July 17, 2025 | Incident and Crime Statistics , Hate Crime and Equality
Request Number: FOI/14981
Category: Incident and Crime Statistics - Hate Crime and Equality
Subject: Monthly Hate Crime Figures
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.
Request 1
For each month from January 2020, the number of hate crimes recorded, split by strand (such as: Race, Religion, Sexual Orientation, Disability, Transgender Identity)
Request 2
For each month from January 2020, the number of hate crimes recorded, split by strand and category (such as: Violence against the person, stalking and harassment, public order offences, criminal damage and arson)
Answer
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:
a. states that fact,
b. specifies the exemption in question and
c. states (if not otherwise apparent) why the exemption applies.
The exemption is listed below:
Section 21 - Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means
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.
We publish monthly figures for all six strands of hate in the spreadsheet which accompanies our quarterly Hate Motivated Incidents and Crimes bulletins. Currently figures from April 2019 are included for Race, Sexual Orientation and Sectarian and from April 2023 for disability, faith/religion and transgender identity. For earlier months, the full data series (currently up to March 2024), are published in the pivot table spreadsheet which accompanies our annual ‘Trends in Hate Motivated Incidents and Crimes’ bulletin.
We also publish information on offence classifications for race, sexual orientation and sectarian motivated offences in our quarterly bulletins. We publish financial year information for all 6 strands in our annual bulletin. These are grouped as disclosure control due to the small numbers involved.
These bulletins are available on the PSNI website:
https://www.psni.police.uk/about-us/our-publications-and-reports/official-statistics/hate-motivation-statistics