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Conduct of Undercover Policing and Surveillance Operatives Bill [HL]: HL Bill 9 of 2026–27

Approximate read time: 20 minutes

In the UK, various public authorities, including police forces, use covert human intelligence sources (CHIS) to prevent or secure prosecutions for serious crimes. However, concerns were raised in the 2010s about the conduct and practices of undercover police officers. This included that officers acting as a CHIS had entered intimate sexual relationships with members of groups they had been deployed to investigate. The concerns led to various institutional responses, including an ongoing statutory inquiry into undercover policing. There have been calls for legislative changes after the Crown Prosecution Service declined to prosecute the officers involved.

Baroness Hamwee (Liberal Democrat) introduced her private member’s bill, the Conduct of Undercover Policing and Surveillance Operatives Bill [HL], in the House of Lords on 2 June 2026. Highlighting the impact on the women affected by these actions, she has argued “we do not need the outcome of an inquiry to know that such conduct should be prohibited by law and be made an offence”.

The bill would therefore make it an offence for a person deployed as a CHIS to engage in an intimate sexual relationship with any person they have been deployed to target, who is a member of the group they have been deployed to target, or whom they encounter during their deployment. It would also mean that any such relationship could not be authorised or considered lawful under existing legislation. A CHIS found guilty of committing this new offence would be liable on conviction to a sentence of life imprisonment, with those found guilty of intentionally encouraging or assisting them also liable to conviction. The bill would also allow any CHIS working for the security services charged with an offence to apply to the court for a defendant anonymity order.

In addition, the bill would place obligations on both relevant authorities who deploy covert operatives and the operatives themselves to act with candour, transparency and frankness when interacting with any inquiry or investigation examining their actions.

The bill is due to receive its second reading in the House of Lords on 17 July 2026.

Image by Nikolay Dimitrov on Unsplash.