Victims of racist attacks are receiving little support from official agencies, a think tank has warned.

Research released on Wednesday found that victim support projects are being run on a shoestring and regularly face funding crises.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation report warned that services are unevenly spread across England and Wales.

It calls on the government to agree a long-term funding strategy.

National guidelines should be put in place and caseworkers should receive accredited training, the study said.

The report's author found many initiatives had been started by local activists following attacks, including murder, in areas where ethnic minority communities lived.

Projects run by the groups included work with schools to raise awareness of racism and monitoring the extent of racist harassment in their area.

But caseworkers revealed they were overloaded and often managed more than 80 cases at a time.

"Despite the evidence that caseworkers are hard-pressed and that projects are much-needed, they tend to exist on a shoestring, with short-term funding and regular financial crises," said report author Kusminder Chahal.

"There is no government funding strategy in place that recognises the relevance and importance of their work - a gap in policy that deserves to be remedied as a matter of urgency."