Sikhism in the United Kingdom
British Sikhs number over 535,000 people and account for 0.8% of the British population as of 2021, forming the United Kingdom's fourth-largest religious group. According to the 2021 United Kingdom census, British Sikhs numbered 535,517, with 520,092 in England, 10,988 in Scotland, 4,048 in Wales, and 389 in Northern Ireland. The largest Sikh populations in the United Kingdom are in the West Midlands and Greater London.
History
Sikh Empire
Sikhs and Britain have a long and storied history. Decades before the last Sikh King, Duleep Singh, stepped onto British soil in the middle of the 19th century, there had been Anglo-Sikh contact as far back as the 1800s in the Punjab with his father Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Since then, even though this relationship has changed in nature many times, both communities have left a strong permanent influence on each other. For instance, in such varied parts of British society as food, language, political systems, soldiering and of course cricket, the British-Sikh relationship has given rise to many new facets of modern British and Indian society.Migration of Sikhs to Britain
The first permanent Sikh in Britain was Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last Sikh Emperor of the Imperial Sukerchakia Dynasty, from 1844 to 1849. He arrived in England in the year 1854, having been exiled from his kingdom by the East India Company. His mother, Empress Jind Kaur, arrived in 1860 at Kensington in Victorian London and settled permanently, after being at war with Britain for an extended period of time until the fall of the Sikh Dynasty in 1849. She was given permission by Parliament to settle on English soil.The First Sikh Settlers started migrating from the Punjab in 1911, when the first Sikh Gurdwara was opened in London. During the start of the First and Second World Wars respectively, there was already an established Sikh presence in many parts of England. Britain's first south Asian immigrants after the war were Pakistani Muslims and Punjabi Sikhs from the Jullundur Doab. They tended to settle in midland towns such as Birmingham and Leeds, as well as in the London borough of Southall.
Present
In 2019, Seema Malhotra MP set up the first debate in Parliament to discuss the positive contribution of the Sikh community over the last 70 years.Despite the existence of advocacy organisations like the British Sikh Report, there is very little systematic research on British Sikhs. The only major academic work that is comprehensive, systematic and a through history of the community is by Gurharpal Singh and Darshan S. Tatla, Sikhs in Britain: The Making of a Community. This work needs updating in light of the impending Census 2021 to reflect changes in the community's profile.
Demography
According to the 2021 United Kingdom census, Sikhs in England & Wales enumerated 524,140, or 0.9% of the population.Place of birth
According to the 2017 British Sikh Report which surveys the community in the UK, 71% were born in England, followed by 15% in India, 8% in East Africa, 2% in Scotland, and 1% in Afghanistan.Politics
There have been sixteen Sikh MPs and eight Sikh peers in the UK's history. The first Sikh MP, Piara Singh Khabra was elected in 1992 from Ealing Southall and the first Sikh peer was Tarsem King of West Bromwich, appointed in 1999. Currently, there are seven Sikh peers and eleven Sikh MPs; Sikhs make up of the House of Lords and of the House of Commons, while making up of the British population.The seven incumbent Sikh peers include four Conservatives, two crossbenchers ) and one Labour member.
A 2023 poll indicated that 43% of British Sikhs would vote for Labour, 20% Conservative and 4% each for the Liberal Democrats and Greens in the next general election.
Education
65% percent of British Sikhs have a graduate level qualification or above. Sikhs in the 20 - 34 age group have the highest level of graduates within the Sikh community. The highest level of postgraduate qualifications of Master's degrees is in the 35 - 49 age group. Eight percent of Sikhs aged 65 and overhave a PhD. The split of formal education between women and men is roughly equal, with slightly more women holding a university degree or equivalent.
