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Using this Manual

Scope of this chapter

This quick guide explains how the manual works.

This version of the manual was updated in March 2026. Please pay particular attention to Section 2, Amendments, for an easy reference to what has changed in this version.

The manual is compliant with Working Together to Safeguard Children. It aims to provide relevant information on safeguarding procedures to statutory organisations and partner agencies. Further detailed guidance is available in the Safeguarding Guides and Local Resources.

For further information, please get in touch with the ESCB support team (escb@essex.gov.uk) or call 0333 013 8936. 

This manual contains a set of chapters which reflect Working Together to Safeguard Children and related statutory guidance. The content has been written to be accessible to a wide range of users from the Safeguarding Children Partnership and other relevant local organisations and agencies, including voluntary, charity, social enterprise, faith-based, and private-sector organisations.

These procedures use the word 'must' where the provision is legally required. The word 'should' is used where the provision should be complied with, but is not a legal requirement, such as where it is taken from non-statutory government guidance or accepted good practice.

This manual will be updated regularly, and a summary of the changes can be accessed via the 'Amendments' button on the Home page. You will also find the details of the next planned manual update in this section.

If you would like to suggest a change to the procedures manual, discuss your suggestion with your line manager in the first instance.

This manual includes a local resources section that can be accessed via the navigation bar. If there is a resource you think should be added, talk to your manager in the first instance.

The nominated administrator for this area will be able to access online training in the use of the area from tri.x.

This library is populated and maintained locally and not by tri.x. tri.x will not be responsible for content added to this area, and any concerns should be directed to the contact person responsible for the procedures.

The manual is accessed by readers who may encounter unfamiliar terms. Therefore, a glossary of definitions is available under the resource tab.

There is also a National Contacts resource populated with details of key national agencies and organisations likely to be relevant to procedure users.

Every effort has been made to ensure regulatory compliance. If you discover any errors or omissions, please alert your manager.

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The content of this website can be accessed, printed and downloaded in an unaltered form, temporarily, for personal study or reference purposes. Content printed or downloaded may not be sold, licensed, transferred, copied or reproduced in whole or in part in any manner or in or on any media to any person without the prior written consent of tri.x and X.

tri.x is committed to ensuring its platform is accessible to all users and has embedded accessibility into its design, development, and testing processes. The platform is currently partially conformant with WCAG 2.2 Level AA, meaning most content meets accessibility requirements, with ongoing improvements to areas such as form behaviour, colour contrast, control sizing & responsiveness.

Accessibility is regularly reviewed through internal assessments, automated testing tools, audits, and user feedback, with amendments evaluated on each release. tri.x supports modern browsers and assistive technologies and now includes a text-to-speech feature to further support users with visual impairments. Users are encouraged to report any accessibility issues so they can be triaged and addressed in future releases.

For more information please see our Accessibility Statement.

Text-to-Speech allows users to listen to manual content instead of, or alongside, reading it.

A play icon appears next to supported section headings. Selecting the icon will read the content of that section aloud.

Google Translate is an online translation tool that enables users to translate text, documents and websites into a wide range of languages. It is provided for general assistance when accessing information written in another language and can be found at the bottom of every page on this site. This tool is useful for gaining a general understanding of foreign language content, but translations should be reviewed for accuracy if being used in formal or official communications.

Users can print individual chapters FOR REFERENCE. The entire manual CANNOT be printed. The manual is updated regularly; therefore, we advise against keeping hard copies for reference and encourage users to consult the online version.

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If you would like the text to be larger, resize the text under accessibility options. Alternatively, if you would also like the buttons and the rest of the layout to be enlarged, you can use the zoom function in your browser.

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Last Updated: March 16, 2026

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