Impact of training

To date, the CHS has delivered evidence-based training to more than 2000 practitioners and policy-makers working in criminal justice, education, local authorities, and health and social care from around the UK. Evaluation at 3 and 6 months after the training has identified a number of key impacts at an organisational-level, including that the training had:

• Directly informed new hate crime policies or strategies
• Directly shaped hate crime training for staff
• Directly influenced new support pathways for victims reporting hate crime
• Led to the creation of hate crime champions or hate crime specialist roles within their organisations

On an individual-level, feedback from practitioners and policy-makers who had undergone the training suggests that it had significantly improved their understanding of:

• The forms that hate crime takes
• The impact that hate crime has on victims
• The support needs of hate crime victims
• How and where to signpost victims for support
• How reporting rates can be increased
• Why people commit hate crime
• Existing hate crime policy and legislation

Specifically, evidence collected 3-6 months after the training illustrates that significant numbers of practitioners and policy-makers felt that it had improved practice because it had helped them:

• To better identify hate crimes and incidents
• To improve flagging or recording practices
• To improve investigative processes
• To improve outcomes for victims (e.g. More cases going to court, dispute resolved)
• To improve organisational practice (e.g. New assessment tools, engagement approaches, infrastructure)
• To increase reporting