From Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Data Report: May 2026 on Statistics on hate crime published yesterday:

Small decrease in overall hate crime charges. There was a decrease of 1.2% between 2023-24 and 2024-25, in the total number of charges reported to COPFS containing at least one element of hate crime. The figures for 2024-25 are not directly comparable with earlier years because they include new categories of hate crime and new charges introduced by the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. 

https://www.gov.scot/publications/safer-communities-and-justice-statistics-monthly-data-report-may-2026/pages/statistics-on-hate-crime/

For reasons beyond me, the researchers do not subtract the new offences to reveal what the underlying trend is.

Quick Breakdown with Numbers

• 2023-24 total charges (old categories only): 6,094
• 2024-25 total charges (old + new): 6,019 (down 75, or 1.2%)

New elements added in 2024-25 under the 2021 Act:

• Age aggravation: 88 charges
• Variation in sex characteristics (VSC): 13 charges
• Stirring up hatred charges: 92 (27 race-related + 65 others) copfs.gov.uk

These new items add up to roughly ~190+ charges that wouldn’t have existed (or been counted) under the old system. Some overlap or multi-aggravator cases exist, but the net addition is still substantial. Implied drop in comparable (“old”) charges: To reach a net total decrease of only 75 despite adding ~190 new ones, the underlying old-category charges likely fell by around 265 (or ~4.3–4.5%). This is a rough estimate since exact overlaps aren’t broken out, but the direction is clear. https://www.copfs.gov.uk/publications/hate-crime-in-scotland-2024-25/html/