Reading now has a free 24-hour Stop Hate line: call 0800 138 1625 or text 07717 989 025. Who can use it, what it does, and when to call 999 or 101 instead.
People in Reading who suffer or witness a hate crime can now ring a confidential helpline at any hour of the day or night. The Stop Hate line is on 0800 138 1625, or text 07717 989 025.
Reading Borough Council announced the service on Tuesday, during National Hate Crime Awareness Week (Reading Borough Council).
The line is run by the charity Stop Hate UK. Calls are answered by trained staff, who listen, give independent advice and point people to further help. The council says advice is available in a range of languages.
Reading’s Community Safety Partnership and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley are paying for it. The council did not say what the service costs or how long the funding runs.
Who can call
The council says you can use the line if you:
- have experienced a hate crime or a hate incident
- have seen what you believe was a hate crime
- are affected by what happened to someone else
- are not sure whether an incident was hate-related and want advice
- want to talk it through and understand your options before deciding what to do
A hate crime is any criminal offence motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone’s identity, or what the offender thinks it is. It can happen online or face to face. The council’s list covers disability, race, religion or faith, sexual orientation, transgender identity and alternative subcultures.
When to call 999 or 101 instead
The helpline does not replace the police. If a hate crime is happening now, someone is in immediate danger, or violence is being used or threatened, call 999. For anything else you want the police to record, you can still call 101. The helpline is an extra route, for support and for reporting what happened.
Stop Hate UK’s line is already used in several London boroughs, Manchester, Merseyside and Newcastle, according to the council.
How much hate crime does the force record?
Thames Valley Police recorded 5,328 hate crimes in the year to March 2026. That figure covers the whole force area: Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, not Reading alone. It comes from the Home Office’s annual statistics, published on 8 October (Home Office appendix tables).
One offence can have more than one motive, so the force’s 5,624 recorded motivating factors outnumber its offences. They break down as:
| Motivating factor | Offences, year to March 2026 |
|---|---|
| Race | 3,707 |
| Disability | 940 |
| Sexual orientation | 481 |
| Religion | 349 |
| Transgender | 147 |
Across England and Wales, police recorded 146,825 hate crimes in the same year, according to the same table. The Home Office bulletin sets out the national trends. The Home Office does not publish a figure for Reading on its own, and the monthly street-level crime data on police.uk does not mark which offences were hate crimes.
What it means for you
- Save the number: 0800 138 1625, or text 07717 989 025. It is free and open 24 hours.
- You do not have to be sure it was a hate crime. The council says the line is for advice too.
- Emergencies still go to 999. Non-emergency police reports still go to 101.
- More on crime in the town: our Reading town centre shoplifting figures use the same police.uk data the force publishes each month.
Cllr Finn McGoldrick, the council’s lead for community safety, said: “If you or someone you know has experienced hate, you don’t have to deal with it alone.”
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