Over the last 13 years, we at Tell MAMA have been carrying out our work in monitoring and helping victims of anti-Muslim hate on a year-by-year grant-funding basis. The annual grant funding was supported and provided by successive Conservative administrations, and we thank them for their commitment to our work and their dedicated support during this period.
Over the last 6 months, however, we have been left in the uncomfortable and unsettling position of having no guarantee of further direct grant funding from the Ministry for Communities, Housing and Local Government (MHCLG). We have been concerned about decisions that have been made on the future funding of Tell MAMA during this period, particularly at a time when we recorded the highest numbers of anti-Muslim hate cases since Tell MAMA was founded in 2011. In addition, we have been subjected to malicious campaigns to undermine our work, including being the subject of hate and abuse targeting the project and our staff, threatening their safety and security, which have been reported to the relevant authorities. Whatever the reasons behind these campaigns, the people responsible for them have given no thought to victims of anti-Muslim hate whom we have served with dedication over the past 13 years.
We are saddened that the very service that has trained police forces, statutory authorities and civil society organisations, whilst highlighting the depth, scope and impact of anti-Muslim hate since 2011, has had to go through these significant insecurities and challenges over the last 6 months.
Following discussions with the MHCLG, Tell MAMA has received an offer of an extension of funding from the MHCLG covering the next 6 months (April-September 2025), together with confirmation from the MHCLG that it has full confidence in Tell MAMA and its work, for which we are grateful. However, for the reasons outlined above, and in order to strengthen our independence from central Government, Tell MAMA has taken the decision to turn down this offer. Also, we will not be applying for any future tenders from MHCLG on this work.
We would like to thank Lord Khan of Burnley in particular for his part in our discussions with the MHCLG and his expression of support for Tell MAMA in ensuring the offer of further funding. His determination to tackle anti-Muslim hate is heartening and motivating and we value his desire to make a positive impact in this area of work.
We will continue to monitor cases of anti-Muslim hate, whilst supporting victims of anti-Muslim hate and striving to meet the needs of British Muslims affected by it. We believe that this is crucially important at a time when the volume of anti-Muslim hate online has increased and where anti-Muslim hate appears to be fast becoming normalised politically. However, we will also seek to repurpose and refocus our support services in the next 3 months, without taking away from our work ensuring that victims of anti-Muslim hate have the access to access to justice to which they are entitled. We believe that our newfound independence from Government will ensure that we are able to review our services and re-assess where we can ensure maximal impact in this area of work.
Finally, we would like to add that work on countering anti-Muslim hate should not be an afterthought, but central to decision planning within the MHCLG if it is to ensure that Muslim communities are properly protected whilst also supporting social cohesion on a national basis. We are proud to have worked with over 50,000 British Muslims since 2011 – the true heroes striving for justice and ensuring that perpetrators of anti-Muslim hate are held to account.
Read more: Tell MAMA is a key partner with Government on tackling anti-Muslim hate