Employment
The most popular employment sectors for British Sikhs include: Healthcare, IT and Technology, Teaching and Education, Accountancy and Financial Management, indicating that Sikhs tend to favour professional and technical employment sectors over others. Healthcare is a popular sector for all age groups. Teaching and Education is more common in the 35 - 49 and the 50 - 64 age groups than others, whereas accountancy and financial management is more popular with the 20 - 34 age group compared with 6% respectively for both the 35 - 49 and the 50 - 64 age groups. The top career choices for Sikh women are Healthcare and Teaching and Education. Healthcare is also a joint second most popular choice for Sikh men along with Accountancy and Financial Management, the most popular sector being IT and Technology.Integration
British Sikhs have been praised as an example of positive cultural integration in the United Kingdom, many having achieved success due to a strong cultural work ethic combined with an emphasis on the importance of the family.Wealth
Home ownership
The 2021 census for England and Wales recorded 75.3% of Sikhs either owning their home with a mortgage or outright. 18.9% rent privately or live rent free and the remaining 5.7% live in social housing. Across religious groups, Sikhs held the highest rates of home ownership and were the least likely to live in social housing.Home ownership is very high amongst British Sikhs with the British Sikh Report in 2014 recording 87% of households owning at least a portion of their home. Thirty percent of British Sikh households own their homes outright and only 9% rent their properties. Only 1% of British Sikhs claim Housing Benefit. This represents the highest level of private home ownership rate over any other community in the UK. In addition, half of all British Sikh families own more than one property in the UK, with a similar number owning at least one property in India, apparently indicating that property ownership is used as a top means of building assets for the future. 6% of British Sikhs own property elsewhere in Europe.
Income
Relative to the national average income at approximately £40,000 before tax, it found that Sikh households tend to be affluent. Two in every three British Sikh households have pre-tax incomes in excess of £40,000, and over a third have an income in excess of £80,000, giving a value for the Sikh Pound of 7.63 billion.However this data appears to be contradicted by research carried out by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which actually states Sikhs have the second highest poverty rate in the UK, with 27% of British Sikhs living below the poverty line; this is in comparison to 18% of the population as a whole.
About one in three British Sikh families own a business in the UK.
Charitable giving and volunteering
Performing Seva is a basic tenet of Sikhism, and Sikhs are also expected to share at least 10 per cent of their earnings with those less fortunate and for good causes.Sixty-four percent of British Sikhs engage in some volunteering work, and 40% give between one and five hours per week on voluntary activities, including Seva at their Gurdwara, whilst more than 2% spend over 25 hours on such activities, spending about on average 200 hours per year on voluntary activities. Ninety-three percent claim to donate some money to charity every month, with 50% donating between £1 and £20 every month, and 7% donating more than £100 per month. It is estimated that Sikhs in Britain donate around £380 per year to charity on average. Taken as a whole, Sikhs in the UK are estimated to donate about £125 million to charity per annum and spend over 65 million hours each year on voluntary activities.
Care of the elderly
Sikhs prefer to live in extended family households as they grow older - 61% of males and 52% of females. The second highest preference is in their own home and the third preference is in a retirement village .Geographical distribution
| Local authority | Percentage |
| Wolverhampton | 12.0% |
| Sandwell | 11.5% |
| Slough | 11.3% |
| Hillingdon | 8.6% |
| Hounslow | 8.6% |
| Gravesham | 8.0% |
| Ealing | 7.8% |
| Oadby and Wigston | 7.5% |
| Walsall | 6.0% |
| Redbridge | 5.7% |
According to the 2021 United Kingdom census, Sikhs in England and Wales enumerated 524,140, or 0.9% of the population Northern Ireland recorded a population of 389, or 0.02% of the population. The equivalent census was recorded a year later in Scotland with a population of 10,988, making up 0.2% of the population.
In the 2021 census for England and Wales, the main places of birth were the United Kingdom at 299,104 people, South Asia at 192,485, South and Eastern Africa at 17,659 and other parts of Europe at 8,277. Among individual countries outside of the UK, the countries of: India, Kenya, Afghanistan, Italy, Uganda, Tanzania and Malaysia made up the most common countries of birth for Sikhs residing in England and Wales. 73.8% of Sikhs identified as Indian, 0.1% as either Pakistani or Bangladeshi, 7.3% were of other Asian heritage, 1.3% were of Mixed heritage, 0.7% as White, 0.1% identified as Black and the remaining 16.7% identified with other ethnic groups.
The largest ethnic group within the 'other ethnic group' category were Sikhs, with 76,535 using the write-in response option to declare they held Sikh ethnicity. A further 22,814 self-declared that Sikh was their ethnicity within the 'other Asian' category. 426,230 people in England and Wales identified as Sikh through the religion question alone, 1,725 through the ethnic group question alone and 97,910 through both questions together.
According to the 2017 British Sikh Report which surveys the community in the UK, 71% were born in England, followed by 15% in India, 8% in East Africa, 2% in Scotland, and 1% in Afghanistan.