Prevent Duty Training: Who Needs It in England and Wales

Prevent duty training is for staff in the organisations the law calls "specified authorities" in England and Wales: local authorities, schools and registered childcare, further and higher education providers, NHS trusts and foundation trusts, police and criminal justice bodies such as prisons and probation. There is no single national rule that says everyone must renew it every year. The statutory guidance expects role-based training, recommends a two-year refresh for people with specific Prevent responsibilities, and leaves other frequencies to each sector or employer. This guide is for England and Wales; Scotland has separate guidance.

What the Prevent duty actually is

The duty comes from section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015. It says a specified authority "must, in the exercise of its functions, have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism". The Act's Schedule 6 lists the specified authorities. Part 1 of the Schedule covers England and Wales and Part 2 covers Scotland.

Two points are easy to miss. First, the duty attaches to the organisation, not to individual job titles, so there is no list of "job roles that must do Prevent training" in the Act itself. Second, according to the Act's explanatory notes, the duty can apply to only some of an authority's functions. The example given is a company that runs an independent school: it is subject to the duty for the school, not for its separate business.

The detail on what "due regard" means in practice sits in statutory guidance issued under the Act. For England and Wales the current version is the Prevent duty guidance published on 7 September 2023, which came into force on 31 December 2023 and replaced the 2015 guidance. GOV.UK shows it was last updated on 6 March 2024. If you are working from an older policy that cites the 2015 guidance, it is out of date.

Who is a specified authority in England and Wales?

The 2023 guidance groups the duty under education, health, local authorities, police and criminal justice agencies (prisons and probation). Based on the guidance and Schedule 6, that includes:

• Local authorities: county, district, unitary and London borough councils, the City of London Corporation, the Greater London Authority and the Isles of Scilly council, plus Welsh county and county borough councils.
• Schools and childcare: maintained, non-maintained special and independent schools (including academies and free schools), alternative provision academies, and nursery and registered childcare settings.
• Further education: providers funded by the Secretary of State or a combined authority (or the Welsh Government), and other providers with more than 250 students on courses leading to regulated qualifications, excluding students on distance learning courses.
• Higher education: the relevant higher education bodies and institutions meeting the size threshold in the guidance.
• Health: NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts, plus Local Health Boards and the Board of Community Health Councils in Wales.
• Police: police forces in England and Wales, Police and Crime Commissioners, the British Transport Police, port police forces and the Civil Nuclear Police Authority.
• Criminal justice: prisons, young offender institutions, secure training centres and probation providers, as listed in Schedule 6.

If your organisation is not in Schedule 6, it is not a specified authority. GOV.UK says that "other sectors that are not covered by the Prevent duty may also complete this training", so a private employer can use it voluntarily, but it is not a legal duty for them. Check your own status against the Schedule and the guidance rather than assuming.

What the guidance says about training

The 2023 guidance does not hand every employee the same course. It says training should differ by role and sets expectations at three levels:

• Staff who engage with the public should understand what radicalisation means and what measures exist to prevent it. For frontline staff, the guidance expects a reasonable and appropriate understanding of extremist and terrorist ideologies.
• Staff with Prevent-specific responsibilities, such as designated safeguarding leads (DSLs), are "likely to require additional, more regular training".
• Specified authorities as a whole should ensure, and record, that appropriate staff have training, particularly on radicalisation.

The guidance also points specified authorities to the free Home Office Prevent duty training on GOV.UK.

Sector wording varies. For local authorities, frontline staff, including contractors' staff, should be trained to recognise when someone may be susceptible to radicalisation. For education, the guidance says settings should make sure relevant staff have training that could help them prevent learners being drawn into terrorism, and that each setting decides which staff are appropriate. For health, it says Prevent training is mandatory for all NHS trusts and foundation trusts.

How often does it need renewing?

This is where people often over-claim. Here is what the guidance does and does not say, as published on GOV.UK:

• Staff with Prevent-specific responsibilities: the guidance recommends refreshing training at least every two years. This wording appears for local authorities, and similar recommendations appear for education leads (DSLs or Prevent leads receiving more in-depth training) and police.
• General education staff: the guidance leaves frequency to each setting, based on local risk and the type of setting. It does not set a fixed refresh period for general staff.
• Health: the guidance says relevant healthcare professionals "should receive annual updates and three-yearly refresher training".
• The Home Office course page: the GOV.UK Prevent duty training page does not state a duration, certificate or renewal period.

The Home Office training portal does list a refresher awareness course and suggests taking it every year, while advising you to check your local Prevent training policy. Treat that as a suggestion from the portal, not a statutory renewal rule. Note also that "recommended" in guidance is not the same as a legal deadline. Inspectors and commissioners will still expect you to show a sensible, role-based schedule that you follow, so write your chosen frequency into your training policy and track it.

The Home Office Prevent courses

According to the Home Office training portal, the free courses currently include:

The portal page does not mention certificates, so check what proof of completion the service gives you and keep a record yourself. Course content and lengths can change, so confirm on the portal before you plan staff time.

A practical way to set your own schedule

• Confirm you are a specified authority, and for which functions, using Schedule 6 and the guidance for your sector.
• Map roles to training. Frontline staff, managers, DSLs or Prevent leads and referral decision-makers need different depth.
• Set a refresh interval that at least matches the guidance for your sector, such as two years for those with Prevent-specific responsibilities, and say why.
• Record completions by person and date, and flag expiry. A training matrix for compliance training is a simple way to do this.
• Brief new starters early. Local authority guidance expects frontline staff to be trained at the earliest opportunity.

Schools can pair this with their annual safeguarding update; see our guide to Keeping Children Safe in Education annual staff training. For how other statutory and good-practice refresh cycles compare, read how often health and safety training needs renewing in the UK.

Frequently asked questions

Is Prevent duty training a legal requirement for every employee?

Not as such. The legal duty in section 26 falls on specified authorities. The statutory guidance then sets expectations about appropriate, role-based training for staff in those bodies. Individual employees in other organisations have no statutory Prevent training duty.

Does the Prevent duty apply in Scotland?

Yes, the duty applies to specified authorities in Scotland too, but the 2023 guidance covers England and Wales only and says Scotland has its own guidance. This article does not cover the Scottish rules.

Do private companies and charities have to do it?

Only if they fall within Schedule 6 for the relevant function, for example by running a registered school or an eligible further education provider. Otherwise the training is voluntary, although GOV.UK says other sectors may complete it.

Is there a fixed expiry date on the Home Office certificate?

The GOV.UK Prevent duty training page does not state one. The portal suggests an annual refresher awareness course and tells users to follow their local Prevent training policy.

Which Prevent duty guidance is current?

For England and Wales, the Prevent duty guidance issued on 7 September 2023, in force from 31 December 2023. It replaced the 2015 guidance, including the separate 2015 further and higher education versions.

Where to go next

Start by confirming whether your organisation is a specified authority, then set a documented, role-based refresh cycle that matches your sector's guidance. If you are building a wider compliance plan, the Learnsignal CPD hub is a good place to look at professional development options alongside your mandatory training.

This article is general information, not legal or compliance advice. Check the current statutory guidance and the requirements of your regulator, commissioner or inspectorate for your own organisation.