RELEVANT INFORMATION
Prevent Duty Guidance (Home Office)
Prevent Duty Training (Home Office)
Channel duty guidance: protecting people susceptible to radicalisation (Home Office)
CONTENTS
1. Introduction
Radicalisation is the process through which people come to hold increasingly extreme views or beliefs that support terrorist groups or activities. The most common types of terrorism in the UK are extreme right-wing terrorism and Islamist terrorism. Multi-agency working is key to supporting children who have been radicalised, or who are at risk of radicalisation.
Extremism is defined as the promotion or advancement of an ideology or beliefs based on violence, hatred or intolerance that aims to:
- deny or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or
- undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s system of democracy and democratic rights; or
- deliberately create an environment for others to achieve the results in (1) or (2).
(See Definition of Extremism, gov.uk)
Exposure to extremism can lead to radicalisation and acts of terrorism
2. Government Approach to Preventing Radicalisation and Tackling Extremism and Terrorism
The national counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST aims to reduce risks of terrorism in the UK and overseas.
Prevent is one of the key parts of CONTEST and aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism; it focuses on early intervention and safeguarding. Prevent is run locally by specialist staff who understand the risks and issues in the local area and know how best to support their communities. Through working together, organisations can identify people who are at risk of radicalisation and provide them with support. The objectives of Prevent are to:
- tackle the ideological causes (the beliefs) of terrorism;
- intervene early to support people to stop them from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism; and
- rehabilitate those who have become involved in terrorist activity.
The Prevent duty (Section 26, Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 (CTSA) requires frontline staff working in specific organisations – including education, health, local authorities, police, prisons and probation – to work together to help prevent the risk of people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. It helps to make sure that people who are being radicalised are supported in the same way as they are under safeguarding processes.
3. Signs that a Child or Young Person is being Radicalised
Children and young people can be exposed to the messages of extremist groups or drawn into violence in different ways, including through family members, by direct contact with extremist groups or, most often, the internet.
Everyone is different and there is no single way of identifying who is at risk of being radicalised into terrorism or supporting terrorism. Signs that a child or young person is being radicalised include them:
- being more secretive or changing their usual patterns of behaviour;
- accessing extremist content online or downloading propaganda material;
- justifying the use of violence to solve issues / problems in society;
- altering their style of dress or appearance in line with an extremist group;
- being unwilling to engage with people who they see as different;
- using certain symbols associated with terrorist organisations.
3.1 Vulnerability factors
Any child can be radicalised but there are some factors which may make a young person more vulnerable. These include them:
- being easily influenced or impressionable
- having low self-esteem or being isolated
- feeling that rejection, discrimination or injustice is taking place in society
- experiencing community tension between different groups
- having a strong need for acceptance or belonging
- experiencing grief such as loss of a loved one.
These factors will not always lead to radicalisation.
3.2 Protecting children from radicalisation
Children are exposed to news and information in lots of different ways and and they may see things which worry them or make them angry. Professionals and parents and carers can help them understand world events and issues in the news by:
- Listening carefully to their fears and worries, and talk about what has caused them.
- Offering reassurance and comfort, particular if terrorist events or conflicts / wars are in the news.
- Avoiding complicated and worrying explanations that can be frightening and confusing.
- Helping them find advice and support to understand distressing events and feelings; such as Childline.
Children should be encouraged to consider other viewpoints and to check the facts behind the information that they are looking at. Radicalisers will use conspiracy theories and fake news to draw people in.
As most radicalisation takes place on-line, make sure that devices have the appropriate parental controls in place, and monitor screen time.
4.1 Notice
Staff working in frontline roles such as education will often be the first to notice if a child displays concerning behaviour. If staff notice behaviours that are a cause for concern, they should consider whether the child is at risk of radicalisation.
There could be many different reasons for the behaviours, not just radicalisation. It is important to understand the context and try to find out why these changes are happening, before reaching conclusions too quickly.
