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Operation Hydrant

Major investigation and public protection — Authorised Professional Practice

All topics

Summary

Operation Hydrant coordinates multiple non-recent child sexual abuse investigations across the UK, focusing on cases involving individuals of public prominence or abuse occurring within institutions. Victims typically report incidents that happened during their childhood. The Operation Hydrant team has issued new guidance for investigators, superseding the previous Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) advice from 2020 regarding allegations of historical institutional child sexual abuse and abuse by high-profile individuals. The updated guidance is available via College Learn, which requires a login for access.

Key principles

  • 1Coordinate investigations of non-recent child sexual abuse.
  • 2Focus on victims reporting abuse that occurred in childhood.
  • 3Provide updated guidance for investigators regarding high-profile cases.

This is a brief, factual summary. The full APP guidance — including operational detail, statutory references and case studies — lives on the College of Policing website. APP is the authoritative source for UK policing practice.

Read the full APP guidance

Source: College of Policing — Authorised Professional Practice · Crown copyright, licensed under Open Government Licence v3.0. Summary fetched 2026-06-27.