Updated Prevent Duty staff guide for 2026, providing clear, practical safeguarding information to help staff recognise, respond to and record concerns.

This clear and accessible Prevent Duty Staff Guide is designed to support staff in understanding their safeguarding responsibilities and responding appropriately when concerns arise.

Based on the Department for Education’s The Prevent duty: practical guidance for designated safeguarding leads (updated 2 October 2026), the resource turns key information into easy-to-follow visual pages suitable for staff awareness, safeguarding updates and professional development. Prevent October 2026 - Heart and Home Education.pdf

The resource covers:

• Prevent as safeguarding – helping staff understand Prevent within the wider safeguarding approach.
• Possible signs of concern – including changes in behaviour, increasing isolation, divisive or extreme language, conspiracy theories, online activity and growing interest in extremist ideas.
• How to respond – a clear six-stage sequence: Notice, Share, Explore, Record, Assess and Act.
• Speaking with learners – practical reminders about supportive, non-judgemental conversations and avoiding assumptions.
• Recording concerns – highlighting the importance of accurate records, actions and reasons for decisions.
• Deciding what happens next – from monitoring and early help through to Prevent referral or urgent safeguarding/police action.
• Parents and carers – key considerations around involvement and consent.
• SEND and neurodivergence – reinforcing that these are not indicators of radicalisation and that individual needs and wider context should be considered.
• Online activity – reminding staff that radicalisation can occur both online and offline.
• Quick-reference staff reminders – a concise summary of the key points staff need to remember.

The guide repeatedly reinforces an important message: there is no single profile, behaviour or indicator of radicalisation, and individual signs should not be considered in isolation.

Ideal for schools, colleges, education settings, safeguarding teams, DSLs, staff briefings, CPD sessions and staff reference materials.

Designed as an attractive, easy-to-read resource that can be shared digitally or printed for staff use.

Please note: This resource is a summary for staff and should be used alongside the original government guidance and your setting’s own safeguarding policies and procedures.