Policy statement

‘Share with informed consent where appropriate and, where possible, respect the wishes of those who do not consent to share confidential information. You may still share information without consent if, in your judgement, there is good reason to do so, such as where safety may be at risk. You will need to base your judgement on the facts of the case.’

Information sharing: Advice for practitioners providing safeguarding services to children, young people, parents and carers (HMG 2015)

Balham Community Centre, staff and managers can be said to have a ‘confidential

relationship’ with users. It is our intention to respect the privacy of all users while ensuring that they access high-quality care in our projects. We aim to ensure that all

users can share their information in the confidence that it will only be used to enhance their needs. There are record keeping systems in place that meet legal requirements; means of storing and sharing that information take place within the Framework of the Data Protection Act and the Human Rights Act

Confidentiality procedures

• We always check whether users regard the information they share with us to be regarded as confidential or not.

• Some users sometimes share information about themselves with other users as well as staff; the setting cannot be held responsible if information is shared beyond those users whom the person has ‘confided’ in.

• We inform users when we need to record confidential information beyond the general personal information we keep (see our record keeping procedures) - for example with regard to any injuries, concerns, any discussions with users on sensitive matters, any records we are obliged to keep regarding action taken in respect of child protection and any contact and correspondence with external agencies in relation to their child.

• We keep all records securely (see our record keeping policy and Privacy notice).

• Information is kept in a manual file, or electronically. Our staff may use a computer to type reports, or letters. Our computers are password secure.

• Our discussions with other professionals about an individual take place within a professional framework and not on an informal or ad-hoc basis.

• Where a third party shares information about an individual, we check if it is confidential, both in terms of the party sharing the information and of the person whom the information concerns 

Access to records procedures

Users may request access to any confidential records held on them or a child and family, following the procedure below:

• Any request to see the personal file must be made in writing to the Project Manager.

• The Project Manager informs the Centre Manager and sends a written acknowledgement.

• The project commits to providing access within 14 days, although this may be extended.

• The Project Manager or Centre Manager prepares the file for viewing.

• All third parties are written to, stating that a request for disclosure has been received and asking for their permission to disclose to the person requesting it. Copies of these letters are retained on file.

• ‘Third parties’ include anyone who may be referred to in the records. It is usual for agencies to refuse consent to disclose, preferring the individual to go directly to them.

• When all the consents/refusals to disclose have been received these are attached to the copy of the request letter.

• A photocopy of the complete file is taken.

• The Project Manager and Centre Manager go through the file and remove any information which a third party has refused consent to disclose. This is best done with a thick black marker, to score through every reference to the third party and information they have added to the file.

• What remains is the information recorded by the project, detailing the work initiated and followed by them in relation to confidential matters. This is called the ‘clean copy’.

• The ‘clean copy’ is photocopied for the user who is then invited in to discuss the contents. The file should never be given straight over, but should be gone through by the Project Manager, so that it can be explained.

• It is an offence to remove material that is controversial or to rewrite records to make them more acceptable.

• If a user feel aggrieved about any entry in the file, or the resulting outcome, then we refer the user to our complaint procedure.

• The law requires that the information we hold must be for legitimate reason and must be accurate (see our Privacy Notice). If a user says the information we hold is inaccurate, then the user has a right for it to be changes. However, this only pertains to factual inaccuracies. Where the disputed entry is a matter of opinion, professional judgement, or represents different view of the matter than that of the held by the user, we would retain the right not to change the entry, but we can record the users view of the matter. In most cases we would have given the user the opportunity at the time to state their side of the matter, and it would have been recorded there and then.

• Legal advice may be sought before sharing a file, especially where the parent has possible grounds for litigation against the project or another (third party) agency.

Telephone advice regarding general queries may be made to: The Information

Commissioner’s Office Helpline 0303 123 1113.