Government publishes statutory guidance ahead of new Information Sharing Duty taking effect on 30 September
The government has recently published statutory guidance for safeguarding organisations and their practitioners in relation to the new information sharing duty which was introduced through the Children Wellbeing and Schools Act. The new duty takes effect from 30 September 2026.
The guidance refers to section 16LA of the Children Act 2004, as amended by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act and aims to provide clarity for practitioners on what and when they should share information for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. It sets out what organisations and practitioners must do to comply with the new duty and what they should do to ensure consistent and effective information sharing to safeguard children and promote their welfare.
Some key points from the statutory guidance include:
- “Where the information sharing duty applies, organisations must share information with another organisation, or the requestor, if it is considered that sharing may help the recipient’s relevant functions, including assess need, make a decision, provide support or take action to safeguard and promote the welfare of a child, including when a child potentially poses a risk to others.”
- “The information sharing duty does not apply in extremely limited circumstances where a practitioner, acting on behalf of their organisation, determine through professional judgement that sharing information would be more detrimental to the child than not sharing.”
- "The obligation to share under the information sharing duty applies to scenarios that arise after its commencement on 30 September 2026”
We encourage all members to read the full statutory guidance which provides comprehensive advice on the new duty as well as examples of how it interacts with existing law, including data protection law, and case study examples to support better decision making.
Read the new statutory guidance: here