Liverpool, England (UK): The Sikh Federation (UK) has accused the British Government of failing the Sikh community by allowing Anti-Sikh hate crimes to be concealed within broader racial and religious hate-crime statistics. Speaking at a Labour Party Conference fringe meeting organised by Stand Up To Racism, Kuldeep Singh, Chief Executive (Administration) of the Sikh Federation (UK), called for improved police recording, accurate victim data and stronger action against Anti-Sikh hate crimes.

Addressing the meeting, Kuldeep Singh said that serious incidents involving Sikh victims had exposed shortcomings in policing, prosecution and the criminal justice system.

“You cannot tackle Anti-Sikh hate if you cannot see Anti-Sikh hate. The Government needs to stop hiding the problem in the data and start confronting its true scale,” he said.

Three West Midlands Cases Highlight Concerns

Kuldeep Singh cited three serious cases in the West Midlands to highlight the challenges faced by Sikh victims and what the Federation described as institutional failures in addressing Anti-Sikh hate crimes.

The first involved an attack on two elderly Sikh taxi drivers in Wolverhampton in August 2025. Although three men were arrested at the scene and witnesses and video evidence were available, charges were not brought until January 2026. The trial is now scheduled for September 2029.

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Expressing concern over the delay, Kuldeep Singh said the elderly victims would have to wait more than four years for a trial despite the arrests and available evidence. He questioned the priority given to Anti-Sikh hate crimes.

The second case involved a young Sikh woman who was attacked while travelling to work in Oldbury in September 2025. Police described the incident as racially aggravated and appealed for witnesses. A £20,000 Crimestoppers reward was subsequently offered, while members of the Sikh community launched their own campaign.

Kuldeep Singh said those responsible had still not been identified more than a year after the attack.

The third case involved a young Sikh woman in Walsall who was followed home and subjected to a religiously aggravated rape. The perpetrator was identified through CCTV and other evidence, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

According to Kuldeep Singh, all three cases were recorded as racially or religiously aggravated offences rather than specifically identified as Anti-Sikh hate crimes. He said this raised serious questions about whether official statistics accurately reflected the experiences of Sikh victims.

“The Sikh community should not have to campaign, organise rewards and lobby Parliament before institutions take Anti-Sikh hate seriously. We need equal protection, equal priority and accurate recording,” he said.

Concerns Over Hate-Crime Statistics

Referring to the latest Home Office figures, Kuldeep Singh highlighted what he described as significant shortcomings in the recording of hate crimes.

According to the figures cited by the Sikh Federation (UK), race hate crimes accounted for 71% of all police-recorded hate crimes, with 82,490 offences recorded in England and Wales in the year ending March 2025. Religious hate crimes accounted for 7,164 offences.

The Federation also pointed to Home Office data showing that police forces had recorded victim ethnicity in only 40% of racially or religiously aggravated offences, despite the Home Office having mandated such recording for more than five years.

The Sikh Federation (UK) further raised concerns that police forces were not required under the Government Statistical Service’s existing ethnicity standards to record Sikh and Jewish victims as members of distinct ethnic groups, despite both communities having legal recognition as ethnic groups under the Equality Act 2010.

The Federation called for these concerns to be addressed when the Government Statistical Service publishes its revised ethnicity harmonisation standard later this year.

Federation Calls for Use of Census Data

Kuldeep Singh urged the Government to use anonymised person-level Census data to produce a more accurate breakdown of hate-crime victims across different communities.

According to the Sikh Federation (UK), this proposal had already been presented to the Policing Minister almost 11 months earlier through a cross-party delegation of MPs.

The Federation believes the actual scale of Anti-Sikh hate crimes could be many times higher than official figures suggest, potentially as much as 20 times higher.

It said this estimate was based on the size of the Sikh community, the visible identity of many Sikh victims and figures indicating that more than 70% of racially aggravated crime victims were non-white, despite non-white people accounting for approximately 15% of the population.

The Federation’s estimate is not an established official hate-crime figure.

Kuldeep Singh said the next annual Home Office hate-crime report, expected at the end of October, would provide an opportunity for the Government to address the shortcomings in existing data.

“When the Home Office publishes its next annual hate-crime figures at the end of October, it has an opportunity to expose the problem rather than obscure it. Anonymised Census data should be used to show who is actually being targeted. This is about tackling institutional racism and ensuring every community counts,” he said.

Government Urged to Honour Commitment on Anti-Sikh Hate Crimes

Kuldeep Singh also referred to an earlier commitment made by Keir Starmer when he was Labour Leader in opposition.

According to Kuldeep Singh, Starmer had acknowledged that successive governments had failed the Sikh community and had pledged that a Labour government would recognise and address Anti-Sikh hate crimes, particularly attacks targeting Sikhs because of their visible identity.

The Sikh Federation (UK) called on the Government to fulfil that commitment by improving police recording of Anti-Sikh hate crimes, publishing more accurate victim data and ensuring that serious offences targeting Sikhs receive the same priority as other forms of hate crime.

Read the full Press Release issued by Sikh Federation (UK) on 28 September 2026

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