4.2 Check
Concerns about radicalisation or extremism should then be checked / shared with the designated safeguarding lead in the organisation. The Prevent lead in the local authority or local police can also be contacted for advice.
Before deciding whether to make a referral to Prevent, it is important to gather as much information as possible, to assess if the child or young person may be on a pathway that could lead to terrorism.
The Department for Education has a dedicated telephone helpline for schools in England who have non-emergency concerns about extremism; which can be contacted by telephoning: 020 7340 7264.
Where there are concerns about radicalisation and extremism, relevant information should be shared with children’s social care (see Referrals chapter). A multi-agency meeting will be held to discuss whether to make a referral to the police for support under Prevent. Referrals to Prevent are made using the Prevent national referral form (see Get help for radicalisation concerns , gov.uk).
Children who could be referred include those who:
- are accessing extremist materials, usually online or in books, leaflets or pamphlets;
- are repeating propaganda, grievances, and conspiracies based on violence, hatred or intolerance;
- may have been witnessed traumatic events in war or conflict zones, either in person or online;
- are showing signs of being intolerant to people from different ethnic backgrounds, cultures or with other protected characteristics.
REMEMBER – in an emergency, always ring 999.
5. Action Following a Prevent Referral
Once a referral is submitted to the local Prevent team, specialist police staff will assess it. Firstly, they will check if the child is an immediate security threat. The police will then check if there is a risk of radicalisation which means that the child should be discussed at the local Channel panel to see if they are eligible for support through Prevent. This is called a ‘gateway assessment’. Referrals into Channel are made by the Police. If the child needs other support, this should continue unless there is a good reason not to do so.
Channel panels are chaired by the local authority, and attended by multi-agency partners such as police, education professionals, health services, education and children’s social care. They meet to discuss the referral, assess the risk, and, if appropriate, agree a package of support specific to the individual child. Channel is a voluntary process, and the child’s parents and carers must give their consent before a child receives support.
5.1 Types of support provided through Channel
The type of activities that are included in a support package will depend on risk factors, vulnerabilities, and local resources, but might include:
- mentoring or diversion activities such as sports or leisure;
- religious / ideological (beliefs) support – structured sessions to understand, assess or challenge ideological, religious or fixed thinking, which must be considered for all cases;
- life skills – work on life skills or social skills, such as dealing with peer pressure;
- positive pursuits – supervised or managed positive leisure activities;
- education skills contact – activities focused on education or training;
family support contact – activities aimed at supporting family and personal relationships, including formal parenting programmes;
- drugs and alcohol awareness – substance misuse interventions.
Where Channel is not considered suitable for the child, or their parents or carers do not consent, alternative options will be explored. If the risks cannot be managed in Channel, they will be kept under review by the police.
5.2 Closing a case
Where the Channel panel decides to close a case, the child and their parents and carers should be told that their case is being closed and that they will no longer receive support through Channel. They should also be told that ongoing support they are receiving through mainstream services (such as from the NHS, children’s social care, youth justice services, education) will continue.
Identifying a lead professional at the point of the case being closed provides reassurance that they can be brought back for discussion at the panel quickly, should concerns about them re-emerge.
The panel is best placed to identify which agencies will continue to engage with the child after their case with Channel has been closed and to identify a lead professional. Frontline practitioners involved in providing continuing support must be informed that Channel no longer has oversight of the child, and advised on how to re-refer them to Prevent if there are any future concerns.
6. Information Sharing
When sharing personal data about children and young people at risk of radicalisation, it is important to adhere to the requirements of data protection legislation.
Data protection legislation is not intended to prevent the sharing of personal data, but to make sure that it is done lawfully and with appropriate safeguards in place. Under the Data Protection Act and UK GDPR, there must be a legal basis to share personal data. The Prevent Duty is a lawful basis on which to share data.
See also Data Protection and Information Sharing and Confidentiality.
