2.11. Adult safeguarding and sharing information

2.11.1. Introduction

This section focuses on the sharing of sensitive or personal information between the local authority and its safeguarding partners (including General Practitioners and health, the police, service providers, housing, regulators and the Office of the Public Guardian) for safeguarding purposes. This may include information about adults who are at risk, service providers or those who may pose a risk to others. It aims to enable partners to share information appropriately and lawfully in order to improve the speed and quality of safeguarding responses.

The Care Act emphasises the need to empower people, to balance choice and control for adults against preventing harm and reducing risk, and to respond proportionately to safeguarding concerns. The starting point in adult safeguarding should be to gain the person’s consent to share their information unless the risks mean that this is not possible or may place them at further risk of harm. It is always advisable and best practice to gain consent before information-sharing.

Sharing information between organisations as part of day-to-day safeguarding practice is already covered in the common law duty of confidentiality, the General Data protection Regulation, the Human Rights Act and the Crime and Disorder Act. The Mental Capacity Act is also relevant as all those coming into contact with adults with care and support needs should be able to assess whether someone has the mental capacity to make a decision concerning risk, safety or sharing information. This section, which is based on the Social Care Institute for Excellence 2019, Safeguarding adults: sharing information guide (opens in a new window), summarises key parts of these laws to help increase understanding of the basic principles in relation to safeguarding practice and, in particular, the sharing of safeguarding information.

2.11.2. Why do we need to share adult safeguarding information?

Organisations need to share safeguarding information with the right people at the right time to:

• Prevent death or serious harm.
• Coordinate effective and efficient responses.
• Ensure effective responses to safeguarding concerns, transfer of casework support, and safeguarding planning between multi agency teams, for example when a person moves between geographical areas and there are ongoing safeguarding risks and need for care and support which need to be communicated.
• Enable early interventions to prevent the escalation of risk.
• Prevent abuse and harm that may increase the need for care and support.
• Maintain and improve good practice in safeguarding adults.
• Reveal patterns of abuse that were previously undetected and that could identify others at risk of abuse.
• Identify low-level concerns that may highlight people at risk of abuse. The Sussex Safeguarding Adults Thresholds Guidance (opens in a new window) contains information on signs and indicators of abuse and neglect and what should be reported as a safeguarding concern. Partners from across all agencies should refer to the safeguarding thresholds to support their considerations around making a safeguarding concern.
• Help people to access the right kind of support to reduce risk and promote wellbeing.
• Help identify people who may pose a risk to others and, where possible, work to reduce offending behaviour.
• Reduce organisational risk and protect reputation.

2.11.3. Principles of information-sharing

• Adults have a general right to independence, choice and self-determination including control over information about themselves. In the context of adult safeguarding these rights can be overridden in certain circumstances.
• Emergency or life-threatening situations may warrant the sharing of relevant information with the relevant emergency services without consent.
• The law does not prevent the sharing of sensitive, personal information within organisations. If the information is confidential, but there is a safeguarding concern, sharing it may be justified.
• The law does not prevent the sharing of sensitive, personal information between organisations where the public interest served outweighs the public interest served by protecting confidentiality, for example, where a serious crime may be prevented.
• The General Data Protection Regulation enables the lawful sharing of information.
• An individual employee cannot give a personal assurance of confidentiality.
• The Sussex Information Sharing Guide and Protocol (opens in a new window) sets out how information between partner agencies of the Sussex SABs should be shared for the purposes of safeguarding adults.
• This document includes good practice guidance around record-keeping and information-sharing within safeguarding meetings and discussions.
• Frontline staff and volunteers should always report safeguarding concerns in line with their organisation’s policy; this is usually to their line manager in the first instance except in emergency situations.
• It is good practice to try to gain the person’s consent to share information.
• As long as it does not increase risk, practitioners should inform the person if they need to share their information without consent.
• Organisational policies should have clear routes for escalation where a member of staff feels a manager has not responded appropriately to a safeguarding concern.
• All organisations must have a whistleblowing policy.
• The management interests of an organisation should not override the need to share information to safeguard adults at risk of abuse.
• All staff, in all partner agencies, should understand the importance of sharing safeguarding information and the potential risks of not sharing it.
• All staff should understand when to raise a safeguarding concern with the local authority adult social services.
• The six safeguarding principles should underpin all safeguarding practice, including information-sharing.

2.11.4. What if an adult does not want their information shared?

Frontline workers and volunteers should always share safeguarding concerns in line with their organisation’s policy, usually with their line manager or safeguarding lead in the first instance, except in emergency situations. As long as it does not increase the risk to the adult, the member of staff should explain to them that it is their duty to share their concern with their manager. The safeguarding principle of proportionality should underpin decisions about sharing information without consent, and decisions should be on a case-by-case basis.

Adults may not give their consent to the sharing of safeguarding information for a number of reasons, e.g., they may be frightened of reprisals, they may fear losing control, they may not trust social services or other partners or they may fear that their relationship with the abuser will be damaged. Reassurance and appropriate support along with gentle persuasion may help to change their view on whether it is best to share information.

