Reference: FOI-2023-1661
You asked
I would like to get some data please.
I am trying to find out the amount of recorded online hate crimes (not incidents) in the UK for the past 3 years, broken down by characteristic.
We said
Thank you for your request.
The Home Office publish data regarding hate crime. Their latest publication is Hate Crime, England and Wales, 2022 to 2023. This annual publication includes data from police recorded crime. Unfortunately, this does not include a breakdown by online hate crime or by characteristics. These data are held by the Home Office who may be able to help you further and can be contacted at CrimeandPoliceStats@homeoffice.gov.uk.
The latest publication does not include data from The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). Estimates from the survey were last published in 'Hate crime, England and Wales, 2019 to 2020'. The CSEW is a face-to-face victimisation survey and also provides information on hate crimes experienced by people resident in England and Wales. However, it does not collect recorded online hate crime data specifically.
Please note that the size of the CSEW sample means the number of hate crime incidents and victims estimated in a single survey year is too unreliable to report on. Therefore, 3 annual datasets are combined to provide a larger sample which can be used to produce robust estimates for hate crime.
Table 11 within the accompanying appendix tables details the percentage of adults aged 16 and over who were victims of hate crime by personal characteristics from the year ending March 2018 to March 2020. However, this also does not include a breakdown by online hate crime.
The next publication of figures from the CSEW has been delayed because the face-to-face survey was suspended due to public health restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. CSEW interviews resumed in October 2021. This means that the first 3-year data set from the CSEW will not be available until 2025.
If you have any questions regarding the CSEW, please contact the ONS Centre for Crime and Justice at crimestatistics@ons.gov.uk.