Information Sharing

Professionals working with children, parents, or adults in contact with children, should always share information with children’s social care where there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child may be suffering or is at risk of suffering significant harm. Sharing information under these circumstances is legitimate and in the public interest. If you are worried about someone, you are allowed to talk with other professionals without fearing you are doing something wrong. You aren’t. Talking to each other and sharing information when trying to protect people from harm or to prevent a crime is lawful and in the public interest.

Information Sharing Resource

All professionals who work with children, or with adults who are parents or carers, should know how and when to share information with other professionals to keep children safe. In many child protection tragedies, ineffective or lack of information sharing is a key factor.

Halton Information Sharing Guide

Some points to remember about information sharing are:

• Never assumethat other professionals are taking the action you would expect – check with them directly.
• Check your terminology – as professionals, we all use our own jargon and ‘short-hand’ – this makes things easier between ourselves but can confuse people who are not familiar with our language. Make sure that you are clear, especially when working with professionals in other disciplines.
• Get feedback– find out what action another professional will take as a result of the information you have given them and verify that it has taken place.

7 Golden Rules for Information Sharing

Some professionals worry about their responsibility to keep information private under the Data Protection Act 1998 – but there are simple ways to make sure you share information appropriately:

1. Remember that the Data Protection Act 1998 and human rights law are not barriers to justified information sharing but provide a framework to ensure that personal information about living individuals is shared appropriately.
2. Be open and honest with the individual (and/or their family where appropriate) from the outset about why, what, how and with whom information will, or could be shared, and seek their agreement, unless it is unsafe or inappropriate to do so.
3. Seek advice from other practitioners if you are in any doubt about sharing the information concerned, without disclosing the identity of the individual where possible.
4. Share with informed consent where appropriate and, where possible, respect the wishes of those who do not consent to share confidential information. You may still share information without consent if, in your judgement, there is good reason to do so, such as where safety may be at risk. You will need to base your judgement on the facts of the case. When you are sharing or requesting personal information from someone, be certain of the basis upon which you are doing so. Where you have consent, be mindful that an individual might not expect information to be shared.
5. Consider safety and well-being: Base your information sharing decisions on considerations of the safety and well-being of the individual and others who may be affected by their actions.
6. Necessary, proportionate, relevant, adequate, accurate, timely and secure: Ensure that the information you share is necessary for the purpose for which you are sharing it, is shared only with those individuals who need to have it, is accurate and up to date, is shared in a timely fashion, and is shared securely (see principles).
7. Keep a record of your decision and the reasons for it – whether it is to share information or not. If you decide to share, then record what you have shared, with whom and for what purpose.