Children 'intoxicated by extremism' and schools 'miss opportunities' to refer pupils to anti-terror programme

Children are becoming "intoxicated by extremism" they view on social media and online, a new report warned.

In a new report, Dame Rachel de Souza, said the current process for referring to the anti-terror programme, Prevent, "risks missing opportunities" and called for a "stronger safeguarding response, particularly for children who are fixated with violence but have no identified extremist ideology".

As a result the government will "look very carefully" at what more can be done to protect children from online extremism, a minister said.

Speaking to Sky News, work and pensions minister Lilian Greenwood said the new report by the Children's Commissioner for England was "worrying".

The report suggests British children are becoming intoxicated by extremism they see online.

The report said: "It is clear that we have a cohort of children becoming intoxicated by extremism, radicalisation or a desire to harm others, who need interventions that Prevent is not able to provide. A merry-go-round of referral and inaction."

Ms Greenwood told Sky News: "My colleagues will want to look very carefully at this report and its recommendations and consider what more we can do.

"We're already looking at issues around young people and extremism in responding to the recommendations from the Southport inquiry. I'm sure that this work will add to that."

Ms Greenwood also reiterated that the government is committed to bringing forward a social media ban for young people.

Schools and colleges are also "finding closed doors and dead ends" when they refer children to the government's anti-terror programme, the children's commissioner said in the report.

It comes after Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana had been referred to Prevent three times, but his case was closed over a lack of clear ideology.

Rudakubana is serving a 52-year sentence after fatally stabbing three girls – Alice da Silva Aguiar, Bebe King and Elsie Dot Stancombe – at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport in 2024.

The chairman of the inquiry into that attack has previously said officers were "hampered" by a lack of clarity on whether they should take someone on who demonstrated signs of being fixated on violence but without adherence to a particular ideology.

Most Prevent referrals don't go through programme

Analysis by Dame Rachel's office suggested seven in 10 (71%) referrals to Prevent involved children who did not have a clear ideology, with many linked to exposure to harmful content online such as videos of violence, discussion of weapons and sharing of extreme pornography.

Of the total Prevent referrals for children between April 2024 and March 2025, 79% were closed without progressing through the programme.

In this time period, almost 60% of Prevent referrals came from education, while police accounted for 20% and local authorities 11%.

But the commissioner's office found that at least 65% of referrals from education providers were referred back to education on closing, the vast majority of which (93%) had not progressed any further through the Prevent programme.

Her report 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 said: "A referral should be the start of understanding a child's individual circumstances, not the end of the process. When a child does not progress through Prevent, we must be confident other services are there to understand and meet their needs.

"Simply returning children to services that made the referral, without a clear understanding of what is driving their behaviour or who will be responsible for meeting their needs, risks missing opportunities to provide the right support children desperately need.

"We need a stronger safeguarding response, particularly for children who are fixated with violence but have no identified extremist ideology.

"Professionals working with children need the expertise and support to identify children's needs and behaviours, intervene early and provide appropriate interventions."

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A government spokesperson said: "We are committed to ensuring all children are safe from radicalisation, and Prevent plays a crucial role in this, moving more than 6,000 people away from violent ideologies since 2015.

"Every Prevent referral is assessed thoroughly by experts. If it's determined a person is not at risk of being drawn into terrorism, it is right they are supported by other, more appropriate services.

"We thank the Children's Commissioner for her report. We are reviewing it alongside our work in response to the Southport Inquiry – including developing further options to manage those fascinated with extreme violence."

(c) Sky News 2026: Children 'intoxicated by extremism' and schools 'miss opportunities' to refer pupil