A child psychotherapist was forced to close her private practice after being arrested for holding a paper sign at a Palestine Action protest, Novara Media can reveal.

Alex Payne, a UKCP-registered integrative child psychotherapist of 16 years and accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, had her professional indemnity insurance cancelled following her arrests at two protests opposing the genocide in Gaza and the ban on Palestine Action.

She was arrested in October 2025 and April this year under section 13 of the Terrorism Act for holding signs that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

Amnesty International UK has slammed Payne’s case as “chilling”.

Palestine Action was proscribed as a terror organisation under Keir Starmer’s Labour government in the summer of 2025, making it the first direct action group in British history to be banned in this way.

Payne was charged under the Terrorism Act after her arrest in October 2025. She has not been convicted, but with this charge hanging over her, she hasn’t been able to secure alternative insurance. Payne told Novara Media: “I cannot practice as a child psychotherapist without insurance, so I’ve had to prematurely end therapeutic work with children and young people although I pose no risk to their wellbeing.

“It’s ironic to me that a protest motivated by frustration at the Starmer government’s weak response to the suffering of children in Gaza should have led to my work with children having to end.”

Payne had been insured by Markel International since 2022, via insurance broker Everywhen. She told Novara Media that she has never needed to make a claim, and that she had used Everywhen as her broker for her entire career.

In emails seen by Novara Media, an Everywhen advisor told Payne that Markel International accepted that the “matter does not relate directly to [Alex’s] professional practice” but had decided that: “Taking the overall circumstances into account, including the two arrests and the ongoing legal proceedings, we do not feel this is a risk we can continue to support.”

Markel International and Everywhen both declined to comment.

Amnesty International UK’s law and human rights director Tom Southerden told Novara Media: “To see a child psychotherapist facing arrest, and then having to close their practice simply for peacefully holding a placard, is a chilling attack on our freedom of speech.”

On what moved her to take action, Payne said: “There is a huge cognitive dissonance in helplessly watching a live-streamed genocide and working with vulnerable and sometimes quite traumatised child clients. You see the impact of abuse and neglect on children and on the developing brain.

“And then you’ve got this tiny strip of land, Gaza, where you’ve got generation after generation of traumatised children growing up into traumatised adults. And it’s very hard to see that happening and not do anything.”

She added: “I feel desperately guilty because I was doing good work with clients that I’ve had for a long time and clients who I just started working with – from eight or nine-year-olds to young adults.”

Payne is not the only person to have faced professional consequences after being arrested on terrorism charges for participating in Palestine Action protests.

Rachel, a social worker and 65-year-old grandma of three who chose not to give her last name due to fear of reprisals, took part in a protest against the ban on Palestine Action in September 2025, in London’s Parliament Square. Like Alex Payne, she was arrested under section 13 of the Terrorism Act for holding a sign that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

Rachel immediately informed her workplace of her arrest and was suspended from her job at a local authority in the south-east of England for eight weeks. According to correspondence seen by Novara Media, she’s now back at work with a formal written warning. We are not naming Rachel’s employer to avoid further repercussions.

Rachel said while senior management at work were “wetting themselves because it was the Terrorism Act”, she was well-supported by other colleagues who understood that her decision to take part in the protest was in line with her core values as a social worker.

Of her grandkids, Rachel said: “I want them to grow up in a better world than we’ve got now. I don’t want them growing up in a country where they can’t say what their views are.”

She added: “My grandchildren are all under four – they all live in a house with enough to eat, they can all have medical treatment when they need it – and there are children in Gaza of the same age who don’t have any of those things. They don’t have a house, they’ve probably lost parents, they’ve lost siblings, they’ve lost limbs. Politicians don’t always see that actually these are real families and real children.”

Section 13 of the Terrorism Act covers wearing or carrying an item in such a way as to arouse reasonable suspicion that the person in question is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation. The offence is punishable by a fine and/or up to six months in prison.

Southerden added: “Instead of punishing grandparents and social workers, the government should overturn the proscription and focus on reforming our laws so that communities are protected in coming together and demonstrating on the issues they care about.”

Amnesty wrote to employers and professional regulators back in December, urging them to ensure that members of staff “do not face regulatory or other disciplinary action as a consequence of participating in peaceful protests against the UK government’s proscription of Palestine Action”.

Southerden said: “It’s completely wrong that protesters are facing arrest in the first place, and that injustice is compounded if there are further consequences in their places of work. Peacefully protecting human rights is not misconduct.”

In January, Novara Media reported that disability charity Sense reinstated an employee it had sacked for taking part in a Palestine Action protest, over fears for its “brand reputation”.

At the Labour party conference in Liverpool on 28 September, foreign secretary Ed Miliband told people outraged and distressed by the carnage Israel has wreaked upon Gaza: “You were right.” The night before, outside the conference venue, dozens of elderly people – including 94-year-old Jewish human rights lawyer Margaret Owen – were arrested for holding the same signs protesting the genocide and the ban on Palestine Action.

The Home Office’s own data for the year ending June 2026 shows that terror arrests are up 1,553% – a record high – since the controversial proscription of Palestine Action.

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