan for tackling hate crime. It included commitments to prevent hate crime, increase reporting of hate crime and to improve support for victims.
• In 2016, Nottinghamshire Police launched a pilot to record incidents of misogyny, which has since been replicated by police forces in other areas.

Read our assessment of the UK Government’s progress on hate crime and hate speech.