Procedures, Protocols and Guidance

From this page you can access the local and regional policies, procedures and protocols that Stockton Local Safeguarding Children Board staff and agencies work to.  Minutes of relevant meetings are also available.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROCEDURES, PROTOCOLS AND GUIDANCE

Procedures, protocols and practice guidance together provide a useful framework to guide actions and clarify individual roles and responsibilities.

Procedures offer the structural framework for practice.  They focus on process.  They indicate what must or may be done in specified circumstances and define the limits of professional direction.  The procedures agreed by Stockton Local Safeguarding Children Board have the status of instructions and any inability or failure to comply with them should be accompanied by a reasonable explanation.

Individual agencies may develop their own internal safeguarding procedures and in doing so should ensure that they are consistent with the SLSCB agreed procedures.  Procedures should help workers by providing a structure for their work, in clarifying professional roles and in resolving any inter-agency difficulties.

Protocols set out the formal agreement and working relationship between agencies involved in the task of safeguarding children and vulnerable families.

Stockton LSCB Safeguarding Children Procedures are know as:-

Procedures for Working Together to Safeguard Children in Stockton-on-Tees

Hard copies of the procedures are not available as continuous updating takes place to reflect required changes.  

 

Department for Education Working Together to Safeguard Children and Families 2010


All staff working with children should now refer to this updated national guidance in conjunction with the Stockton-on-Tees LSCB Procedures for Working Together to Safeguard Children which are updated on a regular basis to reflect local practice.    

The new national Working Together to Safeguard Children and Families 2010 can be downloaded from www.proceduresonline.com/workingtogether.