Record referrals to Prevent anti-terror programme

A record number of referrals were made to the government’s anti-terror programme Prevent in the year to March 2025, according to new data.

A total of 8,778 referrals were made – up 27% from 6,922 the previous year.

The majority referrals were made for individuals who had “no identified ideology” – at 56%.

This was followed by extreme right-wing ideology at 21%, and then Islamist extremism at 10%.

Children aged 11-15 represented the largest proportion of referrals where the individual’s age was known, at 36%.

Prevent is the government’s scheme to divert people from terrorism.

In October, an inquiry into the Southport attack – in which three children were killed – heard there had been a sharp rise in referrals to Prevent where there were “concerns about violent fixation” since the July 2024 attack.

Axel Rudakubana, who carried out the attack, had been referred to Prevent three times but the inquiry heard he had not met the threshold for further intervention because there was no evidence that he had a fixed ideology.

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