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The Hydrant Programme is proud to celebrate Kay Wallace, who has been recognised as a runner-up in this year’s Excellence in Online Protection awards for her exceptional contribution to protecting children and supporting investigators tackling some of the most disturbing and complex online criminality facing policing today.

A historic £100 million will drive a crackdown on child sexual abuse, including tracking down vile grooming gang members, protecting victims and bringing offenders to justice.  Perpetrators who thought they got away with horrific grooming gang offences will be held to account as closed cases are reopened.

Earlier this year, police officers and cadets carried out an Operation Makesafe test at a chain hotel in the south of England to see how staff might respond to a potentially vulnerable young person.

Policing leaders have welcomed a new HMICFRS spotlight report examining the policing response to online child sexual abuse and the management of registered sex offenders, while stressing the urgent need for sustained, system-wide action to keep children safe.

The report highlights the growing scale and complexity of online child sexual abuse across England and Wales and the significant pressures facing officers and staff working in this challenging and highly specialist area. 

National policing launches new resources to strengthen the response to abuse linked to witchcraft, spirit possession and ritualistic abuse.

Staying safe online is something that matters to every family, every school and every community.

In this special Q&A, A/Chief Constable Becky Riggs, National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Child Protection and Abuse Investigation, sits down with 12-year-old Lib, who is passionate about online safety, to have an open and honest conversation about the realities young people face in the digital world.

The UK’s policing leads for child sexual abuse (CSA) are today warning that despite unprecedented levels of law enforcement action to tackle offending, advances in technology and the reliance on online platforms to communicate are significantly increasing the opportunities for offenders to engage with and sexually abuse children.

Two major national reports published today provide the most comprehensive picture yet of child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) recorded by police across England and Wales in 2024. The National Analysis of Police-Recorded CSAE Crimes Report 2024 and the Group-Based Offending Report 2024 highlight both the breadth of CSAE and the unique challenges posed by organised, multi-offender networks.

The report highlights significant progress made across policing and sets out clear, actionable recommendations to further strengthen prevention, investigation, and cultural change.

It is encouraging to see the progress made since the last inspection, particularly in how forces are improving training, and taking steps to eradicate victim-blaming language. These developments reflect an enduring commitment across policing to protect vulnerable children and young people.

Deputy Chief Constable Becky Riggs, the national lead for Child Protection and Abuse Investigation says we know that hotels are locations at risk of being used by offenders to enable their criminality, and thanks industry partners who are working closely with police forces across England and Wales to protect children and young people by detecting and preventing child sexual exploitation, through the implementation of Makesafe.

Today (Thursday 3 July) the National Police Chiefs’ Council in partnership with the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC) is publishing a research review and analysis ‘Organised ritual abuse and its wider context: Degradation, deception and disavowal’ by Dr Elly Hanson. The report unpacks the nature of organised ritual abuse, its motives and dynamics, the harm it causes and the barriers survivors face in speaking out. It also looks at the discourse of disbelief and conspiracy fictions which have kept it hidden for so long.