Sharing information
Guidance for professionals
This page provides advice to help you decide when to share information.
The Every Child Matters agenda sets out the five outcomes that all children or young people should be able to achieve with the support of universal services, such as midwives, schools, GPs. Children and young people should:
- be healthy
- stay safe
- enjoy and achieve
- make a positive contribution and
- achieve economic wellbeing.
If you think that a child or young person is not achieving one or more of these five outcomes then it is time to act and time to share information. They may be a child with additional needs or a child in need. Agencies can only help a child or young person and their family, if they know about your or other people’s concerns.
The Department of Children, Schools and Families has produced guidance about sharing information. Information Sharing: Pocket Guide can be downloaded from the attachment at the bottom of this page. You can also download the special edition of our newsletter, with an article from Steve Eccleston, Principal Solicitor, Litigation at Sheffield City Council. The Pocket Guide details seven golden rules for information sharing, as outlined below.
- Remember that the Data Protection Act is not a barrier to sharing information but provides a framework to ensure that personal information about living persons is shared appropriately.
- Be open and honest with the person (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.
- Seek advice if you are in any doubt, without disclosing the identity of the person where possible.
- Share with 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, that lack of consent can be overridden in the public interest. You will need to base your judgement on the facts of the case.
- Consider safety and well-being: Base your information sharing decisions on considerations of the safety and well-being of the person and others who may be affected by their actions
- Necessary, proportionate, relevant, accurate, timely and secure: Ensure that the information you share is necessary for the purpose for which you are sharing it, it shared only with those people who need to have it, is accurate and up-to-date, is shared in a timley fashion, and is shared securely.
- 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.
You can contact Sheffield Safeguarding Children Advisory Service (0114 205 3535 Mon - Fri; 9am - 5pm) to discuss concerns about a child or young person.
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