Issue 464  22nd August 2026

The children’s commissioner for England has warned of a group of children “intoxicated by extremism” who need help the UK government’s anti-terror programme cannot provide. Referrals to Prevent – the programme designed to safeguard vulnerable people from being radicalised or drawn into extremism – involving children have risen in the past decade, from 2,918 in 2016-17 to 4,715 in 2024-25.

Axel Rudakubana, who when aged 17 killed three girls at a dance class and tried to murder eight other girls and two adults in the Southport attack in July 2024, had been referred to Prevent three times, but his case was closed over a lack of clear ideology. The chair of the inquiry into that attack has previously said officers were “hampered” by a lack of clarity on whether they should take someone on who demonstrated signs of being fixated on violence but without adherence to a particular ideology.

In a new report, published on Tuesday, the children’s commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, said the current process “risks missing opportunities” and called for a “stronger safeguarding response particularly for children who are fixated with violence but have no identified extremist ideology. It is clear that we have a cohort of children becoming intoxicated by extremism, radicalisation or a desire to harm others, who need interventions that Prevent is not able to provide,” she said in the report. Her office’s analysis suggested seven in 10 (71%) of referrals to Prevent involved children who did not have a clear ideology, with many linked to exposure to harmful content online such as videos of violence, discussion of weapons and sharing of extreme pornography. Of the total Prevent referrals for children between April 2024 and March 2025, 79% were closed without progressing through the programme. In this time period, almost 60% of Prevent referrals came from education providers, while police accounted for 20% and local authorities 11%. But the commissioner’s office found that at least 65% of referrals from education providers were referred back to them on closing, the vast majority of which (93%) had not progressed any further through the Prevent programme...

There has been a sharp rise in the number of people living in legal aid deserts for family and criminal law, while around 14.5m people overall are in deserts for at least one primary area of practice, according to new research. Housing is the area where there is the largest shortage of provision, with 6.6m people living in local authorities found to be deserts, following by immigration (4.6m people), family (4.2m), employment law (4.1m) and criminal (3.6m)...

In the 2026 Legal Aid Deserts Report, LexisNexis classed 91 local authorities as legal aid deserts in at least one of these five categories, making up 23.4% of the population of England and Wales. Within this, 37 local authorities, with a combined population of 5.4m, were deserts for at least two areas of practice, while eight local authorities were deserts for four or all five: Babergh, Breckland, Derbyshire Dales, East Cambridgeshire, East Devon, Rutland, South Norfolk and West Berkshire. LexisNexis found that many of the areas identified as legal aid deserts in 2022 have not recovered: seven of the 15 weakest-access housing deserts and eight of the 15 weakest-access crime deserts from 2022 were still deserts today...

Thousands of survivors of rape and sexual abuse will continue to access 24/7 support through a free, confidential helpline thanks to new government funding. The Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line, provided by Rape Crisis England & Wales, was awarded £8.7 million by the Ministry of Justice on Thursday to continue the service. The helpline, which launched in 2022 and is free to use, offers confidential support to all victims and survivors of rape and sexual abuse aged 16 and over. The helpline has supported more than 200,000 calls and 75,000 webchats since its launch...

The new funding will help develop the service, including by introducing British Sign Language Interpretation and providing dedicated support for survivors with different needs... The government will also commit £550 million over three years to support services to help victims and witnesses through the justice process...

New AI software will slash waiting times for reporting crimes to the police, helping to unclog the 101 service amid huge levels of misdirected, nuisance and prank calls. The police’s non-emergency line receives 20 million calls each year. Around 20% – four million – of these are for non-policing organisations such as local councils, NHS 111 or the 105 power outage helpline. However, the line also receives ridiculous reports on issues from delayed pizza delivery to slow pub service and requests for a lift, wasting vital time that police should be spending tackling crime. Backed by a £1.4 million government investment, the new system will get the public to the right organisation faster, while freeing up call handlers to respond to crime reports, safeguarding concerns and victims more quickly. It is estimated that the new system will save policing up to £8.5 million each year, releasing funds for local forces to invest in their most pressing priorities...

The system has been developed by the Home Office and National Police Chiefs’ Council, with delivery partner Vodafone Business. It uses an AI model to match why someone is calling 101 to a set of likely reasons, then redirects non-police issues to the correct agency before the caller enters a queue. At present, these calls are only identified after someone has spoken to a handler, wasting the caller’s time and increasing wait times for people who need police assistance. The new system has been subject to rigorous training and testing by the Home Office and police to ensure its performance is not affected by factors such as callers’ accents and phrasing. During pilots in 15 police forces it successfully diverted non-police issues including damage-only road traffic incidents, fly tipping and noise complaints to the right agencies. There are strong safeguards in place to ensure that no one in need of police assistance is ever accidently diverted. Callers are told how the system has understood their reason for calling and must accept or reject this...

Megan joins HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) from her role as Director General for Justice Services and Transformation at the Ministry of Justice, where she has driven the digital transformation of services across the justice system, including in prisons, probation and services for victims. She has also been responsible for the operational delivery of three essential justice services: legal aid, lasting powers of attorney and victim compensation. As HMCTS continues its ambitious programme of modernisation and works to improve services for court and tribunal users, Megan will lead the organisation through its next phase...