Supporting child protection
and abuse investigation
About the
Hydrant Programme
The Hydrant Programme is a national policing programme supporting the work of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Child Protection and Abuse Investigation Working Group. Originally established in 2014 to coordinate the response to non-recent child sexual abuse, but now supporting forces across all child protection and abuse investigation issues.
Hydrant develops policy and strategy on behalf of the NPCC, develops and delivers best practice advice including a learning, review and improvement function, provides a strategic analysis capability and partnership engagement with key stakeholders and partners.
What we offer
A Peer Review, Peer Support, CPD and Debrief function working across all elements of child abuse and child protection, which forces can access at no cost.
A Partnership Hub which supports key stakeholders and organisations with operational child protection and safeguarding issues.
An Analysis and Research Team who work in collaboration with the Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme and the National Crime Agency to enhance understanding of the prevalence of child sexual abuse and exploitation and the risk and harm it presents. The aim of this is to address identified gaps in policing’s national capability highlighted by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and others.
A Communications Team with the ability to coordinate issues of national operational criticality within the vulnerability portfolio when this is appropriate, for example policing’s response to incidents like the Everyone’s Invited movement and the football abuse scandal.
News & events
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25th Sep 2024
Op Greenjacket- Hydrant Programme working with forcesThis morning (Wednesday 25 October) Greater Manchester Police (GMP) carried out a series of warrants in connection with Operation Greenjacket – which was established in May 2019 to investigate allegations of child sexual exploitation in south Manchester.
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30th Aug 2024
Ten Year Anniversary Reflections from Simon BaileySimon Bailey QPM, DL, CBE is the former National Police Chief Council Lead for Child Protection and Abuse Investigations. In this blog, Simon reflects on the origins of Hydrant (formally known as Operation Hydrant) and his personal reflections having lead the portfolio for seven years.
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26th Aug 2024
South Yorkshire Police and Child Sexual Exploitation: Ten years onAs the ten-year anniversary of the publication of the Independent Inquiry into child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Rotherham, conducted by Professor Alexis Jay OBE, draws near it’s a moment to reflect and recognise the courage of those victims who suffered some of the most horrific abuse.