Security Minister (): On Thursday 6 November, the Home Office published
official statistics for ‘Individuals referred to and supported
through the Prevent Programme from April 2024 to March 2025'.
Prevent is a key part of the national Counter Terrorism Strategy
‘CONTEST' and aims to stop people from becoming terrorists or
supporting terrorism. It has supported nearly 6,000 people to
move away from a pathway to radicalisation since 2015 and plays a
vital role in safeguarding those most vulnerable in our
communities.
Key Statistics
In the year ending 31 March 2025, the Prevent programme
experienced a significant increase in activity, with 8,778
referrals recorded, compared to 6,922 between April 2023 and
March 2024. This represents a 27% rise compared to the previous
year and marks the highest annual total since records began in
2015. Of these referrals, 1,472 were adopted as Channel cases,
accounting for 17% of all referrals. This proportion is notably
higher than the 7% recorded last year. As set out in the full
publication, changes in methodology mean that caution should be
exercised when making direct comparisons with previous years.
Looking at the nature of concerns raised, 21% of referrals were
related to Extreme Right-Wing radicalisation (1,798 cases), while
10% were associated with Islamist extremism (870 cases). A
substantial proportion of referrals - 34% - concerned individuals
for whom no specific ideology was identified.
The UK terrorism threat level has remained substantial, with
Islamist Extremism the most significant threat, followed by
Extreme Right-Wing terrorism. Of those concerns related to
Islamist Extremism, 26% were adopted into Channel for support the
year ending March 2025, an increase from 13% last year. Whilst
the increased number of adoptions is welcome, we recognise that
given the prevalence of this threat type, Prevent must go further
to build awareness and understanding so that people can identify
and refer Islamist extremist concerns.
We continue to see an increase in concerns regarding those that
have a fascination with extreme violence or mass casualty
attacks. The tragic attack in Southport last year demonstrates
the very real threat from non-ideological extreme violence, and
the increase in referrals of this type to Prevent shows the
vigilance of frontline professionals in identifying and reporting
these concerns.
It is vital that Prevent remains threat agnostic so that it can
deal with the full range of threats we face. As an early
intervention programme, Prevent is in a position to intervene and
provide support to anybody who is on a pathway to radicalisation.
While the presence of ideology is clearly an important factor,
Prevent must not limit its scope to cases where a terrorist
ideology has clearly already taken hold.
Under this Government a range of steps have been taken to improve
the ability of
frontline professionals subject to the Prevent duty to spot the
signs of radicalisation.
- A new Prevent Assessment Framework was rolled out in
September 2024 to support CT Police to strengthen the quality and
consistency of decision-making on all Prevent referrals.
- In November 2024, we launched a new ideology training
programme for frontline staff such as teachers and healthcare
workers. This will help them to identify extremist ideologies,
including Islamist Extremism, and to refer people they are
concerned about into Prevent for further support.
- The role of Independent Prevent Commissioner was created in
December 2024, to provide additional scrutiny and oversight of
Prevent policy and delivery.
- In September 2025, the Home Office issued new guidance which
clarified Prevent thresholds for practitioners, following
recommendations made the Independent Prevent Commissioner.
As the nature of radicalisation evolves, it is essential that
Prevent can effectively tackle the threat we see today. The Home
Office will continue to work with partners including Counter
Terrorism Police, local authorities, health and education to
ensure that Prevent can offer support to the right people, where
they are at risk of being drawn into terrorism.
