Information Sharing- New Statutory Guidance
HM Government has issued new statutory guidance, effective from 30 September 2026, on how settings should approach information sharing. You can read the statutory guidance here.
New Information Sharing Duty
Instead of focusing decisions to share information on child protection thresholds, such as child protection enquiries under section 47 of the Children Act 1989, the new Information Sharing Duty places the wellbeing and safety of the child at the centre of decision-making. The intention is that information is shared between multiple agencies, particularly where needs are emerging, to support professionals in carrying out their statutory duties to support children and families.
Whilst organisations must comply with the information sharing duty under section 16LA (s16LA) of the Children Act 2004, the new statutory guidance outlines what professionals should do to ensure consistent and effective information sharing to safeguard children and promote their welfare.
Designed to provide greater clarity and remove perceived barriers to sharing information, the duty applies to information that may assist another relevant person in carrying out their role to provide support or take action to safeguard and promote a child’s welfare. This includes information about the child or a person connected to the child.
Whilst data protection legislation remains a consideration, the new duty allows information to be shared where necessary to safeguard a child. Under the new duty, the common law duty of confidentiality (CLDoC) does not apply to information shared. This means confidential patient information can be shared without consent under the CLDoC and without considering whether sharing is in the overriding public interest.
When Information Should Be Shared
- When the information relates to safeguarding or promoting the welfare of a child.
- Where sharing information assists relevant agencies to carry out their duties to safeguard children, promote their welfare, assess risk, and take protective action.
However, professionals must also consider whether sharing information may be detrimental to the child. As the guidance states, this should only occur in extremely limited circumstances where a professional judges that sharing information may result in greater detriment to the child, despite any mitigations.
“Such situations should be rare, and carefully considered, with the welfare of the child central to the judgement.”
When Information Sharing May Not Be Appropriate
- The child being placed at immediate risk of harm by the information being shared.
- Interfering with a police investigation, where the consequence is likely to cause greater detriment to a child, including placing another child at increased risk of harm. Ordinarily this will not be the case, as both police information and police intelligence can and should be shared where it may assist another organisation to safeguard or promote the welfare of children. Relevant insights contained within intelligence can be shared in an appropriate, proportionate, or sanitised form.
- Contravention of the Family Procedure Rules, or an order of the Family Court or Family Division of the High Court.
The new duty focuses on effective information sharing as an essential component of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. It is intended to improve multi-agency dialogue while giving practitioners greater confidence and reassurance about when information should be shared.
This guidance not only facilitates stronger protections for children but also supports the more effective implementation of the Family Help model.
SSS Learning Safeguarding Director
14 September 2026