Nearly one in five people referred to Britain's controversial Prevent counter-extremism programme had autism recorded as a condition, according to new Home Office figures, raising fresh concerns over the scheme's impact on neurodivergent people.
Analysis of the figures show that 1,833 of the 9,957 people referred to Prevent between October 2024 and September 2025 had autism recorded, with 1,199 classified as confirmed cases and a further 634 recorded as suspected.
The Home Office data also shows that almost 10,000 people were referred to Prevent in England and Wales during the period - the highest annual total number of referrals since records began in 2015, following a 39 percent increase on the previous year.
Overall, 36 percent of the 9,957 individuals referred to Prevent had at least one mental health or neurodiversity condition recorded. Autism was the most commonly recorded neurodiverse condition.
Jacob Smith, policy and advocacy officer at Rights and Security International, told Middle East Eye that the increase in referrals of people with autism was "particularly concerning" and reflected longstanding problems with the government's counter-extremism programme.
