Staff training
Home Office First Responder training is completed by Community Safety Officers and the Safeguarding Officer every year.
Next year, this will be expanded to include First Call Officers (FCOs), as they are able to support victims outside normal working hours. This training will be delivered by Migrant Help UK.
CAMS modern slavery and human trafficking training will be delivered to staff across the organisation on an ongoing basis. It will focus on service areas where staff have an increased chance of encountering modern slavery.
Colleagues in Colchester Borough Homes (CBH), the Council’s arm’s length management organisation (ALMO), will also receive CAMS training in May 2025.
The new packages for mandatory safeguarding training on Learning Pool are being further developed. Additional training opportunities are being identified for wider learning on a range of topics, including modern slavery.
To meet the needs of colleagues, operational requirements and access in some Council services, an Introduction to Safeguarding video course has also been created. Delivery of this course is ongoing.
Designated Safeguarding Officers will receive refresher training in 2025/26, which includes modern slavery. This year, they will complete an Ofqual-regulated award through Nuco Ltd.
Safeguarding training includes links to modern slavery resources, such as Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) videos on spotting the signs of modern slavery.
We will review these resources throughout the year to make sure they remain up to date and add new resources as they become available.
An e-learning course for the Procurement Team and staff who commission goods or services was launched in May 2021. The course is called Protecting Human Rights in the Supply Chain (Modern Slavery).
Since the course launched, 46 staff members who work in procurement or hold budgets have passed this training.
This course has been reviewed and included in our suite of learning on our Learning Management System.
In October 2025, a staff survey will be carried out to assess staff awareness of modern slavery. The results will be published in next year’s modern slavery statement.
Awareness raising
Internal and external communications activities are being prepared for:
- United Nations World Day Against Trafficking, on 30 July 2025
- Anti-Slavery Day, on 18 October 2025
The Council supports ongoing awareness raising and education opportunities in the wider community through the CAMS partnership.
A conference is being organised for 16 October 2025. The conference, The impact of Modern Slavery on Women and Girls, will raise awareness of modern slavery.
The Council registered with the Modern Slavery Statement Registry in 2020.
We will submit the Transparency Statement for 2025 to this site.
Partnership work
Priorities for CAMS were co-developed by participants towards a slavery-free community.
These priorities continue to be investigated and developed by the multi-agency partnership. This provides opportunities for knowledge sharing and the development of resilience to modern slavery in Colchester.
The following areas continue to be highlighted for further discussion and investigation:
- governance and structure
- awareness raising
- training
- survivor care, safeguarding and referral pathways
- data and intelligence gathering and sharing across partners
- disruption
The CAMS Annual Partnership Plan for 2025 identifies four key objectives for 2025:
- Survivor Support and Care
- Funding and Sustainability
- Multi-agency approach to intelligence and disruption
- Partnership profile and awareness
Progress of the plan will be reviewed at each Steering Group meeting and fed into quarterly CAMS Partnership meetings.
Policies and plans
Colchester City Council will continue to strengthen the reporting pathway for First Responders within the organisation, especially when supporting victims who have been identified outside office hours.
Further guidance will be developed and implemented for First Call Officers (FCOs) to support victims who are identified outside office hours.
The organisation will also look to name a Single Point of Contact to liaise on behalf of the organisation and co-ordinate referrals, record keeping and support.
Supply chain
The Procurement Team and staff who commission goods or services should continue to complete the additional training, Protecting Human Rights in the Supply Chain (Modern Slavery).
New starters should complete this training when they join the Council. Existing Council officers should repeat the training every 3 years.
Procurement continues to monitor and review its policies and procedures to further strengthen its anti-slavery commitment.
Contractors
Training and resources are being reviewed and developed for contractors.
Charter against modern slavery
In July 2018, Colchester City Council agreed unanimously to adopt and apply the Co-operative Party’s Charter Against Modern Slavery, as far as legally possible.
All suppliers to the Council will be asked to confirm that they, or their organisation, have taken and will continue to take action to address risks to human rights within their organisation and supply chain.
During tender processes, this action includes adopting a whistleblowing policy that enables staff to report any suspected examples of modern slavery.