Foreword and Introduction

Welcome to the latest update of the electronic procedures manual, which includes changes required to comply with the requirements and changes in guidance relating to Children’s Services. Click here to view further new and amended chapters.

The manual is in electronic form only and is permanently available on our Intranet site to facilitate ready access by all staff and permit regular updating. The electronic format allows you to skip readily between linked sections via the installed hyperlinks.

The manual includes the London Safeguarding Children Procedures, which have been formatted so that the hyperlinks will take you to the relevant section within them. We believe that this makes them much more accessible and user friendly so as to enable required information to be found quickly when dealing with safeguarding issues. You also have access to a web-based version of Working Together to Safeguard Children, which you can navigate in the same way.

The manual also incorporates all the procedures of the Youth Justice Service.

The manual is updated every 6 months and when updates are issued, attention will be drawn to where changes have been made - both on the Contents List and at the top of the chapter.

There is a print icon on each chapter. This is for use where hard copies of chapters are required, for example to take to a Court hearing or meeting. However, printed versions will only be valid for 72 hours from the date of printing and should be shredded as soon as the meeting or court hearing has taken place. Please do not print and keep copies of the manual or parts thereof as these are likely to become out of date.

We have recently introduced the Documents Library alongside the procedures. This is a work in progress and we will be uploading documents, forms and leaflets in use in for the purposes of conducting procedures contained in this manual. The inclusion of these documents are not confined to the 6 monthly update process and can be included at any time but they will be linked to the relevant chapters when the manual is next updated.

If you do come across any errors or omissions or want to include a new form or supporting document in the library, please e-mail Helen Smith (hsmith@hillingdon.gov.uk) who will be collating the information for updates and the documents library.

Finally, I would ask you to familiarise yourself with Policy Framework, Values and Underlying Principles of Recording, Confidentiality and Consultation which summarises the key policies, values and principles, which must be adhered to when implementing procedures throughout the manual. If our intention is to support families and improve life experiences and outcomes for the children and young people we are working with and caring for then we must provide effective, reflective, consistent, and high quality services – understanding and using the tools and information contained within this manual will help us to achieve these essential goals.

Tony Zaman

Director of Children and Young People Services

April 2016