In monitoring the state response to the August 2024 race hate violence, PPR submitted a number of requests for information to state bodies under the Freedom of Information Act. Below is an overview of mechanisms the state has developed to support victims of hate crime, along with the limited information available about their reach and impact.

See below the article for Freedom of Information source documents.

1. Hate Incident Practical Action Scheme

The Hate Incident Practical Action Scheme – supported by the PSNI, the DOJ, and the DFC and administered by the Housing Executive -- has been in place since 2007. It offers personal and home protection measures to people who have been subjected to a hate incident related to their race, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity, political opinion or religious belief in or near their home. It is available to home owners, private rental and Housing Executive tenants and, from 2014, housing association tenants (see PSNI leaflet and Housing Executive webpage).

Mechanism: To be eligible for support, people must report the hate incident the PSNI. Once a police officer has confirmed the report and made an assessment, the Housing Executive may carry out minimum repairs to keep the home is wind- and watertight. For people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness, the Housing Executive may also store their belongings and arrange for them to be re-housed.

In some circumstances people can request a follow up visit by police; they may provide a personal alarm and talk about additional repair works or home security improvements by the Housing Executive.

Uptake: According to the Department of Justice, its annual budget allocation to HIPA over the last three years was £4,000 per year. 

The Housing Executive reported that across NI eight applications were received in 2022/23 (2 of them in South Belfast, out of 3 in Belfast as a whole). All of them were acted on. 

In 2023/24, eight applications were received across NI and all eight were acted on; one of these was in Belfast (South Belfast).

As of end September 2024, six applications had been received and acted on across the north, only one of them in Belfast.

Feedback: Anecdotally, there seems to be very little awareness of this scheme amongst, for instance, ethnic minorities who might be in a position to avail of it. In its June 2024 Hate Crime Manifesto, signed by a range of civil society organisations, the charity Victim Support NI said that the HIPA scheme “requires awareness raising and accessibility amongst support agencies” (p. 12).

More broadly, it identified “insufficient housing policies” as “one of the biggest roadblocks to properly supporting victims” (p. 10), and called for specific changes to Housing Executive points, re-housing, eviction and homelessness policies. It also recommended the collection and dissemination of more robust statistics, as well as more transparency around paramilitary involvement in housing-related incidents. Finally it urged the re-establishment of a hardship fund to help cover the additional costs of emergency relocation of victims of hate crime when necessary (p. 14).

2. Hate Crime Advocacy Service

The Hate Crime Advocacy Service, a consortium between Victim Support NI and other civil society groups such as Migrant Centre NI and the Rainbow Project, was set up in 2013. It is jointly funded by the Department of Justice and the PSNI. It offers free advocacy and support to victims of crimes related to their race, religious belief, sexual orientation, political opinion, gender identity or disability, providing people with information on how the court system works and helping them to report crimes and follow up with police. It also signposts people to other services that may be able to assist them, for instance with housing, health and psychological support.

The Service also offered expertise and information to initiatives such as the Housing Executive’s Hate Harassment Toolkit, launched in 2015 and updated in 2021.

Mechanism: The Hate Crime Advocacy Service does not require that people have officially reported to the police in order to avail of their support; they accept referrals from other organisations, or people can self-refer. They can arrange interpreters in a wide range of languages where required.

Uptake: Annually the service reportedly supports around 1,000 hate crime victims. Its Impact Report 2022-23 indicated it had completed 155 safety plans for people in need, and offered advice on emotional support or compensation to 153 people. Overall 7% of cases progressed to the Public Prosecution Service for consideration.

The Impact Report 2023-24 reported 281 safety plan completions, and 253 people advised on emotional support or compensation. A total of 105 cases were referred to other support services; 34 cases (3.4% of the year’s total) were forwarded by the PSNI to the Public Prosecution Service for consideration.

The Hate Crime Advocacy Service budget from the Department of Justice was £50,000 annually for the last three years.

Feedback: Similarly, the Service does not seem to have a high public profile amongst newcomer populations who might benefit from it.

The Hate Crime Manifesto – also produced by Victim Support NI with other organisations – recommended that the Hate Crime Advocacy Service become a statutory service to ensure its funding (p. 25). It further recommended that ‘sectarianism’ should be defined in NI law and covered by hate crime legislation going forward.

3. HelpInHand

The HelpInHand app initiative by the Chinese Welfare Association was set up in February 2024, in response to “frustration and disappointment that victims ‘ expectations of the handling of hate crime are often not met”.  Its funding comes from the Assets Recovery Community Scheme of the Department of Justice.

Mechanism: The app is downloadable via a range of platforms.  It has avatars in Polish, Romanian, Chinese, Arabic or English to help guide people through the NI system in their own language. It can help people record and report incidents as well as find support from a range of organisations.

Uptake / feedback: The Department of Justice spent £17,000 on the app over the last three years, but as a relatively new initiative there is no information available on its impact or on efforts to disseminate  and raise awareness of it. 

The following documents are source materials for the above information. Please contact the relevant statutory authority if you want copies:

Department for Communities: DFC/2024-0194, in 20 Sept 2024

Department of Justice: DOJ FOI\24\106 of 4 Oct 2024 and DOJ FOI\24\122 of 4 Nov 2024

PSNI: PSNI FOI 2024-03261 (undated but arrived 10 Oct 2024)

Northern Ireland Housing Executive: NIHE FOI 520 of 24 Sept 2024 and 534 of 18 Oct 2024, 18 Nov 2024