“Effective information sharing is essential to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Without it, practitioners cannot build a full understanding of a child’s circumstances, identify need or concerns before they escalate, or decide what action is needed to keep them safe or promote their welfare, including where they may pose a risk to other children. Information sharing also helps organisations to holistically assess if a child poses a risk to other children.” (Information Sharing Duty - Statutory guidance for safeguarding organisations and their practitioners)
Setting the scene
When you're working with children and families, sharing information is not an optional extra. It is a vital part of safeguarding and promoting children's welfare. Chapter 1 of the Information Sharing Duty Statutory Guidance introduces the new Information Sharing Duty and explains when organisations are expected to share information to help keep children safe and well.
No single practitioner or organisation will ever have the full picture. Information held by one agency may help another understand a child's circumstances, assess risk, identify need, provide support or take safeguarding action. The purpose of the duty is to remove uncertainty about information sharing and support professionals to work together more effectively.
Importantly, the duty is not limited to situations where there is immediate risk of significant harm. Information sharing may also be necessary where it helps promote a child's welfare, supports early intervention, or helps services respond to emerging concerns before they escalate.
What is its relevance to me?
Whatever your role, you may hold information that could make a difference to a child. The Information Sharing Duty helps practitioners understand when information should be shared and provides greater confidence that sharing relevant information is a normal and expected part of safeguarding practice.
The duty applies where your organisation:
- holds information about a child, or someone connected to that child
- believes the information is relevant to safeguarding or promoting the child's welfare
- thinks that sharing the information may help another organisation understand need or risk, make decisions, provide support or take safeguarding action
This means you should not wait until concerns reach a particular threshold before considering whether information should be shared. Instead, think about whether the information could help another professional better understand a child's situation or improve the support they receive.
The duty can apply when you identify relevant information yourself or when another organisation asks for information that may help them carry out their safeguarding or welfare responsibilities.
Specifically, how does the guidance aim to assist practitioners to keep children and young people safer?
Rather than focusing on whether information can be shared, the guidance encourages practitioners to consider whether sharing information may help safeguard a child or promote their welfare.
Understand when the duty applies
When considering whether information should be shared, ask yourself:
- Is this information relevant to a child's safety, wellbeing or welfare?
- Could it help another professional assess need or risk?
- Might it assist another organisation to make decisions, provide support or take action?
- Would not sharing the information leave another professional without important information they may need?
If the answer to these questions is yes, the Information Sharing Duty may apply.
Think beyond immediate harm
One of the key messages from the guidance is that information sharing is not just about responding to child protection concerns.
Information may be relevant where it helps:
- identify emerging needs
- support early help
- improve a child's wellbeing
- prevent concerns from escalating
- coordinate services around a child and family
This encourages practitioners to take a proactive approach rather than waiting until a situation becomes more serious.
Continue to use professional judgement
The duty does not remove the need for professional judgement. Practitioners still need to consider:
- whether information is relevant
- whether sharing is likely to help safeguard or promote welfare
- whether the information being shared is necessary and proportionate
- who needs the information and why
The guidance supports informed decision-making rather than automatic information sharing.
Consider the child's best interests
The guidance introduces an important safeguard. Information does not have to be shared if doing so would be more detrimental to the child than not sharing it. However, the guidance makes clear that such circumstances are expected to be rare. In most cases, sharing relevant information will support better decision-making and improve outcomes for children.
Work confidently with other agencies
The Information Sharing Duty is intended to strengthen multi-agency working by helping organisations understand their shared responsibilities. It supports practitioners to share information confidently, knowing that effective information sharing is a key part of safeguarding and promoting welfare.
Practice tips
When applying the Information Sharing Duty in your day-to-day work:
- Think about welfare as well as safeguarding
- Ask yourself whether sharing information could help another professional support the child
- Don't wait for concerns to meet a particular threshold before considering information sharing
- Remember that sharing can help identify needs earlier and prevent problems from escalating
- Use professional judgement to ensure the information shared is relevant, necessary and proportionate
- Keep the child's welfare and best interests at the centre of your decision-making
Key message
You do not need to have all the answers before sharing information. If information you hold could help another organisation understand a child's circumstances, assess need or risk, provide support, or take safeguarding action, consider whether sharing it may help improve outcomes for that child. Effective information sharing is everyone's responsibility and is a vital part of keeping children safe and promoting their welfare.