What is Prevent?
Prevent is all about keeping people and communities safe from the threat of terrorism. It is one of the four strands of the government’s “CONTEST” counter-terrorism strategy; the other strands are Pursue, Protect and Prepare. Full details of the Prevent Strategy can be found on the Home Office website.
Prevent is about safeguarding people from being drawn into extremism or radicalisation. The Home Office works with local authorities and a wide range of government departments and community organisations to stop people from supporting or engaging in terrorism or extremism.
The Prevent Strategy
The Prevent Strategy
- responds to the ideological challenge we face from terrorism and aspects of extremism, and the threat we face from those who promote these views;
- provides practical help to prevent individuals from being drawn into terrorism and ensures they are given appropriate advice and support;
- works with a wide range of institutions (including education, criminal justice, faith, charities, online and health) where there are risks of radicalisation that we need to deal with.
The strategy covers all forms of terrorism, including far-right extremism and some aspects of non-violent extremism.
Read the Prevent Duty Guidance: for England and Wales (pdf)
The Prevent Team
The Prevent Team is based at Hammersmith & Fulham Council, and also works across Kensington and Chelsea Council. The team delivers work including:
- training for frontline staff in recognising, referring and responding to radicalisation;
- a variety of projects to build capacity, increase resilience and improve understanding of extremism and radicalisation within communities by working with partners, such as schools, colleges, frontline staff, community groups, faith groups, supplementary schools, venues, parents and young people.
- a referral service for concerns, called Channel, which acts as an early intervention service to safeguard vulnerable individuals from radicalisation.
The team does this work to:
- raise awareness about the dangers of extremism and radicalisation, and the impact on families/communities.
- build resilience within local communities;
- provide information about what to do if you are concerned about someone who is vulnerable to radicalisation, or you think is being radicalised, and how to access support.
For further information on Prevent and the work done to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism, please contact the Prevent Team on: prevent@lbhf.gov.uk
Or download our Prevent information leaflet (pdf 144KB)
Prevent and education
All schools, colleges and childcare providers are subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 to have ‘due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’. This duty, known as the Prevent duty, should be seen as part of schools’, colleges’ and childcare providers’ wider safeguarding obligations.
The Prevent duty: for schools and childcare providers (pdf)
Prevent Education Officer
The Prevent Team includes a Prevent Education Officer, who is at the disposal of all schools, colleges and childcare providers, free of charge.
In their efforts to comply with the statutory Prevent duty and meet Ofsted requirements, schools, colleges and childcare providers can use the Prevent Education Officer in any of the following ways:
- Workshops to Raise Awareness of Prevent (WRAP) for staff
- Student sessions
- Parent and carer sessions
- Curriculum support
If you would like further information, have a query or concern, or want to receive Prevent training, please do not hesitate to contact your local team. Email prevent@lbhf.gov.uk or call 020 8753 5727.
Channel
Support for those at risk of becoming involved in terrorism
We work closely with local police and statutory services to deliver a multi-agency initiative known as Channel. The aim is to support vulnerable individuals at risk of radicalisation and offer guidance and advice to key agencies. Early identification is vital to safeguard the vulnerable individual and prevent them from committing potential criminal acts.
Channel is a confidential, voluntary multi-agency safeguarding programme that supports people who are vulnerable to radicalisation. It is run in every local authority in England and Wales and addresses all types of extremism including the extreme-right and Islamist-related. It is about early intervention to protect vulnerable children and adults who might be susceptible to being radicalised, which, if left unsupported, could lead to involvement in terrorist-related activity.
Anyone can make a referral if they are concerned about someone being radicalised.
The Channel panel which is chaired by the local authority and made up of representatives from different safeguarding areas including health, education, and the police – will meet once a month to discuss the nature and extent of the potential vulnerability of the individual.
All referrals are carefully assessed. Sometimes the person doesn’t need any help at all and the referral is closed. In other cases, the panel will offer the individual an appropriate support package tailored to their needs. Support could include assistance with education or employment, health support, and ideological mentoring to provide vulnerable individuals with the skills to protect themselves from being drawn into committing terrorist-related activity or supporting terrorism.
Make a referral to Prevent
If you are concerned that some you know or are working with is at risk of becoming involved in terrorism, you can make a referral to Prevent:
If you would like further information, have a query or concern, or want to receive Prevent training, please do not hesitate to contact your local team. Email prevent@lbhf.gov.uk or call 020 8753 5727.