If an adult refuses intervention to support them with a safeguarding concern, or requests that information about them is not shared with other safeguarding partners, their wishes should be respected. However, there are a number of circumstances where the practitioner can reasonably override such a decision, including:

• The adult lacks the mental capacity to make that decision – this must be properly explored and recorded in line with the Mental Capacity Act.
• Other adults or children are, or may be, at risk.
• Sharing the information could prevent a crime.
• The alleged abuser has care and support needs and may also be at risk.
• A serious crime has been committed.
• Staff are implicated.
• The adult has the mental capacity to make that decision but they may be under duress or being coerced.
• The risk is unreasonably high and meets the criteria for a multi-agency risk assessment conference referral.
• A court order or other legal authority has requested the information.

If none of the above apply and the decision is not to share safeguarding information with other safeguarding partners, or not to intervene to safeguard the adult:

• Support the adult to weigh up the risks and benefits of different options.
• Ensure they are aware of the level of risk and possible outcomes.
• Offer to arrange for them to have an advocate or peer supporter.
• Offer support for them to build confidence and self-esteem if necessary.
• Agree on and record the level of risk the adult is taking.
• Record the reasons for not intervening or sharing information.
• Regularly review the situation.
• Try to build trust and use gentle persuasion to enable the adult to better protect themselves.

If it is necessary to share information outside the organisation:

• Explore the reasons for the adult’s objections; what are they worried about?
• Explain the concern and why you think it is important to share the information.
• Tell the adult who you would like to share the information with and why.
• Explain the benefits, to them or others, of sharing information; could they access better help and support?
• Discuss the consequences of not sharing the information; could someone come to harm?
• Reassure them that the information will not be shared with anyone who does not need to know.
• Reassure them that they are not alone and that support is available to them.

If the adult will not give their consent, further explanation should be provided as to why the information will be shared even where the person does not agree to this. The reasons should be given and recorded.

If it is not clear that information should be shared outside the organisation, a conversation can be had with safeguarding partners in the police or local authority without disclosing the identity of the adult in the first instance. They can then advise on whether full disclosure is necessary without the consent of the person concerned.

It is very important that the risk of sharing information is also considered. In some cases, such as domestic violence or hate crime, it is possible that sharing information could increase the risk to the adult. Safeguarding partners need to work jointly to provide advice, support and protection to the individual in order to minimise the possibility of worsening the relationship or triggering retribution from the abuser.

Domestic abuse cases should be assessed following the Domestic Abuse Stalking and Harassment Risk Identification (DASH RIC) risk assessment and referred to a multi-agency risk assessment conference where appropriate. Cases of domestic abuse should also be referred to local specialist domestic abuse services.

2.11.5. How to improve communication and joint working

Safeguarding Adults Reviews frequently highlight failures between safeguarding partners (local authorities, General Practitioners and health, the police, housing, care providers) to communicate and work jointly together, including incidence of not sharing safeguarding information in a timely effective manner which could protect the person from ongoing risks and potential harm. Such failures can lead to serious abuse and harm, impact upon timely access to crucial support services and in some cases, contribute to a person being at risk of fatality.

Partner agencies should ensure they actively demonstrate their commitment to good practice around information-sharing in safeguarding practice. This includes fostering a culture of proportionate information-sharing and a shared approach and avoiding working practices which may reflect poor approaches to joint consideration of information-sharing. It is important that all partner colleagues are familiar with ways to improve communication and joint working and take an active role in promotion of good quality timely information-sharing. The below lists some activities which can support this and is not exhaustive:

• Improve links between public protection forums: Safeguarding Adults Boards, (children and adults), multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs), multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPAs), multi-agency risk management meetings (MARMs), health and wellbeing boards and community safety partnerships.
• Develop joint approaches to resolve concerns where the individual may not be eligible for social care support, for people who refuse support and those who self-neglect.
• Develop effective information-sharing protocols and guidance ensuring that all partner agencies staff are aware of these and understand the importance of proportionate timely information-sharing in safeguarding practice.  
• Where appropriate, include partner agencies at an early stage in enquiries and safeguarding meetings, including external agencies involved (e.g. funding authorities).
• When a safeguarding case is being concluded and the Sussex case is being closed, if the person is moving or has moved across a geographical border, the receiving local authority/agency needs to be alerted. Early notification needs to be given, to ensure any ongoing support and/or safeguarding planning offered takes into account any outcomes/actions from the enquiry in the person’s new area.
• Keep referring agencies informed of progress and outcomes.
• Monitor information-sharing practice.

2.11.6. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a law that governs how organisations process personal data. There are two GDPRs: the EU GDPR and the UK GDPR.

1. The EU GDPR applies to organisations that process or control the processing of EU residents’ personal information, wherever the organisations are based.
2. The Data Protection Act 2018 (opens in a new window) controls how your personal information is used by organisations, businesses, or the government and is the UK’s implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The website for the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) (opens in a new window) provides further information.