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The Department for Education (DfE) is seeking views on the update to the Information Sharing Guidance. The information below, summarises the proposed new measures, highlighting those most relevant to schools, along with practical recommendations on how they will affect your policies, processes, and daily practice. |
This draft statutory guidance has been renamed the Information Sharing Duty to reflect the new duty introduced by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, where practitioners are 'required' to exchange information to protect children.
While the existing Information Sharing Guidance is non-statutory, the new draft guidance establishes a legal obligation to share safeguarding and welfare information under Section 16LA of the Children Act 2004. Failure to comply may now be considered by regulators and inspectorates during reviews.
The Guidance mandates that relevant organisations, including the police, NHS, local authorities, childcare and education settings, must proactively disclose relevant information to promote a child's welfare, even if specific statutory thresholds for harm have not yet been met.
Ultimately, the guidance seeks to establish a consistent multi-agency framework that ensures vital information flows within and across local boundaries to support early intervention and collective decision-making.
The "Must" Requirement: Under the new duty, if a practitioner holds information they consider relevant to safeguarding or promoting a child's welfare, they must ensure it is disclosed to another 'in scope organisation' if it may facilitate that person's safeguarding functions.
Common Law Duty of Confidentiality: Previously, practitioners had to judge whether disclosure of confidential information was legally required or justified in the overriding public interest or required consent. This is no longer the case. The new duty creates a legal requirement to share information relevant to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of a child. This should create less inconsistency across agencies.
Thresholds for Sharing: The guidance explicitly clarifies that there is no requirement for a child to meet a particular statutory threshold (such as Section 17 or Section 47 enquiries) before information must be shared. The aim is to share information early to prevent harm to children.
The Three Tests for Sharing: Practitioners must now apply the following tests when deciding if they can share safeguarding information:
Holistic Risks: Specific instructions to share information when a child potentially poses a risk to others, rather than solely when they are the subject of risk themselves.
Contextual Information: Sharing information about individuals connected to a child (adult or peer, for example), if it is relevant to the child's safety or welfare. So any concerns about risks related to others who are in contact with the child or factors impacting caregiving/parenting are identified.
Routine Information Sharing by Schools: Safeguarding partners (in your Local Safeguarding Children Partnership) may agree that schools need to regularly and routinely share data (such as attendance) to help identify emerging harm or unmet needs.
Shared Systems: The guidance strongly encourages moving away from isolated databases and toward shared multi-agency systems to coordinate responses seamlessly.
The above should complement existing mandatory reporting requirements (e.g. for concerns relating to Prevent, Female Genital Mutilation and the new mandatory reporting for child sexual abuse).
While we encourage you to read the full draft and respond to the DfE Consultation, the underlying legislation means many of these measures will likely transition directly into the final guidance.
As you wait for the final version, start evaluating these 7 key areas:
Do you have sufficient resources to manage the increased volume of information sharing? This includes proactively sending data that has not met statutory intervention thresholds and managing routine data sharing (like attendance patterns).
How will your school demonstrate accountability for this new statutory duty to regulators like Ofsted? Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) should continue to be very clear in their records regarding their decision-making and rationale for sharing or not sharing information (as already outlined in KCSIE).
You will need to update your Data Protection Policy, Safeguarding Policy, Data Sharing Agreements (DSAs) and Privacy Notices to explicitly state that sharing for safeguarding is now a legal obligation. Speak with your Data Protection Officer (DPO) for support.
How will you train staff on these updated responsibilities?
How will schools maintain trusted relationships with parents when they are legally required to share information that they might strongly object to? Good practice in this area relies on relational practice and transparent communication (see free resources at relationalpractice.lgfl.net).
The new statutory duty applies only to children. Do your school policies, processes, and practices differentiate information sharing for children and pupils who have reached their 18th birthday?
The 2026 duty applies only to relevant agencies (such as schools) but excludes voluntary organisations and private providers. How will schools ensure a full picture of a child's life is maintained when local charities or private providers are not bound by the same statutory obligation to share?