What role do you have in Prevent duty?

Modern Britain is a multicultural society with a diverse culture, but unfortunately, there’re threats to our multiculturalism. Voices of extremism come in many forms, some of which oppose the multi-ethnic and multi-religious culture within Britain and some of which threaten our welfare as a result. 

Between 2023 and 2024, 6,922 people were referred to and supported through the Government Prevent Programme, due to concerns they were vulnerable to being radicalised.  

This guide will help you understand what Prevent duty is, the role it plays in helping to protect people and the role you play in empowering that. 

How does Prevent duty work? 

Prevent duty is a UK government policy and is part of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act. Prevent duty aims to reduce the threat of terrorism by providing practical advice, statutory guidance and assistance to help stop people from being drawn into terrorist organisations and eventually performing terrorist activity. In July 2015, the Prevent strategy was given legal status.  

The Prevent strategy 

Prevent is one of the four elements of the counter terrorism strategy, CONTEST.   

The goal of the Prevent strategy is split into three sections. To intervene early to support people susceptible to radicalisation, tackle the ideological causes of terrorism and enable people who have already engaged in terrorism to disengage and rehabilitate. 

What is Channel? 

Channel is a programme which aims to protect and provide early-stage support to those individuals who are identified as being vulnerable to radicalisation. 

Channel uses a multi-agency group approach to protect vulnerable people by: 

• Identifying those at risk 
• Assessing the risk 
• Developing a support plan for all those involved 

Who is at risk? 

According to the Revised Prevent Duty Guidance for England and Wales: 

“Radicalisation is the process of a person legitimising support for, or use of, terrorist violence. Most people who commit terrorism offences do so of their own agency and dedication to an ideological cause.”  

Everyone is different, and there is no checklist that can tell us if someone is being radicalised or becoming involved in terrorism. But there are signs which may mean someone is being radicalised. The UK Government lists possible signs of radicalisation:  

• Accessing extremist content online or downloading propaganda material. 
• Justifying the use of violence to solve societal issues. 
• Altering their style of dress or appearance to accord with an extremist group. 
• Being unwilling to engage with people who they see as different. 
• Using certain symbols associated with terrorist organisations. 

Anyone can be radicalised, but those that are vulnerable may be more susceptible. Other factors can include impressionability, marginalization and personal circumstances. The sense of being isolated, depressed and unhappy may raise their likelihood of being radicalised. This may come from being angry at other people, or the government, confused about their future or feeling the pressure to stand up for those being oppressed. Similarly, low self-esteem, being bullied or feeling repressed, can contribute towards the likelihood of being radicalised.  

What are my responsibilities under the Prevent duty? 

Everyone working in healthcare has a duty to ensure that they understand Prevent and know what to do if someone they have had contact with is at risk. The Government has developed dedicated guidance for healthcare professionals.  

Under the UK Core Skills Training Framework (CSTF), authored by Skills for Health, all staff working in health and social care settings across the UK must complete training on preventing radicalisation.  

Who makes Prevent referrals? 

A big part of Prevent duty is exercising professional judgement as to whether an individual is at risk or not. All healthcare staff need to be aware of what the appropriate actions are, including reporting and documenting concerns safely and seeking advice, particularly if uncertain whether a safeguarding need is present.  

The NHS Prevent training and competencies framework specifies that; “All staff should have the skills to raise concerns and take action when concerns have been identified. This includes referring concerns to the appropriate individual or body, following locally agreed Prevent referral processes.”  

Are extremism and terrorism the same thing? 

Prevent Duty talks about extremism, terrorism and radicalisation, but what do these terms mean? The first two are often used interchangeably, however, they have slightly different meanings. 

The UK Government has defined extremism in the Prevent strategy as: “vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values”.  

Extremism can be used to describe both violent and non-violent forms of political expression however it tends to refer more to radical ideology or beliefs than activity. To be an extremist could mean anything from being a nationalist or a communist, to being an animal rights activist – as long as this ideology is regarded to be in opposition to the government’s position. 

Terrorism, on the other hand, is predominately used to describe acts of threats. This includes one or more of:  

• Serious violence against a person 
• Serious damage to property 
• Endangering a person’s life (other than that of the person committing the action) 
• Creating a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or a section of the public 
• Action designed to seriously interfere with or seriously to disrupt an electronic system. 

Not all extremists are terrorists, and not all terrorists are extremists. That’s because some extremists never act on their beliefs and some terrorists don’t have many beliefs (or the ones they do have are not particularly extreme).  

What is Prevent duty training? 

Getting an individual up to speed on Prevent principles can take time, even more so a whole team. That’s why most healthcare organisations enrol their employees on Prevent training, often as part of their wider statutory and mandatory training. 

Prevent training (or counter-terrorism training) will provide an important foundation on which to develop knowledge and understanding around the risks of radicalisation. It will also help you understand how you can play a critical role in identifying and supporting those at risk. 

Generally, a prevent training module covers: 

• Preventing radicalisation 
• Duty in healthcare 
• Identifying vulnerability factors 
• Taking action.