Claire Andrews, our Development Manager in Teesside, attended the Cleveland Police Hate Crime Strategy launch on Monday 9 March. This was the culmination of an ongoing and significant piece of work at Difference North East. We have previously trained Cleveland Police in disability equality, contributed to hate crime consultations, and shared briefings, research, data, and recommendations as part of that ongoing relationship.

Developed by the Cleveland Strategic Hate Crime Partnership, the 10-year strategy aims to ensure all adults and children in Cleveland can live free from hatred and hostility motivated by prejudice.

Our recommendations to Cleveland Police

As a Disabled People’s Organisation (DDPO) rooted in the North East, we provided formal recommendations to Cleveland Police ahead of and during the strategy development. These reflect the rights of Disabled people and the principles of co-production:

• Equal protection in law for disability hate crime, alongside race and religion.
• Accessible campaigns in BSL, easy read, captioned video, and audio described formats.
• Co-production with local Disabled people at all stages.
• Advisory boards led by Disabled people to guide policing approaches.
• Regular disability equality and hate crime training, led by DDPOs and lived experience experts.

We were glad to see some of these recommendations reflected in the final strategy. In particular, we noted the easy read documentation made available to attendees and published online, a meaningful step towards accessibility.

How success will be measured

The strategy sets out clear outcomes against which progress will be measured:

• Increasing the number of reports
• Reducing repeat victims
• Reducing repeat perpetrators
• Increasing positive criminal justice outcomes, including restorative justice
• Increasing victim satisfaction

We particularly welcome the inclusion of increasing the number of reports as a measure of success. Current research suggests disability hate crimes remain severely underreported, with only 29.9% of Disabled people reporting incidents. Higher reporting rates are a sign of greater awareness, trust, and accessibility, not an increase in crime itself.

The legal gap: disability hate crime and equal protection

At the launch event, Claire raised important questions about how hate crime is recorded both regionally and nationally, particularly when disability intersects with another protected characteristic, such as being both Black and Disabled.

This matters because, at present, Disabled people are not afforded the same legal protections as other groups. Unlike racial or religious hostility, there are no specific criminal offences for "stirring up" hatred based on disability or transgender identity. The current legal framework means disability and LGBTQIA+ hate crimes are not treated equally in law.

In recent weeks, an amendment to the Police and Crime Bill would make disability hate crime an aggravated offence, a significant step towards parity. You can find out more about your rights as a Disabled person on our website.

What Cleveland Police said

At the launch event, Claire asked Emily Harrison, Cleveland Police Hate Crime Lead, whether the proposed change to the law would lead to increased disability hate crime reporting. Emily indicated she would welcome a change in the law, but believed that increased reporting would only come alongside substantially greater public awareness of what constitutes a hate crime and how to report it.

We welcome this position. Awareness, accessibility, and trust are central to everything we do.

Our ongoing work across Teesside

We will continue to work alongside Cleveland Police to raise awareness of disability hate crime across Cleveland and the Tees Valley. If you live in Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees, or anywhere across the region and have experienced disability discrimination or hate crime, our local teams are here to support you.

• Disability advocacy in Hartlepool
• Disability rights support in Stockton-on-Tees
• Report disability discrimination in the North East

Read the strategy and report a hate crime

You can read the full Cleveland Hate Crime Strategy 2025 to 2035 on the Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner's website.

If you live in Cleveland and want to report a hate crime, you can report it directly to Cleveland Police here.

If you are unsure whether what happened to you counts as a hate crime, or you would like support before or after reporting, please visit our page on how to report disability discrimination in the North East.