A significant surge in antisemitic hate crime has been recorded across England and Wales, with official figures revealing a sharp increase in religious offences over the past year.
Data for the year ending March 2024 shows a 25 per cent rise in religious hate crimes compared to the preceding 12 months.
This was driven by a ârise in hate crimes against Jewish people and to a lesser extent Muslims and has occurred since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflictâ, the Home Office said.
A total of 10,484 religious hate crime offences were logged by police forces in 2023/24, marking an increase from 8,370 in 2022/23.
This represents the highest annual figure since records began in 2011/12. Specifically, hate crimes targeting Jewish individuals more than doubled, rising from 1,543 in the previous year to 3,282 by March 2024.
More recent figures obtained by the PA news agency through Freedom of Information requests show many of the largest police forces in the UK saw sharp jumps in antisemitic offences in the year following the start of the Hamas-Israel conflict in October 2023.
Greater Manchester Police recorded 446 such offences in the 12 months to September 2024, a jump year on year from 152; West Yorkshire Police recorded 215, up from 77; West Midlands Police recorded 83, up from 23; and Merseyside Police recorded 78, up from 45.
The British Transport Police, which operates across the rail network of England, Scotland and Wales, recorded 287 antisemitic offences in the year ending September 2024, up from 74 in the previous 12 months.
The Metropolitan Police changed the way it records hate crime at the end of February 2024 but, under the previous method, an average of 54 antisemitic offences were logged per month in January-September 2023, followed by a steep rise to 517 in October that year, 411 in November and 228 in December.
Some of the UKâs medium and smaller-sized forces saw a similar trend over this period, including Sussex Police, which recorded 137 antisemitic offences in the year to September 2024, up from 41; Northumbria Police, which recorded 77, up from 54; and Hertfordshire Police, which recorded 61, up from 25.
Greater Manchester Police publishes its own provisional monthly hate crime data, with figures currently available up to August 2025.
This is âliveâ data, which means it is subject to revision in the future as crimes get reclassified or cancelled.
It shows a total of 123 antisemitic offences have so far been recorded in the year to September 2025, down from 446 in the year to September 2024.
A separate set of data is collected and published by the Jewish charity the Community Services Trust (CST).
These figures are not based on police-recorded offences and are instead reflect the number of antisemitic incidents that have been reported to the charity by victims, witnesses or organisations.
Some 1,521 antisemitic incidents across the UK were reported to the CST in the first half of 2025.
This was the second highest total recorded by the organisation in the first six months of the year, down from the record high of 2,019 incidents between January and June 2024.
There were 3,528 incidents recorded by the CST in 2024, its second highest annual total, down from a record 4,296 incidents in 2023.
