Help with this site

• Navigating the site
• How do I use the search?
• How do I use the A-Z Index?
• How do I browse the content?
• Help, I've forgotten my username/password!

Navigating the site

Using links
If you want to go to another area of the site, click with your mouse when your cursor is over a link. Whenever your cursor looks like a hand rather than an arrow, it means you can click and go to another page.

You can go to any of the main sections, e.g. About Cans Legal Information, by clicking on the buttons in the top navigation bar. These appear on every page.

Underlined blue text indicates a link that you can click on to go to a new page.

Where am I?
Once you've left the home page you can see where you are by taking a look at the breadcrumb trail displayed towards to top of each page. It looks like this:

^ Home
^ Business
> Copyright

This tells you that you are on the Copyright page in the Business section. You can go back to the Homepage or Business page by clicking on the underlined blue links in the breadcrumbs.

Don't worry if you go to the wrong page, just click on the Back button of your browser. You can do this again and again, until you get back to where you want to be ... or use the breadcrumb trail to skip back.

How do I use the search?

www.cans.org.uk has a powerful search engine, which enables you to find legislation quickly and easily.  To achieve the best results, we recommend that you read and follow the search tips below.

Search Words

• Enter the search word(s) you require in the Search for box. The search engine will find exact matches to the word(s) you enter. NB: the search function is not case-sensitive.
• If you enter two words, the search will return results that include both words.
• Please avoid searching for commonly occuring words (e.g. then or will) or words that are likely to be used frequently in a legal publication (e.g. court or legal). Such searches will generate numerous results and make it hard for you to pin-point the legislation you require. The Exact Phrase search (see below) is very useful if you need results that only contain a specific phrase such as "legal aid".

Excluding a Word From Your Search

noise NOT abatement

• To find paragraphs that contain one word but do not include another, given word, separate them using NOT (NB: NOT must be in capitals). The example shown would find paragraphs that contain noise, but exclude results if they also contain abatement.

Exact Phrases

"noise abatement"

• To search for an exact phrase, please place it in double quotes.
• Please do not use NOT in conjunction with the exact phrase function (quotation marks).

Similar Words

bankrupt*

• To search for similar words, please include an * (asterisk) directly after the word (i.e. no space). This represents a single character or amount of characters. Searching for bankrupt* will find any word beginning with the letters bankrupt, for example: bankrupt, bankrupts, bankruptcy, bankruptcies, etc

Minimum Number of Characters

• Please bear in mind that, unless the word is part of a phrase (i.e. in quotation marks), the minimum number of characters is four.

Symbols

• Please do not use apostrophes or symbols in your search term (i.e. %, !, ?, £, &), these characters are not recognised by the search engine.

Country 

• CANS Advice Notes covers the laws of England, Wales and Scotland. Use the Country dropdown menu to search for nation-specific legislation.
• National flags are displayed throughout the site to indicate to which country (or combination of countries) each piece of the legislation applies.

In Section

• Use the In Section dropdown menu to limit your search to a specific section of www.cans.org.uk.
• Alternatively, select Search All of www.cans.org.uk for a universal search.

How do I use the A-Z Index?

If you have a fair idea of what you are looking for, the A-Z index provides a simple way of accessing the information.

To use the A-Z Index:

• Click on the A-Z link (located at the bottom of the section listing on the left-hand side of the page).
• Select the appropriate letter (i.e. either A, B, C, etc...).
• The index is presented in alphabetical order and displayed in black bold text, scroll down the list until you reach the subject you require.
• Then simply click on the corresponding blue link and you will be taken directly to the relevant piece of legislation.

How do I browse the content?

You can browse through the content listing of each section by clicking on any of the subjects listed in the left-hand column. Using the blue live links, select the title most appropriate to your query and navigate your way through the site. NB: To find a specific piece of legislation it is recommended that you use the Search or A-Z Index. However, the Browse by Section method is an excellent way of familiarising yourself with the range and depth of information contained in www.cans.org.uk.

Help, I've forgotten my username/password!

No problem, we can email you a reminder of your Username and Password.
Simply go to any page in www.cans.org.uk, locate the Login box in the top right-hand corner and click Forgotten Password? Then enter the email address with which you originally used to register your subscription or trial, we will email you a reminder.

I can't remember / don't know which email address was used to registered my subscription! 
We will need to varify your identity before providing you with the Username / Password information. Please fill out the the Contact Us form, briefly explain that you have forgotten your access details and remember to include your telephone number. A customer service representative will call you as soon as possible.