Anti-Islamophobia charity loses UK funding even as incidents soar

Funding cut comes as reports of anti-Muslim hate crime reaches record high in Britain

Far-right activists hold an anti-immigration protest under the motto 'Enough is Enough' in Sunderland, north-east England in 2024, when similar events led to riots across the UK. Getty Images

The UK government has cut future funding for a charity that monitors anti-Muslim hate, despite record high incidents being reported.

Tell Mama runs a reporting service for hate incidents directed at Muslims and the charity has been funded since its creation in 2012 by the Department of Housing, Communities and Levelling Up.

But the charity’s director Iman Atta told The National its funding, from next month for the year ahead, has not been renewed, meaning it could be forced to close.

"This Labour government informed us that they will not be grant funding Tell Mama after 12 years of work," she said. "Given the timescales and pressures on funding, we are unable to raise funds to keep working on countering anti-Muslim hate and supporting our communities."

Only weeks ago, the charity announced it had received almost 11,000 reports of hate incidents across 2023 and 2024 through its reporting service, and warned of a surge in anti-Muslim sentiment stoked by last summer’s far-right riots and the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

"We are at a time when anti-Muslim hate reached record levels in 2024," she said. "A time when the government needs to walk the talk on tackling anti-Muslim hate."

Ms Atta also claimed that "to date no payment has been made" from the £1 million ($1.3 million) it was granted by the department in April 2024 but this is disputed by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which said the money had been "made available".

Anti-racism activists demonstrate against anti-immigration protests. Tell Mama reports a sharp rise in the latter. Getty Images

The Labour government wrote to the charity in September to warn of changes in how funding would be allocated. A disagreement followed after the charity declined to submit work records containing sensitive data.

"Despite these challenges and the totally unacceptable and unethical asks to hand over our work, we continued to support those affected by anti-Muslim hate and continued our work with partner agencies ensuring the safety of all communities," Ms Atta said.

The UK police describes the charity’s role as “invaluable" in tackling hate crime. The police have had an information sharing agreement with Tell Mama since 2015, which it said became all the more crucial in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023, after which "marked increases in hate crime and tensions" were reported.

“Over the years, we have cultivated a strong and effective relationship,” said a National Police Chief’s Council representative. "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."

The arrangement with Tell Mama and similar organisations was the result of a report in 1999 into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence, which found victims of hate crimes were often reluctant to report them to the police.

The charity supplies partial data from its reporting service to the police, while keeping victims' identities hidden. This exchange has allowed both organisations to develop heat maps of the main areas where anti-Muslim incidents occur and to identify the risks of far-right extremism.

A total of 6,313 reports were made to the charity in 2024, up from 4,406 in the previous year and 2,651 in 2022. More than half of last year’s reports (3,680) constituted 'offline or in-person hate', up by almost three quarters (72 per cent) since 2022, the organisation said.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said it was revising its approach to future funding. “This year we have made up to £1 million 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,” a representative said.