Britain ‘not close to being a racially just society’, finds two-year research project

Exclusive: More than a third of people from ethnic and religious minorities have experienced racially motivated assault, data shows

• Social barriers faced by Roma, Gypsies and Travellers laid bare in equality survey

More than a third of people from ethnic and religious minorities have experienced racially motivated physical or verbal abuse, according to the biggest and most comprehensive survey of race inequality in the UK for more than a quarter of a century.

The survey found strikingly high" levels of exposure to abuse across a wide range of ethnic minority groups, as well as a high prevalence of racial discrimination and inequality of outcomes in education, the workplace, housing and interactions with the police.

Nearly a third of people from ethnic and religious minority groups reported racial discrimination in education (29%) and employment (29%), and nearly a fifth said they experienced discrimination when looking for housing.

More than a fifth of all minorities reported experience of discrimination from the police, though this rose to 43% of Black Caribbean groups and more than a third of Gypsy, Traveller and Roma groups.

Ethnic minority groups were more likely to live in overcrowded housing - 60% of Roma families were overcrowded and a quarter of Pakistani and Arab people - and far more likely than white British people to be without access to outdoor space at home.