Home Office to investigate autism cases in anti-extremism unit

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The Home Office has ordered a review of the treatment of people with autism referred to the government’s Prevent deradicalisation programme, recognizing that a high number of children with autism are emerging in anti-terrorist settings.

The announcement follows a Financial Times Research in October which highlighted the extent of this trend, with specialist psychologists estimating that 13 per cent of police work in the fight against terrorism involves people with autism, a condition that affects only 1 per cent of the population .

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced new measures this week to strengthen the UK’s Prevent programme, which aims to identify people at risk of extremism and divert them from violence. He said the program must adapt to the increasing number of young people who are drawn to violent ideas on the internet.

The Home Office will carry out a policy review to improve the support provided to those referred to in the Ban “who have a neurological or mental illness”, he said.

Once people suspected of having the disorder are included, a quarter of those receiving deradicalisation support from the more powerful Prevent Channel are autistic, according to an internal review of 2021 of the Home Office seen by the FT and reported in the investigation.

The Home Office has not confirmed the existence of this research and – until now – has not publicly acknowledged the link between autism and Prevent referrals. The Homeland Security Review and Insight Group, which conducted the 2021 study, will provide feedback on the new review.

Experts who participated in the FT study say that although autistic people are less likely to break the law than their neurotic peers, they may be at risk of radicalization and radicalization. The National Autistic Society has warned that some autistic children are referred to Prevent because of a lack of adequate health care to support their condition.

However, the police and intelligence agencies have often warned about the increase in children involved in terrorist activities. Currently, 13 per cent of those being investigated by MI5’s counter-terrorism squad are under 18 – a three-fold increase over the past three years. The number of under-18s arrested for terrorist offenses has increased from three a year to September 2010, to 32 in the year ending September 2024. Children aged 11 to 15 now make up 40 percent of Ban’s transfers.

This trend is causing more concern in the UK. A paper published earlier this month by the Five Eyes security partners – Britain, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – said spy chiefs were “deeply concerned” by the changing nature of children who continue to plot or commit acts of terrorism.

The paper called for better collaboration between law enforcement and academia to understand the “risk factors” surrounding youth change, including “neurodiversity and mental health”.

Jonathan Hall, the UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism laws, was one of the first to call out the prevalence of autism among people referred to Prevent.

“It’s not surprising that a public outcry as big as the internet should expose new vulnerabilities, such as the existence of lonely children linked to terrorism,” he told the FT.

“Policy review should be welcomed, but it has to work, and I suggest that in order to be successful it has to start with the experiences of these children and young people.”