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Prevent Struggles With Child Referrals Without Clear Ideology

8/18/2026

25 2 Full Breakdown

Summary

Story summary

Children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza says Prevent cannot handle the rise in child referrals for violence fixation without clear ideology.
Referrals grew from 2,918 in 2016-17 to 4,715 in 2024-25, and 71% lacked a specific extremist ideology.
Schools, which made 60% of 2024-25 referrals, sent children back to school because Prevent has no response for non-ideological cases.

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Story summary

Children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza says Prevent cannot handle the rise in child referrals for violence fixation without clear ideology.
Referrals grew from 2,918 in 2016-17 to 4,715 in 2024-25, and 71% lacked a specific extremist ideology.
Schools, which made 60% of 2024-25 referrals, sent children back to school because Prevent has no response for non-ideological cases.