Across the UK, policymakers often say they are committed to tackling inequality and delivering for everyone. Yet, many Romani (British) Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller people, still struggle to be properly counted.
The way we collect and harmonise ethnicity data is not a technical footnote. It determines who is visible, who is heard, and who receives fair access to health, education, housing, and safeguarding support. When categories are too broad, inconsistent, or collapsed into “Other,” entire communities disappear from the evidence that drives policy.
Better data is not a luxury. It is a prerequisite for justice.
The problem with “Other”
For decades, Romani (British) Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities have experienced some of the most extreme inequalities in the UK. Government reports show poorer mental health, barriers to healthcare, discrimination in education, and disproportionate safeguarding involvement.
Yet in many datasets, these communities are either:
- labeled “Other”,
- merged together, or
- not recorded at all.
When data blurs distinct communities, individual needs are underestimated, services are under-designed, and inequalities persist.
If Romani (British) Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller people are invisible in the data, they are invisible in those places where decisions about policy, equality and service provision are made.
Why harmonised standards matter
The purpose of the government's ethnicity harmonised standard is to ensure that public bodies collect and report ethnicity data consistently so that comparisons can be made across education, employment, health, housing, criminal justice and safeguarding. But harmonisation must not come at the expense of recognition.
For Romani (British) Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, meaningful inclusion requires ethnic recording that requires clear, specific categories, consistent use of terms across sectors, disaggregation where appropriate, and policy guidance that prevents inappropriate and insensitive identification of people.
Without these changes, the significant inequalities faced by diverse communities in the UK will remain invisible. This invisibility has far‑reaching consequences for Romani (British) Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people and for the policies and practices intended to support them.
Health Inequalities
In 2023–24, NHS England reported that 267,585 people living with cognitive impairments, mental‑health conditions, or neurological disorders were detained in hospitals or care homes. Of these, 87% were recorded as White, 4% as Asian, Black, or Mixed, and 9% as ‘Not Stated’ or ‘Undeclared’. These figures do not identify Romani (British) Gypsy, Roma, or Traveller adults, so the scale and nature of their needs in inpatient and residential settings remain invisible.
This mental‑health example was chosen because detention data are routinely reported and therefore starkly reveal gaps in ethnicity recording. But the problem is broader. Without disaggregated ethnicity data across primary care, maternity services, community mental‑health teams and social care, services cannot plan culturally sensitive care, identify discrimination, or measure whether reforms are reaching Romani (British) Gypsies, Roma and Traveller communities.
As one NHS professional put it:
“There's nothing on the health system to say the person is ‘Gypsy,’ ‘Traveller,’ or ‘Roma.’ People might be ticked as ‘White British’ or ‘Other,’ and we've never realised they are Gypsy, Traveller, or Roma.”
Without proper data, culturally appropriate care for Romani (British) Gypsy, Roma and Traveller adults in hospitals and care homes is impossible to design or evaluate, and systemic inequalities, including the social determinants of mental health, remain unchallenged.
Child welfare inequalities
Romani (British) Gypsy, Roma, and Irish Traveller children remain overrepresented in England’s child welfare system. This overrepresentation reflects not only higher levels of need but also structural failings, including antigypsyism, misunderstanding of risk and inconsistent ethnicity classification.
Government datasets frequently obscure the experiences of Romani (British) Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children and families by recording ethnicity in ways that are inconsistent or conflated:
- The Office for National Statistics separates ‘Roma’ but merges ‘Gypsy’ and ‘Irish Traveller’.
- The Department for Education recognises ‘Traveller of Irish Heritage’ but merges ‘Gypsy/Roma’.
- Other datasets collapse Gypsy, Roma and Traveller groups into ‘White Other’ or omit them entirely.
These classification problems make Romani (British) Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children effectively invisible in national safeguarding data. The recent review It’s Silent: Race, Racism and Safeguarding Children, does not mention these groups at all, underscoring how easily they are excluded from national safeguarding conversations.
Without consistent, disaggregated ethnicity recording and culturally informed practice, patterns of over‑referral, inappropriate intervention, and unequal outcomes cannot be identified or addressed, leaving children and families at continued risk.
Recommended changes
The two examples above show an urgent need to reform how ethnicity data is collected and used. Policymakers should adopt data standards that accurately reflect community identities, protect visibility, ensure accountability and build trust, so that decisions affecting Romani (British) Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities are evidence‑based, equitable and defensible. The following key reforms are needed:
- Adopt community‑led standards. Survey and ethnicity questions should reflect how communities define themselves. Consultation with Romani (British) Gypsy, Roma, Irish Traveller and other Traveller groups must be substantive rather than symbolic, and their perspectives should shape classification and measurement.
- Ensure granularity is protected. Distinct ethnic groups must not be routinely merged into broader categories during analysis or publication. Disclosure controls should safeguard anonymity without routinely erasing small populations or suppressing their data.
- Embed accountability in collection and reporting. Ethnicity data collection should be linked to clear reporting expectations. Where data about Romani, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities are gathered, it must be analysed and published in ways that allow scrutiny and enable evidence‑based policy and transparent decision‑making.
- Invest in trust‑building and community action. Low reporting often reflects mistrust rather than absence. Data reform must be paired with sustained efforts to tackle antigypsyism and to build trust, so people who have faced long histories of persecution and marginalisation feel safe to disclose their identity.
- Redefine the wider Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) umbrella. The current GRT standardisation includes Romani (British) Gypsy, Roma, Travellers, Showmen, Boaters and New Travellers. These communities are not just ethnically different, but they also have very different social and economic contexts. Work should be carried out, together with these communities, to redefine this standard.
The bigger picture
Ethnicity data reform is part of a wider fight against racism and exclusion. Romani (British) Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities have long faced prejudice in public discourse and policy. Technical changes alone will not solve this, but they are a foundation for change.
When communities are named, counted, and understood, inequity becomes harder to ignore. Disparities become visible. Excuses grow thinner. Counting properly is not bureaucracy. It is justice in practice.
The question is not whether we can afford to improve ethnicity standards. It is whether we can afford not to.
About the Authors
Associate Professor Dan Allen is a social work practitioner and academic at Liverpool Hope University. He has over 20 years of dedicated experience, consistently focused on advancing social work and child protection practices with Romani and Traveller communities.
Mihai Calin Bica is the policy and campaigns coordinator at Roma Support Group. His policy work covers areas such as migration, health, education, child protection and housing. He initiated and currently coordinates the Mishto Campaign, a national campaign aiming for access to fairer services for Roma people in schools, charities and local authorities.
Dada Felja is Head of education and training at Advicenow. She worked 14 years at the Roma Support Group, where she provided advice, advocacy, mentoring and education support to Roma communities across the UK, delivered training and consultancy to organisations, contributed to research and publications, and now serves as a trustee.
Dr Joanna Kostka is a critical public policy and social work scholar at Lancaster University, researching how race, power, and institutional practices shape structural inequalities, with a focus on Roma communities and participatory approaches to anti-racist policy reform.
