The government is cutting all funding for the Islamophobia reporting service Tell Mama, leaving it facing closure weeks after it revealed a record number of anti-Muslim hate incidents in Britain.
Since its foundation in 2012, Tell Mama has been wholly funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to run its reporting service, which received almost 11,000 reports in 2023-4, and support victims of Islamophobia.
Now it has informed Tell Mama that no grant will be provided from the end of this month, and has not given details of any alternative provision.
Police sources raised alarm over the probable impact of the cut, saying information provided by Tell Mama under a data sharing agreement signed in 2015 has been “invaluable” for monitoring indicators of rising tensions and responding to potential threats.
Government funding will stop at the end of this financial year, weeks after
Tell Mama said it received 10,700 reports last year, of which 9,600 were verified, showing street-based incidents on the rise and a sharp increase in online activity after the Southport attack and ensuing riots.
Separate police figures show a record number of religious hate crimes in England and Wales in the year to March 2024, believed to be driven by the Israel-Gaza conflict. Muslims were the most targeted group (38% of police-recorded religious hate crimes), followed by Jews (33%).
Several recent far-right terror plots have targeted Muslims, and on Thursday a court heard that an alleged neo-Nazi terror cell had been planning attacks on mosques and synagogues in north-west England, and that one of its members discussed torturing an imam.
Fiyaz Mughal, the founder of Tell Mama, said its resources were being cut while “the far right and populists across Europe are growing significantly”. He said: “There are going to be more individuals targeted, we know that in the current environment, and where are they going to go? This is an injustice at a time where I have never seen anti-Muslim rhetoric become so mainstream.”
Mughal said Tell Mama’s reporting service was a point of contact for vulnerable victims who do not feel able to go to the police, and also researched emerging threats to security and cohesion. “Labour talks a lot about countering Islamophobia but they are cutting the only project doing anything on a national scale – supporting victims, working with numerous police forces and supporting prosecutions,” he added. “I’m not aware of any other organisation that can do this work and even if a new agency tried, it would take them 10 to 15 years to reach where Tell Mama is.”
He said the organisation was meant to “replicate and develop” the work done for Jewish communities by the Community Security Trust (CST), which runs an antisemitism reporting hotline, offers support and security advice and conducts research. The CST receives grants from the Home Office, rather than MHCLG, and its funding is not at risk, the Observer understands.
Mughal accused the government of “saying one thing and doing another” after announcing a new working group on anti-Muslim hatred, chaired by the former Conservative attorney general Dominic Grieve.
Last month the ministry said the working group would draw up a new definition of Islamophobia and “support a wider stream of work to tackle the unacceptable incidents of anti-Muslim hatred”.
Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, said then: “The rise in anti-Muslim hate crime is unacceptable and has no place in our society. That’s why we’ve committed to defining anti-Muslim hatred/Islamophobia, as crucial steps forward in tackling it and creating a society where everyone feels safe and welcome.”
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said the Macpherson report after the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 showed many victims of hate crime do not report to police.
“To address this under-reporting and to ensure that all victims receive the necessary support, we have established partnerships with trusted charities who can offer ‘third-party reporting’ options and serve as conduits to affected communities,” a spokesperson said.
“In the wake of critical incidents in the UK and globally, including events of 7 October 2023, we have witnessed marked increases in hate crime and tensions. Tell Mama and similar organisations that support other communities have provided invaluable insights and reporting data. These contributions have allowed for the effective analysis of community tensions and informed actions to reduce such tensions.”
Contacted by the Observer, the ministry did not answer questions about why Tell Mama’s funding was being withdrawn, or what alternative service would be funded. A spokesperson said: “Religious and racial hatred has absolutely no place in our society, and we will not tolerate Islamophobia in any form. This year we have made up to £1m of funding available to Tell Mama to provide support for victims of Islamophobia, and we will set out our approach to future funding in due course.”
