More than half of councillors report rise in abuse and intimidation, LGA finds

The findings come from the LGA's annual Debate Not Hate survey, which took in responses from more than 1,500 councillors across the UK and also revealed that more than a third of respondents had made or felt the need to make security modifications to their homes to protect themselves.

According to the survey, 78% feel at least some level of personal risk when fulfilling their role as councillor, while three-quarters (75%) reported experiencing some level of abuse or intimidation in their role over the last 12 months.

Elsewhere, the LGA highlighted results that showed that more than half of respondents (52%) reported that abuse and intimidation had increased sharply or slightly over the past 12 months. This was significantly higher in England (55%) than Wales (41%) or Scotland (36%), the report added.

The survey also showed that abuse has a tangible impact on councillors' lives and democratic participation, with more than a third of respondents (35%) stating they had made, or felt they needed to make, security modifications to their home because of safety concerns due to their role.

The environment is leading to some councillors stepping away from public life, the LGA said. Among responding councillors who were undecided about standing again or had decided not to stand, 30% said the possibility of abuse or intimidation had influenced their decision.

A quarter of respondents (25%) had meanwhile reported an incident of abuse or intimidation experienced in their role to the police - and of those that had, 34% felt the issue had been addressed to a great or moderate extent, whilst 33 per cent felt it had not been addressed at all.

The survey suggested that policing reforms aimed at improving candidate safety are "showing early signs of success".

The Government launched a new national police unit in March this year aimed at targeting offenders who threaten and harass local election candidates.

The unit monitors reports of abuse from across the country - identifying repeat offenders and helping police forces build stronger cases against them.

According to the survey, more than half of all respondents in England and Wales (56%) were aware of the unit – an increase from 40% last year.

Awareness was particularly high in Scotland, at 76% - and of those who had engaged with the programme, three-quarters (74%) found the engagement very or fairly useful, the report found.

The LGA has run the Debate Not Hate survey since 2022. It expanded the survey to councillors in Wales and Scotland for the first time this year.

Adam Carey