“Information sharing in a safeguarding context means the appropriate and secure exchange of personal information, between practitioners and other individuals with a responsibility for children, in order to keep them safe from harm.” Information Sharing, Advice for practitioners providing safeguarding services for children, young people, parents and carers)
Setting the scene
‘Am I sharing information in line with any lawful basis…?’ is an important question, which the guidance advises you to ask yourself before you make any decision on what information you should share.
Reading through the ‘Seven golden rules’ section, you will have seen previous reference to ‘Lawful basis’ and the guidance outlines very clearly what that is, and how it applies to you.
Sometimes the complexity of legal frameworks can be off putting and confusing for those working outside the legal system. But making yourself aware of the legal framework in place to protect both you and the children and young people you’re working with, will help you to make sure that you have a sound foundation for passing on information if your professional judgement tells you that’s necessary.
What is its relevance to me?
The guidance tells us that understanding ‘lawful basis’ is directly relevant to all practitioners, because under data protection law, you must have at least one valid lawful basis to allow you to share personal information under Article 6 of the UK GDPR.
What are the 6 lawful bases?
Consent: the individual has given clear consent for you to process their personal data for a specific purpose
Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract you have with the individual, or because they have asked you to take specific steps before entering into a contract
Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for you to comply with the law
Vital interests: the processing is necessary to protect someone’s life
Public task: the processing is necessary for you to perform a task in the public interest or for your official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law
Legitimate interests: the processing is necessary for your legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party, unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests.
Thinking about using ‘consent’ as a lawful basis for sharing information about a safeguarding concern
When you’re thinking about sharing information, often the first question you’re asked is ‘have you got the family’s consent?’ The guidance very much encourages you to gain consent when you’re working with families and feel you need to pass on information. As a lawful basis however, it isn’t always seen as the most suitable.
For consent to be used ‘…it must be specific, freely given, unambiguous, time limited and capable of being withdrawn by the individual at any time’. That can lead to some challenges:
- if you use consent as your lawful basis, and that consent is withdrawn at any point in the future, any information which has been shared will need to be deleted
- if you don’t have consent, that could lead others to assume that no information can be shared, which could leave a child at risk.
For those reasons, the guidance suggests that consent is not usually the most appropriate lawful basis in safeguarding situations…
All of that could feel a bit confusing. To help you to decide which lawful basis best applies to your own particular situation, the Information Commissioners Office has produced a Lawful Basis Interactive Guidance Tool which leads you through a series of questions, and then identifies which of the Lawful Bases you can best apply.
What more can I learn, and how will that help me to share information safely?
30 Minute learning activity
Scenarios:
- You are working with a sixteen-year-old, Jade, who tells you that she recently had a genital piercing. She tells you she doesn’t want her parents to know.
- You visit a family with a six-week-old baby and notice bruising around the baby’s mouth. You inform the parents you will have to contact the Children’s Social Work Service, but they refuse to give their consent for you to do that.
- A family you are working a family has an elderly relative living with them. This relative has dementia, and the family need support to meet this person’s needs, but the relative hasn’t given consent for anyone to explore what support is available for them.
Use the Information Commissioners Office Lawful Basis Interactive Guidance Tool to explore which of the 6 lawful bases you could apply when sharing information in each of these scenarios.