We believe that our communities are stronger together. If you experience or witness hate crime, you can report it to us or South Yorkshire Police.
Reporting hate crime
In person:
- Visit any of our libraries.
- Visit our Adult Skills service in Wellington House.
Online or phone:
- Send an email to safer@barnsley.gov.uk with the word HATE in the subject line.
- Call 01226 773555.
To South Yorkshire Police:
- In an emergency call 999 and ask for the police.
- If it is not an emergency call 101.
- Report hate crime online.
View our easy read guide to reporting hate and harassment.
What is hate crime?
Hate crime is an incident that targets someone based on their social identity. This could be because of:
- disability
- gender identity
- race, ethnicity or nationality
- religion, faith or belief
- sexual orientation
Hate crimes can take place anywhere - in person or online. They include:
- verbal abuse
- threatening behaviour
- damage to property
- physical assault
- offensive graffiti
- offensive comments or images on social media or text messages
What happens when I report hate crime?
We'll contact you to talk about what we can do to make you feel safer. We usually do this within one working day. We may ask our liaison officers or victim support to talk to you.
We'll investigate the incident so we can take appropriate action. This could include:
- prosecution
- restorative justice
- enforcement action by Berneslai Homes
- a warning
Can I report for someone else?
Yes. If you witness a hate incident you can report this. You can report it even if you don’t know the name of the person it happened to.
Can I make a report without giving my details?
Yes you can, although it may make it difficult to investigate.
Reporting online hate or abuse
Many social media platforms have standards which set out how those using them should behave. Posts or comments which are abusive, harmful, harassment or false go against these standards and can be reported.
The platform may decide to take action against the reported content. You can also take action to protect yourself by blocking those who are not acting as they should online.
Find out more about how you can report posts or comments:
- Report something to Facebook
- Report abusive behaviour to X
- Report a post or profile on Instagram
- Report inappropriate content on YouTube
- Report a problem on TikTok
Other ways to report hate crime
As well as the ways listed above, you can also report hate crime to:
- Barnsley Council on 01226 775656 or send an email to safer@barnsley.gov.uk
- Library @ the Lightbox, 1 Glass Works, Barnsley, S70 1GW. You can also send an email to barnsleylibraryenquiries@barnsley.gov.uk
- Adult Learning Services, Floor 2, Wellington House, Market Street, Barnsley, S70 1WA. You can also call them on 01226 775270 or 775271 or send an email to adultlearning@bansley.gov.uk
- Berneslai Homes on 01226 787878 or send an email to customerservices@berneslaihomes.co.uk
- Victim Support on 01226 243761. Victim Support respond to the needs of victims and witnesses living in Barnsley. This could be via phone support, home visits or office visits. Volunteers are trained in hate crime.
- Citizens Advice Barnsley (CAB) on 03444 111 444, Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm. If you're Deaf or hard of hearing you can use text relay on 03444 111 445. You can also contact Citizens Advice Barnsley online. CAB provide advice about debt, employment, housing, benefits, tax credits and immigration issues.
- Refugee Council, 23 Queens Road, Barnsley, S71 1AN on 01226 320111. The Refugee Council offers support and advice for those seeking asylum and refugees.
- Education Learning Support Hub (ELSH), 5 Warren Quarry Lane, Barnsley, S70 4NF on 01226 643249. ELSH provides learning to help adults not in education, employment or training. They also help asylum seekers, refugees and migrants.
- Report hate crime to True Vision online. True Vision provides hate crime information and advice.
- Stop Hate UK
- Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks)
No place for hate
Our 'no place for hate' campaign aims for our borough to be a place where nobody faces abuse, online or in their community. We all need to know the effect we can have on others when we comment or post online. What might just be seen as a comment by someone can cause real harm to others that read it.
Support the campaign
No place for hate isn’t just about tackling hate on our own social media pages. We want to create positive online communities across Barnsley and beyond. That’s why we’re asking for our everyone to get involved.
You can download our social media assets and share these onto your own pages with the hashtag #NoPlaceForHate.
Sign up to our pledge and let us know how you’ll help to challenge online hate.
Tackling hate and abuse on our social media pages
We’ve been taking steps to tackle abuse, false information and poor behaviour on our pages. Our social media acceptable use policy covers our zero-tolerance approach to abuse. We can take action against any post or comment on our channels which breaches this policy.
