Islamophobic hate crimes have surged by 15% in England and Wales, with Muslims accounting for almost half of all recorded religious hate offences, according to alarming new Home Office statistics.
The figures, published today, reveal that police recorded 5,132 religious hate crimes targeting Muslims in the year ending March 2026, compared with 4,479 the previous year.
This means that Muslims were the most frequently targeted religious community in absolute numbers, accounting for 46% of recorded religious hate crimes where the targeted religion was identified or recorded as unknown.
The increase comes amid growing concerns about anti-Muslim hostility, far-right demonstrations and attacks on mosques across Britain.
Overall, police recorded 146,825 hate crimes in England and Wales during the 12-month period, an increase of 7% compared with the previous year.
Religious hate crimes rose by 13% to 11,419 offences, while racially motivated hate crimes increased by 9% to 107,926.
The Home Office said both racial and religious hate crime had reached their highest recorded annual levels when figures from the Metropolitan Police were excluded to ensure reliable comparisons.
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Protests and international conflicts
The report identified significant spikes in Islamophobic offences during September 2025 and March 2026.
The September increase coincided with a series of protests and incidents of public disorder, while the March surge followed the outbreak of war between the United States and Iran on February 28.
The Home Office also highlighted the dramatic rise in anti-Muslim offences following the Southport murders in July 2024, when false claims about the attacker’s identity and religion helped fuel violent disorder across several English towns and cities.
August 2024 remains the month with the highest recorded number of anti-Muslim religious hate crimes in the comparable monthly data.
The latest figures suggest that hostility towards Muslims remains elevated beyond the immediate aftermath of major incidents.
Religious hate crimes
The latest statistics show that Muslims continue to account for the largest number of religiously motivated hate crimes recorded by police. The breakdown of offences targeting different religious communities was as follows:
Although Muslims experienced the highest number of recorded religious hate crimes, Jewish people experienced the highest rate relative to their population.
There were 117 recorded religious hate crimes targeting Jewish people per 10,000 Jewish residents, compared with 13 per 10,000 Muslims.
However, separate findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales, based on interviews conducted between 2022 and 2025, estimated that 0.8% of Muslim adults experienced religious hate crime annually, compared with 0.4% of Jewish adults.
The Home Office explained that the differences between police records and victimisation surveys may reflect underreporting, differences in the offences covered and the fact that individual victims can report multiple crimes.
Racial hatred reaches record levels
The rise in Islamophobia forms part of a wider increase in racially and religiously motivated offences across England and Wales.
Race-related offences accounted for approximately 74% of all police-recorded hate crimes, with 107,926 incidents during the reporting period. This represented a 9% increase on the previous year’s figure of 98,890.
The Home Office said the increase was partly driven by a rise in public order offences and assaults without injury.
Meanwhile, hate crimes targeting Jewish people increased by 10%, from 2,874 to 3,162. The report identified a spike in antisemitic offences in October 2025 following the terrorist attack at Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester.
In contrast, hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation fell by 1% to 21,407, while disability-related hate crimes decreased by 5% to 10,140.
Transgender hate crimes also declined by 4%.
Government promises action
Policing minister Sarah Jones described the findings as “a stark warning that hatred continues to blight our communities”.
She said: “This government will not tolerate people being targeted by threats and violence simply for being who they are.”
Jones added that ministers were providing additional funding to protect Muslim and Jewish communities and their places of worship, alongside wider policing reforms.
The government has also adopted a new non-statutory definition of anti-Muslim hostility, intended to improve recognition and understanding of discrimination and hatred directed at Muslims.
However, the latest figures raise further questions about the effectiveness of existing measures to tackle Islamophobia, particularly in the context of rising hostility towards mosques and Muslim communities.
The Home Office cautioned that police-recorded hate crime figures do not necessarily reflect the full extent of hate crime experienced by communities.
Not every incident is reported to police, while improvements in crime recording and identification can also influence the statistics.
The latest statistics cover offences recorded up to March 2026 and therefore do not capture incidents that have occurred during the subsequent six months.
