Prevent, violence fixation and the children falling between services

Children referred to the Prevent programme, published in August 2026, examines the experiences of children referred to Prevent and highlights a significant change in those referrals.

This new report from the Children’s Commissioner for England raises some very difficult questions about what happens when professionals are seriously worried about a child but that child does not fit the service they are referred to.

The number of children referred to Prevent has risen from fewer than 3,000 in 2016/17 to 4,715 in 2024/25, with children now accounting for more than half of all Prevent referrals. An interesting and important finding from the report is that many of these children do not fit a traditional understanding of radicalisation.

Of those 4,715 referrals 79% were closed without progressing through Prevent.

Around 71% of child referrals had no single clear ideology identified, including children displaying a fascination with extreme violence or mass-casualty attacks. Professionals described children talking about weapons, idolising attackers, consuming and sharing extreme violent material and becoming involved in dangerous online communities.

The report highlights the role of the online world. Children can move rapidly between violent, extremist and harmful content, with algorithms and online communities reinforcing their interests. Those who have experienced difficult home lives or bullying are more susceptible to exploitation and all forms of vulnerability can be factors.

Almost three in five referrals originated in education. Of those education referrals that were subsequently closed, at least 65% were referred back to education. 93% of those cases had never been discussed at a panel or progressed through the programme. This has a huge impact in practice.

If a school has become sufficiently concerned about a child to make a Prevent referral and the referral is assessed and does not meet the threshold for further Prevent intervention, the child then is referred back to the school to manage any issues. However, the behaviours that caused the concern haven't disappeared. Not meeting the threshold for Prevent does not mean there is no safeguarding need and we need to look beyond ideology

The important message for DSLs when we encounter concerning behaviour should not be ‘Is this child being radicalised?’ but ‘What is happening to this child?’

Violence fixation, harmful online activity and extreme behaviour, bullying, trauma, exploitation, mental ill-health, neurodevelopmental needs, social isolation or difficulties within the family can all be factors in these children’s lives.

The report raises important issues and questions around neurodiversity. Information about the mental health and neurodevelopmental needs of these young people were often absent from referrals, but autism was disproportionately represented. We must be careful to ensure that this does not mean autism causes extremism or violence. This all reinforces the need for careful, individualised assessment rather than assumptions or labels.

Safeguarding does not end with the referral

For schools, one of the strongest lessons is that making a referral is not the end of safeguarding responsibility.

If Prevent decides that a child does not meet its criteria, professionals still need to consider various aspects and implications such as

• What caused us to be worried in the first place?

• What vulnerabilities does this child have?

• What are they accessing online?

• Are they being exploited or influenced by others?

• What support do they need?

• Which service is now responsible for helping them?

• Who is making sure something actually happens?

The Children's Commissioner recommends a significant change to procedure. Children currently referred to Prevent should instead initially pass through a local multi-agency safeguarding team, involving Counter Terrorism Policing where appropriate, so that children can be directed towards Prevent or another safeguarding response according to their needs.

Safeguarding children is not about finding the correct box into which to place them but about understanding why we are worried about this particular child and making sure somebody responds to that worry. They can’t just be left because Prevent don’t act. A closed Prevent referral should never become a closed safeguarding concern.