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The Ministry of the Interior has ordered a review of the treatment of people with autism referred to the government’s Prevent deradicalization program, in recognition of the fact that a large number of minors diagnosed with neurodiversity appear in the processing of anti-terrorism cases.
The announcement follows a Financial Times investigation in October, which highlighted the scale of the trend, with specialist psychiatrists estimating that 13 percent of police counterterrorism work involves people with autism, a condition that affects only 1 percent of the population.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced new measures this week to strengthen Britain’s Prevent programme, which aims to identify people at risk of extremism and turn them away from violence. She said the program must adapt to the growing number of young people who are drawn to violent ideologies online.
The Home Office will undertake a strategic review to improve the support given to those referred to Prevent “who are neurodivergent or suffer from mental ill health”, she said.
After including people with suspected diagnoses, one quarter of those receiving deradicalisation support from Prevent’s most serious ‘Channel’ stream are autistic, according to internal Home Office analysis from 2021 seen by the FT and cited in the investigation.
The Home Office has never confirmed the existence of this research and — until now — has not publicly acknowledged the link between autism and Prevent’s recommendations. The Homeland Security Analysis and Insights Team, which compiled the 2021 study, is expected to contribute to the new review.
Experts who contributed to the FT investigation say that while autistic people are less likely to break the law than their neurotypical peers, they can be more vulnerable to grooming and radicalisation. The National Autistic Society has warned that some autistic children are being referred to Prevent because of a lack of adequate healthcare to support their condition.
However, the police and intelligence agencies have repeatedly drawn attention to the growing number of children involved in terrorist activities. Currently, 13 per cent of those investigated by MI5’s counter-terrorism teams are under 18 — a three-fold increase in the past three years. The number of under-18s arrested for terrorist offenses rose from three in the year to September 2010 to 32 in the year ending September 2024. Children aged 11 to 15 now make up 40 per cent of all Prevent referrals.
This trend is also causing concern outside the UK. AND paper released earlier this month by the Five Eyes security allies – Britain, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – said spy chiefs were “increasingly concerned” about the radicalization of minors planning or carrying out terrorist activities.
The document calls for better collaboration between law enforcement and academia to understand the “vulnerability factors” surrounding the radicalization of young people, including “neurodiversity and mental health”.
Jonathan Hall, the UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, was one of the first to point out the prevalence of autism among Prevent’s recommendations.
“It’s no surprise that a social disruption as large as the internet would expose new vulnerabilities, such as the presence of lone neurodivergent children in the processing of counter-terrorism cases,” he told the FT.
“Policy review is to be welcomed but it must be practical and I suggest that if it is to be effective it must start with the experiences of these children and young people.”
