Learn more about what this means for the multi-agency
11 Sept 2026
New statutory information sharing duty comes into force
A new statutory duty on information sharing will come into force on 30 September 2026, strengthening expectations on organisations and practitioners to share relevant information where this may help to safeguard or promote the welfare of a child.
The duty was introduced through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, which inserted section 16LA into the Children Act 2004. The Department for Education has now published statutory guidance setting out how organisations and practitioners should apply the new requirements in practice.
The new duty is intended to provide greater clarity about when information should be shared and address some of the barriers that can result in important safeguarding information being withheld.
Where the duty applies, organisations must share relevant information where they consider that doing so may help another relevant organisation to assess need or risk, make a decision, provide support or take action to safeguard and promote the welfare of a child. This includes situations where a child may pose a risk to others.
Importantly, practitioners should not wait until concerns reach the threshold for statutory child protection intervention before considering information sharing. Relevant information may support early identification of need, preventative work and coordinated support, as well as responses to abuse, neglect and exploitation.
What does this mean for practitioners?
The new guidance reinforces that information sharing is an integral part of safeguarding practice.
Practitioners should consider whether the information they hold is relevant to safeguarding or promoting a child's welfare and whether sharing it may help another organisation to assess need, understand risk, make a decision or provide support.
The duty can apply to information about the child themselves, as well as information about parents, carers, siblings, peers or other people connected to the child where that information is relevant to understanding the child's circumstances.
Organisations should also be proactive. Practitioners should not assume that another agency already holds the same information or wait for another professional to request it.
Consent should not become a barrier
The statutory guidance also provides further clarity around consent.
Consent is not always required before safeguarding information can be shared. However, practitioners should continue to work openly and transparently with children and families wherever it is safe and appropriate to do so.
Concerns about data protection, confidentiality or the absence of consent should not automatically prevent relevant information being shared. Data protection law continues to apply, but it provides a framework for lawful and proportionate information sharing rather than a reason not to share.
A very limited exception
The duty includes a limited exception where a practitioner determines, through professional judgement, that sharing the information would be more detrimental to the child than not sharing it.
The Department for Education makes clear that this is expected to apply only in extremely limited circumstances.
Practitioners should consider whether any potential risk can instead be reduced by limiting the information shared, restricting who receives it or taking other appropriate safeguards.
Decisions to withhold relevant information should be clearly recorded, including the rationale for doing so.
Information sharing across the partnership
The duty applies to a range of organisations involved in safeguarding and promoting children's welfare, including local authorities, Integrated Care Boards, NHS trusts, police, probation, youth justice services and designated education and childcare agencies. It also covers certain providers carrying out relevant safeguarding functions on their behalf, including primary care providers.
The statutory guidance should be read alongside existing frameworks including Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026, Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026, the Children's Social Care National Framework and sector-specific safeguarding guidance.
For Croydon practitioners, the central message is simple:
Information sharing is part of safeguarding. If information is relevant and sharing it may help another organisation safeguard or promote the welfare of a child, practitioners should act rather than allow uncertainty about consent, confidentiality or data protection to cause unnecessary delay.
CSCP has updated its multi-agency information sharing guidance to reflect the new statutory requirements and support practitioners to apply them confidently in practice.
