While information sharing duty under Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act will not apply if it would cause detriment to the child, draft Department for Education guidance says these situations will be rare.
Agencies will have to share information to safeguard children or promote their welfare other than in “extremely limited circumstances” under a new duty.
That was the message from the Department for Education in draft statutory guidance on the duty brought in by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, issued for consultation last week.
While the duty, which comes into force in September 2026, will not apply where sharing the information would be more detrimental to the child than not doing so, the DfE said these situations would be rare and practitioners should seek to mitigate detriment where possible to enable disclosure.
Existing guidance on information sharing
Successive governments have sought to address barriers to practitioners sharing information for safeguarding purposes, including fears that they would thereby be breaking the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)
This has included producing non-statutory guidance – last updated in 2024 – which stresses that consent – for example, from parents or children – is not usually the most appropriate justification for sharing information under UK GDPR. Instead, practitioners working for councils or other public bodies can generally rely on “legal obligation” – following a legal duty – or “public task” – fulfilling a public function – to do so.
However, despite this, the DfE said practitioners had reported that the “complexity of legislation can leave them unsure about when they can share information, particularly where concerns relate to a child’s welfare or emerging need, rather than harm”.
Practitioner ‘confusion’ over statutory thresholds
This has led to “confusion” over whether a specific statutory threshold – for example, the initiation of a child protection enquiry under section 47 of the Children Act 1989 – needed to be met before information could be shared, the department added.
It said the new duty, while not replacing existing safeguarding procedures, made clear that there was no requirement for a child to meet a statutory threshold for information to be shared.
“Under the information sharing duty, information must be shared where it is relevant to safeguarding and promoting a child’s welfare, including where concerns relate to early help, prevention and unmet need,” it added.
About the information sharing duty
- The duty falls under a new section 16LA into the Children Act 2004, which has been brought in by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026.
- Under subsection (4), the duty applies to three types of organisation:
- Those covered by the duty under section 11 of the 2004 act to make arrangements to promote the welfare of children, including local authorities, integrated care boards (ICBs), NHS trusts, police forces, probation services, youth offending teams and youth custody services.
- Designated childcare or education agencies, which will be specified in regulations and which safeguarding partners (councils, ICBs and police forces) will have to include in local safeguarding arrangements under changes to section 16E of the 2004 act.
- Providers delivering services on behalf of the organisations in the first two groups in relation to their functions to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, for example, GPs, dentists or other primary care providers.
- It concerns information about a child, or about another individual that relates to a child, that the relevant agency, or practitioners working for it, consider is relevant to safeguarding or promoting the welfare of the child.
- Under subsection (2), the agency or practitioner must disclose the information to another agency covered by subsection (4) if they consider that the disclosure may facilitate the exercise by the recipient of any of its functions that relate to safeguarding or promoting the welfare of children, unless they consider that disclosure would be more detrimental to the child than not disclosing, as per subsection (3).
- The duty to disclose – as qualified by subsection (3) – also applies where the agency or practitioner receives a request for the information by another agency covered by subsection (4).
- The duty does not breach any duty of confidence owed by the agency or practitioner.
Duty to apply in all but ‘extremely limited circumstances’
The DfE said the duty would not apply in the “extremely limited circumstances” where the practitioner judged that it would be more detrimental to the child to disclose the information than to withhold it.
It suggested this would usually relate to at least one of the following situations: the child being placed at immediate risk of harm by the information being shared; interference with a police investigation resulting in greater detriment to the child than if the information were shared, or contravention of a family court order or family procedure rules.
In the draft statutory guidance, the DfE stressed that information would still have to be shared if concerns solely related to a lack of consent from the child or family, fear of criticism or complaint or a practitioner feeling uncomfortable with disclosure. In the latter case, the professional should seek advice from their manager, Caldicott Guardian or safeguarding lead.
It also said that “information should not usually need to be withheld for data protection purposes”, with section 16LA of the Children Act 2004 providing a lawful basis for sharing information as it was a legal obligation.
The draft guidance also urged practitioners to try to mitigate the adverse consequences that might arise from disclosure, for example, by limiting the amount of information shared.
In addition, it highlighted that the duty applied even if the information shared was confidential ie it had been shared with the practitioner with the expectation that it would be kept confidential.
Sharing information about other individuals
The duty also requires practitioners to share relevant information about other individuals that relate to the child.
The draft guidance said this included information about factors that may inhibit a caregiver’s ability to provide safe and effective care, such as substance misuse, poor mental or physical health or being in an abusive relationship.
It also included information about individuals who may pose a risk to the child, for example due to a history of perpetrating abuse or violence.
The duty to share information about other individuals applies even if the person has no known connection to the child or if the other person is a child themselves.
The draft guidance stressed that children displaying harmful behaviour to other children may have been exposed to harm themselves, meaning organisations should share information to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children involved, including any who pose a risk.
Best practice in information sharing
As well as setting out what the section 16LA duty required, the draft statutory guidance also laid out best practice principles for implementing it, including:
- Acting promptly and proactively.
- Demonstrating accountability, including by recording and setting out the rationale for decisions to share or not share, in line with the statutory requirements.
- When requesting information, including the necessary and proportionate contextual information for the recipient to determine what should be shared, and why it may facilitate the requestor’s relevant functions.
- Keeping the child’s wishes and feelings, if known, under active consideration, but recognising that their safety and welfare is paramount.
- Informing the child and/or parents about information shared unless doing so would increase risk or is impracticable.
- Where safe and practicable, making parents aware of concerns about other individuals in a child’s life where it is relevant to the child’s safety and welfare, or informing the appropriate organisation/practitioner so they can do so.
- Providing acknowledgement and timely feedback to organisations and practitioners from whom you have received information, to inform them of any decisions taken as a result.
- Following agreed local pathways for sharing information, which should be set out in a data sharing agreement.
Respond to the consultation
The consultation on the guidance runs until 14 July 2026.
You can respond by completing this online form or you can email ISD.CONSULTATION@education.gov.uk if you need to respond in a different way.
