At Action for Children we take pride in excellent practice when safeguarding the most vulnerable, so it is concerning to note that some organisations and frontline practitioners are starting to cite data protection rules as a reason for not sharing information among multi-agency networks. Our concern is set within a national context of serious case and child practice reviews where it is all too commonly revealed that proper and timely information-sharing about safeguarding children can mean the difference between life and death.

It seems that many organisations became very focused on the issue of consent to share information up to the launch of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2017. In the world of safeguarding however, consent, while important, isn’t the only basis upon which information can be shared and indeed in safeguarding it is sometimes the case that consent is not readily given or easy to obtain. We are often dealing with cases where obtaining of consent causes delays that put children at risk, or where further harm is committed when we inform the parent or carer that a safeguarding concern is being referred. In safeguarding we are often dealing with reluctant service users who may try to conceal aspects of their situations, from a parent with a drug problem to a young person fearful of criminal retribution if they share information about the risks in their lives. An additional problem in the sector is that referrals from statutory agencies often do not contain enough detail about the history of safeguarding concerns, meaning that those working with the family or young person are working blindfolded, and can’t adequately protect children.