In 2011, the police recorded 44,519 crimes where the victim, or any other person, perceived the criminal offence was motivated by hostility based on a person's race, religious belief, sexual orientation, disability or where the victim was perceived to be transgender. This compares with 48,127 crimes reported in 2010.

ACPO lead on hate crime, Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris, said:

"Hate crimes cause a great deal of fear among victims and communities. We are determined to reduce the harm caused by hate crime and as a service, we have listened to victims' groups who have told us that publishing this data will improve confidence in the police and the wider criminal justice system.

"The 2011 data importantly shows a further increase in disability hate crime. While we would obviously want to see reductions in the incidence of all hate crime, we know that disability hate crimes have been significantly under-reported in the past. We remain committed to building confidence in and improving our recording practices, so that more victims get the service they deserve. We will do all in our power to continue with this positive improvement and I would encourage anyone who is a victim of hate crime to report this to their local police or use True Vision, our online reporting facility at www.report-it.org.uk."

From April 2008, all police forces began to measure hate crime in the five monitored victim strands.

Hate crime victim's groups have informed the Government's Hate Crime Strategy Board, which includes representatives from across government and the criminal justice system, that the publication of hate crime data would help improve victim's confidence in the criminal justice system.

As a result, the Hate Crime Strategy Board asked ACPO to publish hate crime data as an interim measure, pending inclusion in formal Home Office statistics. The data and previous years releases can be viewed on our True Vision web facility at http://www.report-it.org.uk/hate_crime_data1.