Schools need updated training on which pupils should be referred to the government’s counter-terrorism scheme, the children’s commissioner has said, after most Prevent referrals were sent back without further action. Children’s commissioner Rachel de Souza has also called for new statutory guidance on how to respond to children who pose a risk to others. The number of children referred to Prevent in England and Wales increased from 2,918 in 2016-17 to 4,715 in 2024-25. There is a group of children which professionals are greatly concerned about, and seeking support for, but are finding closed doors and dead ends The majority of children referred in 2024-25 (71 per cent) had “no clear ideology”. This included 36 per cent for whom no ideology was identified at all. But 23 per cent were found to have no ideology other than susceptibility to radicalisation, 7.1 per cent showed fascination with extreme violence or mass casualty attacks and 4.8 per cent had multiple ideologies without one being dominant. Of those found to have a clear ideology, the most common was extreme right wing ideology (19 per cent) followed by Islamist extremism (7.7 per cent). Majority of cases sent back While 60 per cent of referrals in 2024-25 were made by education settings, de Souza’s office found 65 per cent of these cases were closed and returned to settings, with 93 per cent of cases not reaching a panel stage. Her report, published today, said this “highlights that there is a group of children which professionals are greatly concerned about, and seeking support for, but are finding closed doors and dead ends”. Dame Rachel de Souza “Without a way to effectively triage whether Prevent is the appropriate intervention, children end up being referred there even when it is not the right place for them,” the report said, leaving professionals “unclear about where they should seek help instead”. One education safeguarding lead said their referral was closed down within three days, while a school safeguarding lead said they were “not given an explanation” after being told an individual did not meet the threshold for the programme. ‘We don’t get much feedback’ Another safeguarding lead said: “We don’t get is much feedback at all. What we need is for Prevent to give us some more training on when we refer a student and they don’t accept them, what is the threshold for that? “What are the characteristics of a student to be accepted on a Prevent programme? What is the sort of behaviours that would warrant them to not be on the Prevent programme?” The children’s commissioner said updated and frequently revised training was needed for education and health workers to clarify which children should be referred to Prevent, and how these referrals should be completed. de Souza also said the Home Office and Department for Education should issue joint statutory guidance on children who pose a risk to others, who would then be referred to a multi-agency child protection team in their local area. The DfE should also review its working together to safeguard children guidance and make it “clear that risk of committing violence or harm to others should be a reason for a safeguarding referral to be made and for support to be offered”. The Department for Education and Home Office were approached for comment.