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Posted: Mon 11th May 2026
Updated: Mon 11th May
The rate at which North Wales Police is recording non-crime hate incidents rose by around 38 per cent after a statutory code intended to clarify the system came into force, according to Freedom of Information figures released this week.
The force recorded 263 such incidents in the 24 months before the code took effect on 3 June 2023, a rate of about 11 a month.
The 35 months that followed produced 530 incidents, a rate of about 15 a month.
The figures come after the Home Office announced in. March that it would scrap the non-crime hate incident system entirely, citing “unclear guidance” and “inconsistent approaches between police forces” as reasons.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said under the reforms police “will no longer be policing perfectly legal tweets” and would instead concentrate on patrolling streets and catching criminals.
The statutory code of practice for the recording of non-crime hate incidents became law in June 2023 under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.
Racial incidents were the largest category in both periods, accounting for 146 of the 263 incidents recorded before the code and 285 of the 530 logged after it.
Incidents linked to sexual orientation rose from 33 to 110, transgender-related reports went from 8 to 37, and religion-related reports from 10 to 35 across the same comparison.
The breakdowns by characteristic add up to 274 in the pre-code period and 565 afterwards, slightly above the headline incident totals of 263 and 530, which can happen where a single incident is logged against more than one characteristic.
North Wales Police did not provide details on why some reports were not recorded, the format the incidents took, the action taken or the source of each report, citing Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act on cost grounds.
The figures were released by North Wales Police’s Freedom of Information Unit in response to request 2026/445, published on 11 May.
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