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The Home Office has ordered a review of the treatment of people with autism who are referred to the government's Deradicalisation Prevention programme, considering that a high number of children diagnosed with neurodiversity come from counter-terrorism casework.
The declaration follows a Financial Times survey in October highlighted the scale of the trend, with psychologists estimating that 13 percent of the police's anti-terrorist work involves people with autism, a condition that affects only one percent of the population.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced new measures this week to strengthen the UK's Prevention system, which seeks to identify people at risk of abuse and divert them from violence. He said the system needs to adapt to the growing number of young people being drawn to violent ideas on the Internet.
The Home Office will carry out a strategic review to improve the support given to those referred to Prevention “who suffer from neurodivergent or mental illness”, he said.
Once people with a suspected diagnosis are included, a quarter of those receiving support to end the worst “channel” of Prevent are autistic, according to an internal Home Office analysis of 2021 seen by the FT and reported in the survey.
The Home Office has not confirmed the existence of this research and – until now – has not publicly acknowledged the link between autism and Preventing deportation. The National Security Analysis and Insights team, which compiled the 2021 study, will provide input for the new update.
Experts who contributed to the FT research say that while autistic people are less likely to break the law than their neurotypical peers, they may be more vulnerable to correction and reform. 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 repeatedly drawn attention to the increase in children involved in terrorism. Currently, 13 percent of those under investigation by MI5's counter-terrorism teams are under 18 – a three-fold increase over 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 between the ages of 11 and 15 now make up 40 percent of all Sentinels.
This trend is causing concern beyond the UK. A paper published earlier this month by the five Eyes security partners – Britain, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – said that spy chiefs are “deeply concerned” about the exploitation of children who continue to plan or carry out terrorist activities.
The paper called for better cooperation between law enforcement and academics to understand the “fragile factors” regarding the radicalization of young people, including “neurodiversity and mental health”.
Jonathan Hall, the UK's independent examiner of terrorism law, was one of the first to call out the prevalence of interference within the Prevention of Transfer.
“It's no surprise that a major social disruptor like the internet has revealed new vulnerabilities, such as the presence of neurodivergent lone children in counter-terrorism casework,” he told the FT.
“Policy review must be welcomed, but it must be effective, and I suggest that if it is to be effective it must start with the experiences of these children and young people.”