Justice for Disabled Victims open letter
Urgent change is needed to protect Disabled victims of hate crime

Click here to sign this letter on behalf of an organisation. If you’re an individual, please sign our petition and write to your MP.
Open letter to the Prime Minister
We all deserve to enjoy lives free from harassment, hate and discrimination. As our new Prime Minister, we urge you to act on your pledge to foster ‘respect and equality for all’ by ensuring justice for Disabled victims of hate crime. Disabled people must be included in the development and implementation of more neighbourhood policing, tougher sentencing, and reform of the UK’s hate crime legislation during this parliamentary term.
Disabled people are not a homogeneous group. Many victims of hate crime are targeted on the basis of multiple protected characteristics, for example Disabled people from the global majority. The recent far-right riots in the UK have only highlighted how much more needs to be done to protect marginalised communities from violence. The law must recognise intersectional hate crime, as well as prosecuting race and religion motivated crime using the full force of existing laws.
Disabled victims of hate crime are often targeted in their homes and neighbourhoods [1]. Crimes against Disabled people are often ‘downgraded’ to anti-social behaviour or neighbour disputes. To improve detection rates and prosecutions for hate crime against Disabled people, we need responsive, well trained neighbourhood police officers who can spot signs of cuckooing, coercive control, harassment and abuse as part of a pattern of sustained targeting.
We urge the UK Government to:
- Introduce relevant legislation to provide better protection for Disabled victims. This must include intersectional hate crime, and more clarification on the definition of ‘hostility’ to better reflect how Disabled people are targeted.
- Revise and publish a National Hate Crime Prevention Strategy that includes commissioning research, resources and capacity for support services. This must recognise that individuals have intersectional identities that impact the justice they receive.
- Work with Disabled people on anti-social behaviour issues, making sure any action plans include Disabled people and the specific issues they face in their communities.
Hate crime data
Shockingly, hate crime data was excluded from the most recent national crime survey for England and Wales. This is the only source of data on the impact of hate crime outside of official reports.
Recent Freedom of Information requests carried out by United Response and Leonard Cheshire [2] found that:
- 10,740 disability hate crimes were reported between April 2022 and March 2023.
- Approximately half of these reports involved violence. Over 1,300 occurred online.
- While disability hate crime reports are down by 3.7% from the record numbers of incidents in 2021/22, they are still higher than pre-pandemic figures.
- Despite the drop in hate crime reports, just 1.2% (132 reports) resulted in a charge or summons. This is down from an already extremely low 1.9% in 2021/22.
These figures, combined with an estimated 1 in 10 disability hate crimes being reported and the downgrading to anti-social behaviour, mean Disabled victims are not getting the justice they deserve.
Urgent change is needed
The Law Commission made recommendations in 2014 and 2020 to reform hate crime laws, including laws that would ensure better protections for Disabled victims.
The United Nations has also expressed concern over the rise of hate crime in the UK [3]. They have called for comprehensive action to combat racism and bias.
Baroness Newlove’s Victim Commissioner’s office has published several reports in the last few months that highlight the disproportionate impact of crime on Disabled people. In particular, she notes the low level of satisfaction with how crimes are dealt with [4], and the impact of not addressing anti-social behaviour, which can escalate into crime that is motivated by hostility and contempt [5].
It is imperative that we heed these calls and strive for better protection for Disabled victims. However, the Government has so far failed to act.
According to their website, the Hate Crime All Party Parliamentary Group has not met since February 2019 [6]. The UK Government’s National Hate Action Plan ended in May 2020 [7]. In April 2023, the UK government responded to the Law Commission’s recommendations on sex and gender [8]. To date, no other Law Commission recommendations have been debated or responded to.
With the increasingly volatile situations in the world that have been directly linked to increases in hate crime for UK citizens [9], this wave of intolerance and hatred needs to be addressed in law, policy and practice. Hate crime laws must be strengthened, to offer better protection for all. And hate crime must be recognised and prosecuted using the full force of the law. This can only be achieved by having a national hate crime strategy, providing resources for prevention, research, training, independent advocacy, policies and practices coproduced with people with lived experience.
We ask that your government takes urgent steps to improve justice for Disabled victims of hate crime, not just in legislation, but in policy and practice too. We need a national hate crime strategy, with government working with people with lived experience to better protect Disabled people from harassment, hatred and discrimination.
Organisations who have signed the letter
Action Disability Kensington and Chelsea
Bristol Disability Equality Forum
Coventry Youth Activists
DEWA (Deaf Ethnic Women’s Association)
Harrow Association of Disabled people (HAD)
Inclusion Barnet
Inclusion London
Nigeria Disability Association UK
Ruils Independent Living
WISH – standing together for women’s mental health
Click here to sign this letter on behalf of an organisation.
If you’re an individual, please sign our petition and write to your MP.
References
[1] Beyond the Numbers: Supporting Victims of Disability Hate Crime (inclusionlondon.org.uk)
[2] Disability hate crime charges continue to drop, new figures reveal – United Response
[3] UNCRDP Report 2024 – Inclusion London
[4] 2023 Victim Survey – Victims Commissioner
[7] Hate crime action plan 2016 to 2020 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
[9] Police record rise in religious hate crimes after Israel-Gaza war – BBC News