Prevent: Thousands of children referred to counter terrorism programme last year

• Almost 4,000 children under age of 18 were referred to the counter-terrorism programme in 2023/24. The figures include 297 children under 10.

• The education sector was the biggest referrer, accounting for 40% of all referrals.

• The category ‘Vulnerability present but no ideology or risk’ accounted for the largest proportion of referrals (2,489; 36%) reaffirming concerns that professionals are referring people to Prevent as a means for getting other support.

The Home Office has published its latest Prevent referral figures, which show a slight increase in the rise in referrals compared to last year.

As with previous years, the figures show that the vast majority of those referred are children, and that the biggest referrer was the education sector.

Responding to the figures, Pre-Crime Programme Manager at the Open Rights Group, Sara Chitseko, said:

“Over the last year, thousands of children have been referred to a counterterrorism programme, without having committed a crime – including hundreds who are under ten.

“Once a referral has been made, the data of that child can be retained and shared for decades. Children whose cases are taken further can have their data shared with airports, ports and immigration services, with potentially devastating consequences.

The new figures should be a wake up call to all parliamentarians that they have a duty to protect children by ending the Prevent programme, which can impact those referred for decades.

“In a context where society is becoming more divided, we also need to ensure that teachers and others who hold the Prevent duty are supported in how they encourage freedom of expression, creating spaces where children can discuss difficult issues, and when necessary – be challenged – without fear of criminalisation.”

About Prevent

The UK Government’s Prevent strategy has long been criticised by human rights organisations, lawyers and academics. Prevent places a legal duty on public sector workers to identify and report people who are perceived as ‘susceptible to radicalisation’. It is widely recognised that the programme stigmatises, alienates and discriminates against British Muslims. In a recent report, Amnesty UK, called for Prevent to be abolished because it: “is seriously interfering with the lives and freedoms of thousands of innocent people, and it is leading to many people self-censoring out of fear of being reported to it”. 

People who are referred to Prevent have not been accused or found guilty of any crime but are believed to be showing signs of radicalisation. The Guardian revealed that one Prevent document, “includes believing in socialism, communism, anti-fascism and anti-abortion in a list of potential signs of ideologies leading to terrorism”.

Many people do not even know that they have been referred as the majority are not referred to a Channel intervention or are marked as no further action. The data of people who are referred to Prevent is retained for at least six years and up to 100 years even when cases have been marked ‘no further action’.

While data processing under Prevent remains opaque, a response to a freedom of information (FOI) request made by Open Rights Group revealed that some Prevent referees’ data will be shared with airports, ports and immigration services. It is unclear from the document what criteria determines such flags but the implication is that an individual who is referred to Prevent could be more likely to be stopped under the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015’s schedule 7 powers – broad and censured powers that officers at ports and airports can invoke to stop, question and/or detain people to investigate if they are engaged in acts of terrorism, without the need for any reasonable suspicion.

Layla Aitlhadj, Director and Senior Caseworker at Prevent Watch, noted that these findings confirm anecdotal evidence from Prevent referees: “Prevent Watch clients have informed us of stops at the borders following Prevent referrals, but we never had any evidence to suggest that the incidents were connected. These revelations get us one step closer to exposing just how abusive the data processing aspect of Prevent is.”

Harms for children

An Open Rights Group report highlighted some of the real life harms of data sharing under Prevent for children, including a child having their school place withdrawn. In addition, a Prevent referral is shared with children’s services and this information is kept for 25 years after the child’s 18th birthday. It would, therefore, still be available when that child is an adult and has children of their own, thus impacting any future assessment concerning their own children and any children’s services interventions.

Promotion of Prevent since 7 October 2023

The figures show that “the total number of referrals to Prevent in October, November and December 2023 (589, 725 and 612 referrals) was higher than in each of these comparative months in the previous 2 years (477, 705 and 509 referrals in October, November and December 2022 and 496, 696 and 583 referrals in October, November and December 2021).”

At the end of October 2023, Open Rights Group and Prevent Watch urged schools not to rush to report children to Prevent in the wake of the escalated crisis in Israel and Gaza. This followed a letter by Education Secretary Gillian Keegan MP reminding schools of their duties under Prevent, and reports that the Met Police were increasing intelligence-gathering activity in schools.

In January 2024, Cage International reported that the organisation had been approached about 118 Prevent referrals made within educational contexts between October and December 2023.

A student was referred to Prevent and visited by police officers for tweeting: “From the river to the sea, #Palestine will be free”. According to Novara Media, police officers told Tuğba İyigün that there was “an overlap” between people using the slogan to support Palestinians “and people who support Hamas”.¹

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