The Information Sharing Duty (Duty to Share), introduced through the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, has been published by the Department for Education and comes into force on 30 September 2026. It places a clear expectation on safeguarding partners and relevant agencies to share information that may be relevant to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.

The new guidance moves information sharing from being primarily considered as good practice to a statutory safeguarding responsibility. It moves the dial from ‘should I share?‘ to ‘you must share’.

Health professionals should continue to share relevant safeguarding information but may need to challenge long-standing assumptions that confidentiality prevents sharing. Information relevant to a child's welfare should be shared with safeguarding partners where appropriate.