November 05, 2025 | Incident and Crime Statistics , Hate Crime and Equality
Request Number: FOI/15972
Category: Incident and Crime Statistics – Victim
Subject: Hate Crimes Against Transgender People
Request and Answer:
Your request for information has now been considered. In respect of Section 1(1)(a) of the Act we can confirm that the Police Service of Northern Ireland does hold information to which your request relates. The decision has been taken not to supply the information you have requested and the reasons for this are set out in more detail below. We have also provided you with links to guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office which we have followed in responding to your request.
Question 1
Please can I request the data for the following for the dates 01/01/2015 to 30/09/2025 inclusive:
a) The number of transgender hate crimes reported per year from 2015 to 2025 inclusive.
b) For 2024 and 2025, please break these down by month.
Answer 1a
Section 17(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires the Police Service of Northern Ireland, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:
- states that fact,
- specifies the exemption in question and
- states (if not otherwise apparent) why the exemption applies.
The exemptions are listed below:
Section 21 - Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means
Section 22 – Information intended for future publication
The full text of exemptions can be found at www.legislation.gov.uk and further guidance on how they operate can be located on the Information Commissioners Office website www.ico.org.uk.
1a) - This information is published in our annual Trends in Hate Motivated Incidents and Crimes bulletin, which covers up to March 2024.
For the remaining period up to June 2025, this information is published in our quarterly update bulletins.
You can find these at the following link: Hate Motivation Statistics | PSNI
Figures up to and including September 2025 will be available in the next bulletin, which will be published in November. There are therefore exempt by virtue of S22 of FOIA, please see below for more information:
Under Section 22(1)(a) of the Act the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is not obliged to disclose information that is held with a view to its publication at some future date.
The information you have requested will be published by PSNI in the next bulletin, which will be published in November.
Section 22 is a qualified exemption so therefore the PSNI is obliged to carry out a Public Interest Test.
Public Interest Test
Factors Favouring Release
Disclosure of requested information would demonstrate PSNI’s openness and transparency.
Factors Favouring Retention
The spending of additional funds in order to facilitate this FOI request would not be in the public interest as this information is due to be released in the future.
Balancing Test/Decision
There needs to be a real and valid reason which identifies a tangible benefit to the public from disclosure of information. As the information is intended to be published at a future date, it is reasonable to exempt it.
Answer 1b
This information is available through the quarterly bulletin, reference in answer 1a.
Question 2
a) What types of offence were these - e.g. public order offences, violence against the person without injury, criminal damage and arson, violence against a person with injury, stalking and harassment.
b) For 2024 and 2025, please break these down by month.
Answer 2a
Please see answer 1a.
Answer 2b
Due to the small number of transgender identity hate motivated crimes, we do not publish a breakdown of offence classification by month as part of disclosure control. This information is therefore exempt by virtue of Section 40(2)(a)(b) by virtue of Section 40(3)(A)(a). Please see below:
Section 17(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires the Police Service of Northern Ireland, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:
- states that fact,
- specifies the exemption in question and
- states (if not otherwise apparent) why the exemption applies.
.The exemption is listed below:
Section 40(2)(a)(b) by virtue of 40(3)(A)(a) Personal Information – Information constitutes personal data and disclosure would contravene any of the Data Protection principles.
The full text of exemptions can be found at www.legislation.gov.uk and further guidance on how they operate can be located on the Information Commissioners Office website www.ico.org.uk.
Section 40
Section 40 (2) of the FOIA is an absolute exemption which means there is no requirement on PSNI to consider whether there is a public interest in disclosure. It is an interface exemption and we must consider whether release of the information would breach the General Data Protection Regulations (‘GDPR’) or the Data Protection Act 2018 (‘DPA’) Third party personal information constitutes ‘personal data’ under the GDPR (Article 4) and DPA (Part 1 s.3).
Section 40 (2) of the FOIA, is an absolute exemption which means there is no requirement on the PSNI to consider whether there is a public interest in disclosure. It is an interface exemption and we must consider whether release of the information would breach the General Data Protection Regulations (‘GDPR’). Information about monies paid to an individual will be their personal data, there PSNI has considered whether disclosure would contravene any of the six data protection principles contained within the GDPR.
The six data protection principles are good information handling standards which PSNI must comply with in relation to how it handles personal information, including deciding whether to disclose it or not. In particular, the first principle requires personal data to be processed in a lawful and fair manner. In considering whether it is ‘fair’ to any individual to release information about them, PSNI considered the specific nature of the information involved and how individual’s would reasonably expect their financial information to be treated. We consider that the individual mentioned would not have any reasonable expectations PSNI would disclose such specific information about him in breach of the first principle of data protection legislation. PSNI considers this information is therefore exempt under Section 40 (2) of the FOIA as it contravenes data protection legislation to release it.
The release of information under Freedom of Information (FOI) is a release into the public domain and not just to the individual requesting the information. Once information is disclosed by FOI there is no control or limits as to who or how the information is shared with other individuals, therefore a release under FOI is considered a disclosure to the world in general.
Question 3
a) Of those where there was violence with an injury, what were the outcomes of this? E.g the victim was hospitalised/died/ sustained life-changing injuries.
b) for 2024 and 2025 please break these down by month.
Answer 3a
Of the 44 recorded violence against the person with injury offences with a transgender identity hate motivation during the period April 2015 and March 2025, 7 were recorded as ‘5D Assault with Intent to Cause Serious Harm’ and 37 were recorded as ‘8N Assault with Injury’. Please note that these offence classifications include both attempted and substantive offences.
Answer 3b
This is an even more specific request than 2b, and we would therefore continue to apply disclosure control to this information. Therefore, Section 40(2), laid out in answer 2b, also applies here.
Question 4
The outcomes of reports of transgender hate crimes reported from 2015 to 2025 inclusive.
Please perform a search on your Crime Recording System for all substantiated crimes recorded between 01/01/2015 and 30/09/2025 where the hate tags of Transphobic and Gender Identity - Trans have been applied.
Answer 4
Answer 1a also applies here, with the addition of the following link: Police Recorded Crime Statistics | PSNI