Procedural Rules for Justice, Safeguarding & Fairness
SAFECHAIN™ EVIDENCE REPOSITORY™
Building the Evidence Base for Institutional Integrity, Safeguarding, and Systems Reform
About This Repository
The SAFECHAIN™ Evidence Repository™ is the central research resource supporting every publication, framework, professional programme, audit methodology, implementation model, and governance standard within the SAFECHAIN™ ecosystem.
The Repository enables visitors to understand not only what SAFECHAIN™ concludes, but the evidence that informs those conclusions. Each hub page in the Repository corresponds to a distinct category of evidence. Within each hub, individual entries are added over time as the Repository grows — creating a scalable, navigable knowledge architecture that connects evidence to frameworks, frameworks to professional guidance, and professional guidance to implementation.
This page is part of the SAFECHAIN™ Evidence Repository™ architecture. Contact samantha@safe-chain.org to suggest additions or to contribute to the Repository's development.
SAFECHAIN™ EVIDENCE REPOSITORY™
HUB 2: PROCEDURAL RULES
Curator: Samantha Avril-Andreassen FRSA
Series: SAFECHAIN™ Evidence Repository™
Category: Procedural Rules and Practice Directions
Last Updated: July 2026
Contact: samantha@safe-chain.org | safe-chain.org
ABOUT THIS HUB
Procedural rules govern how institutional decision-making is conducted — the processes through which legal proceedings, assessments, and governance decisions are made and reviewed. They are the operational expression of the legislative framework: where primary legislation creates rights and duties, procedural rules define how those rights and duties are exercised in practice.
For the SAFECHAIN™ programme, procedural rules are particularly significant in the family justice context — where the intersection of domestic abuse, economic abuse, and safeguarding governance is most acute — and in the criminal justice context, where Participation Integrity™ standards meet the procedural requirements of criminal proceedings. This hub catalogues the procedural rules most directly relevant to the SAFECHAIN™ framework.
CORNERSTONE PROCEDURAL RULES
FAMILY PROCEDURE RULES 2010 (FPR) AND PRACTICE DIRECTION 3AA
The FPR govern all family proceedings in England and Wales. Part 3A (Vulnerable Persons: Participation in Proceedings and Giving Evidence), introduced in 2017 and expanded since, is the primary procedural framework for Participation Integrity™ in family court proceedings. Practice Direction 3AA provides the detailed guidance on identifying vulnerability, making participation directions, and conducting ground rules hearings. Together, FPR Part 3A and PD3AA are the procedural framework that GUIDE-001 (Participation Integrity™ for Judges) is built around. SAFECHAIN™ Companion: GUIDE-001; NVI-002; Participation Integrity™ (GLOSS-001); CIPID™.
EQUAL TREATMENT BENCH BOOK (ETBB)
Published by the Judicial College and regularly updated, the ETBB provides guidance for judges on ensuring equal treatment for all individuals who appear before the courts. It covers disability, age, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, and — most directly relevant to SAFECHAIN™ — domestic abuse, trauma, and the court environment. The ETBB's guidance on trauma-informed judicial practice is directly aligned with the SAFECHAIN™ CIPID™ framework's neurobiological approach to participation support. Chapter 9 (Domestic Abuse) is the primary judicial reference for GUIDE-001's practice standards. SAFECHAIN™ Companion: GUIDE-001; CIPID™; Procedural Fairness™ (GLOSS-001).
CIVIL PROCEDURE RULES 1998 (CPR)
The CPR govern civil proceedings in England and Wales. The overriding objective — enabling the court to deal with cases justly and at proportionate cost — includes specific provisions for vulnerability and participation. Part 1.1(2)(a) (ensuring parties are on an equal footing), Part 32 (evidence), and the Practice Directions on witness statements are all relevant to the SAFECHAIN™ framework's approach to procedural fairness in civil proceedings. The CPR's equality of arms provisions are the procedural expression of the SAFECHAIN™ Equality of Arms Paradox™ concept. SAFECHAIN™ Companion: GLOSS-001 (Equality of Arms Paradox™); NVI-007; NVI-008; NVI-009.
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE RULES 2020 (CRIMPR)
The CrimPR govern criminal proceedings in England and Wales. Part 18 (Measures to Assist a Witness or Defendant to Give Evidence) governs special measures applications — the procedural mechanism through which Participation Integrity™ standards are applied in criminal proceedings. The CrimPR's overriding objective (dealing with criminal cases justly) includes explicit reference to victims' and witnesses' interests. SAFECHAIN™ Companion: GUIDE-005 (Police); NVI-002; Participation Integrity™; Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 (see Legislation hub).
ACHIEVING BEST EVIDENCE (ABE) GUIDANCE
Published by the Home Office, the ABE guidance governs the conduct of investigative interviews with vulnerable and intimidated witnesses. The ABE framework's four phases (rapport, free narrative, questioning, closure) are the investigative interview equivalent of the SAFECHAIN™ Participation Integrity™ assessment and support framework. ABE training is a prerequisite for police practitioners conducting investigative interviews, and the SAFECHAIN™ GUIDE-005 police guidance explicitly addresses ABE interview practice in the CIPID™ context. SAFECHAIN™ Companion: GUIDE-005; CIPID™; Participation Integrity™; SIS-004.
PRACTICE DIRECTION 12J — CHILD ARRANGEMENTS AND DOMESTIC ABUSE
Practice Direction 12J governs how family courts should approach applications for child arrangements orders where there are allegations of domestic abuse. It requires courts to consider whether there should be a fact-finding hearing before determining child arrangements, and establishes standards for how domestic abuse evidence should be assessed and how participation directions should be made for parties who have experienced abuse. PD12J is the primary procedural framework for GUIDE-001's guidance on family court domestic abuse proceedings. SAFECHAIN™ Companion: GUIDE-001; NVI-007; NVI-008; NVI-009; Participation Integrity™.
STATUTORY DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROTECTION NOTICES AND ORDERS
The Domestic Violence Protection Notice (DVPN) and Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) framework (Crime and Security Act 2010, Part 4) provides police and magistrates with powers to protect victims in the immediate aftermath of a domestic abuse incident. DVPNs (issued by police) and DVPOs (confirmed by magistrates) create a rapidly deployable protection mechanism whose governance quality depends on the intelligence that SAFECHAIN™ network participation provides. SAFECHAIN™ Companion: GUIDE-005; NVI-003; NVI-004; SIS-006 (Predictive Safeguarding™).
HOW TO USE THIS HUB
Each entry links to the official published source — the Legislation.gov.uk text for statutory instruments, the Judiciary.gov.uk for Practice Directions, and official publisher sources for non-statutory guidance. SAFECHAIN™ Companion references identify the most directly connected publications.
Individual procedural rules pages will be added beneath this hub as the Repository develops, providing detailed analysis of specific provisions and their SAFECHAIN™ governance implications.
Contact: samantha@safe-chain.org — 'Evidence Repository — Procedural Rules' in subject line.
© 2026 Samantha Avril-Andreassen FRSA. All rights reserved.
SAFECHAINN Ltd (Company No. 12038453).
samantha@safe-chain.org | safe-chain.org
The SAFECHAIN™ Evidence Repository™ provides curated access to publicly available evidence sources. All linked materials remain the intellectual property of their original publishers. SAFECHAIN™ claims no ownership over third-party sources. Repository curation, commentary, and framework connections are the proprietary intellectual property of Samantha Avril-Andreassen.