Providing the right help at the right time often means sharing personal information about people with relevant practitioners and partners.
“Lack of appropriate and timely sharing of information between safeguarding partners is a theme in national and local reviews of practice. Almost half of local child safeguarding practice reviews (LCSPRs) highlight issues relating to information sharing” (Dickens et al., 2021).
Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 outlines the requirements for safeguarding partners and multi-agency safeguarding arrangements (MASA) to have robust information sharing arrangements in place to support sharing for safeguarding purposes.
Working closely with the Department for Education, the DSCP have developed our Tier 1 Information Sharing Agreement which is a multi-agency agreement that details the lawful basis for sharing information. We have also developed a Tier 2 HOTH Information Sharing Agreement that provides a framework on how we share information relating to Harm Outside the Home. Both documents are available on Tri X Local Resources in the ‘Information Sharing’ sub folder – Information Sharing.
The DSCP has an online learning package available via the DSCP Elearning courses. The modules include learning from practice in Durham, the definition of safeguarding in the context of information sharing (with a strong emphasis on prevention) and how we can share information without consent, on the basis of ‘public task’.
The learning package highlights key points and is supported by a range of guidance, including the following:
- Non-statutory information sharing advice for practitioners providing safeguarding services for children, young people, parents and carers
- Information Commissioner’s Office: 10 step guide to sharing information to safeguard children
- Information Commissioner’s Office: John Edwards: Think. Check. Share. Data sharing to safeguard a child at risk of harm
- Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026: statutory guidance (Chapter 1, Page 20)
Resources