Hate crime

What is a hate crime?

A hate crime is any criminal offence that is motivated by hostility and prejudice towards a person’s identity or perceived identity. The following are the five nationally monitored strands:

  • disability
  • race
  • religion or faith
  • sexual orientation
  • transgender identity

Anyone can be affected by hate crime. You don’t have to be a member of the group to which the hostility is targeted at. You don’t have to be gay to have had homophobic abuse shouted at you. You may not be part of a religion and still have someone target you because they think you are.

Why should I report hate crime?

By reporting incidents, you will enable patterns to be built up of local behaviour and highlight areas of concern within your community. 

You can get support you may need and help ensure that offenders are brought to justice and cannot do the same to other people.

Reporting makes a difference - to you, your friends, and your life.​

How to report hate crime

If you’re a victim of a hate crime, you can now report at four community spaces via a pilot Third-Party Reporting Centre project:

  • Heart4Refugees
  • Tomorrow’s Women Wirral (women only)
  • Wirral Change
  • Wirral Deen Centre

Each centre has trained staff or volunteers who can sensitively take a hate crime report using this new council‑led pathway. For the first time, reports made at these centres will come directly to the council, giving victims an alternative, less formal route towards seeking help without initially needing to approach the police.

You can report either anonymously - providing intelligence to help identify trends and shape future support, or by giving your name - enabling a referral into Wirral’s Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) process and access to specialist victim‑support services.

Centre contact details:

Find more about the project at: Network of community groups set up to support reporting of hate crime

  • Merseyside Police:
  • Crimestoppers:
    • If you want to pass details of a hate crime (or any other) offender but do not want to talk to the police, you can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or via their website at www.crimestoppers-uk.org. You do not have to give your name and what you say is confidential. It is free to call.
  • StopHate UK:

Awareness materials