Prevent

In an emergency, always call 999.

Members of the public who are worried that somebody they know could be being radicalised, should call the ACT Early Support Line on 0800 011 3764 to speak in confidence with specially trained officers or visit the ACT Early | Prevent radicalisation website.

Professionals (for example care provider, social worker, educator) can raise a concern by downloading and completing the pdf National Referral Form below. For advice or assistance with completing a referral, please contact your organisations DSL (Designated Safeguarding Lead).

Some professionals may work in sectors that are covered by the Prevent duty. Full statutory guidance for people working in Prevent duty sectors can be found on the GOV.UK website:
Prevent duty guidance.

If you have a concern about a child you should also submit a referral to MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub) or contact mash@achievingforchildren.org.uk.

Further information and reading

National Anti-Terrorist Hotline: 0800 789 321.

• ACT Early: Prevent radicalisation.
• Report online material promoting terrorism or extremism - GOV.UK.
• Counter-terrorism strategy (CONTEST) 2023 - GOV.UK.
• Prevent duty guidance.
• Prevent: Counter Terrorism Policing.
• Prevent: Thames Valley Police.

Contest is the United Kingdom’s strategy for countering terrorism. The latest version was released in 2023 Counter-terrorism strategy (CONTEST) 2023 - GOV.UK.  

The aim of CONTEST is to reduce the risk to the UK from terrorism, so that people can live freely and with confidence.  This involves stopping individuals from becoming involved in terrorism, disrupting and stopping attacks, and mitigating the impact of any attacks that do occur.

CONTEST is based on four core pillars: 

• Prevent: To stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.
• Pursue: To disrupt and stop terrorist attacks.
• Protect: To strengthen protection against terrorist attacks.
• Prepare: To mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack if it occurs.

The Prevent strategy is a UK government program designed to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.  Prevent also extends to supporting the rehabilitation and disengagement of those already involved in terrorism.

It is one part of CONTEST, and involves a multi-agency approach including Local Authorities, Police and Community organisations.  The Home Office have produced a guide Prevent duty guidance: for England and Wales (accessible) - GOV.UK.

• Responds to the ideological challenge we face from terrorism and aspects of extremism, and the threat we face from those who promote these views.
• Provides practical help to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure they are given appropriate advice and support.
• Works with a wide range of sectors (including education, criminal justice, faith, charities, online and health) where there are risks of radicalisation that we need to deal with.

Prevent

Prevent is part of the UK government's counter-terrorism program known as CONTEST.  Prevent aims to reduce the risk of terrorism by supporting individuals who might be vulnerable to radicalisation and safeguarding communities from influences that promote radicalisation.

Pursue

Pursue is the Police-led strand of CONTEST. Counter Terrorism Police work closely with MI5 and other agencies to develop intelligence, and work with the Crown Prosecution Service to put compelling evidence before the court, in order to ensure the detention and prosecution of people planning terrorist operations.

Protect

Protect focuses on "strengthening our protection against a terrorist attack." The purpose of Protect is to reduce the vulnerability of people in the UK, infrastructure and our key services to terrorist threats by improving our security measures, physical protections and cyber resilience.

Prepare

Prepare aims to minimise the impact of a terrorist attack that cannot be prevented and reduce the likelihood of further attacks by ensuring the UK is ready to respond effectively. This includes work to bring a terrorist attack to an end and to increase resilience.

Radicalisation

Radicalisation is the process by which an individual or group begins to support extreme political, social or religious views, and could potentially become involved in terrorist acts.

People can ‘self-radicalise’, by reading or listening to extremist literature or speakers. More commonly, there may be an individual or group actively seeking to persuade others to adopt their views. This process of persuasion or coercion is known as radicalisation.

Extremism

Extremism, within the strategy, is used to describe an ideology that is considered by most people to be far outside acceptable, mainstream attitudes of society.  This can be openly or actively opposing fundamental British values such as democracy, rule of law, liberty, respect and tolerance for all faiths and beliefs.

If a person or group decides that fear, terror and violence are justified to try to achieve radical ideological, political or social change, and then acts accordingly, this may be considered violent extremism or terrorism.

Channel

Channel is a multi-agency early intervention programme providing support to individuals identified as being vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism or extremist ideologies.  The programme is voluntary for those involved. It operates with the consent of the individual, or their parents if they are a minor.  It is confidential.  It does not go on someone’s criminal record and will not negatively impact on education or employment.

To help determine if someone is suitable for support through Channel, a Channel panel is chaired by the local authority, who meet with police, health professionals and other partners to discuss the person you are worried about and to decide on what support can be offered to them.  The support can be tailored to the individual's needs. This can include mentoring, counselling, help with mental health, drug or alcohol issues and assistance with education or career advice and employment.