What helps to support effective multi-agency working and information sharing?

Identify and seek information from the key professionals and people in the family’s life. Always think about what information you need to share to make sure the child and family get the support they need. Always prioritise sharing information about safeguarding concerns. Data protection, confidentiality and consent can be important to consider but should not delay you in sharing information about safeguarding concerns.

Keep other professionals and agencies up to date about the support provided to the family, the outcomes you are expecting and what will happen next. When sharing information with others it is best to have as much detail to hand as possible.

Be actively curious and seek clarity from other agencies about any information they share which suggests a change in a family’s circumstances that could pose new risks. Be persistent in getting the right information at the right time from other agencies to make sure that cases don’t drift.

Questions to ask yourself:

• What do I already know about a child and their family, and what is missing?
• Have I included the appropriate amount of detail to make any child protection and safeguarding concerns clear?
  • Have I also considered strengths and protective factors?
• What information do I need to share and who do I need to share it with, so that any safeguarding and child protection concerns can be responded to, monitored or escalated?

Seek clarification if you don’t understand what someone else has shared with you.

Where possible, seek out and share information about the wishes, feelings and opinions of the child involved and any important information about a child’s characteristics. This might include information about their culture, socio-economic background and if they are d/Deaf or have a disability. This allows all professionals working with the child to have a clearer understanding of the child’s lived experience.

Terminology that may be familiar to you in your role may not be used or understood by everyone. Use language that is free of jargon and avoid acronyms so that the information you are sharing is accessible to different agencies.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Have I used language that is accessible to all, without jargon?
• How can I communicate in a way best suited to the situation and that minimises misunderstanding?
• Have I sought out enough detail to be able to share a full and clear picture of a child’s life and experiences?
• Would the child I worked with understand my actions if they read their record?

> Read more about the impact of language in our Why language matters blog series

Records need to be clear, detailed and accurate, using analysis and evaluation to draw together the child’s lived experience. Even adult-facing work records should include, where possible, the wishes, feelings and opinions of the child involved and their understanding of what is happening in their life.

Record your intentions and actions in a chronology. Where possible, encourage other professionals working with a family to do the same. This allows you to keep up to date with agency involvement with a family.

If you share advice or concerns verbally, follow the conversation up in writing. This creates a written record and allows you to discuss or clarify information if needed.

Make sure any meeting minutes and records you create have clear action points and can be easily read and understood by others.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Have I kept a chronology or record of information that would be useful for my practice and the practice of others?
  • If not, how could I start doing this in a way that works for me and demonstrates accountability?
• Are my records succinct and evidence-based, and show clearly why decisions were made?
• Do my records make my actions and intentions clear and are they understandable to others?

Processes and pathways can be useful tools to aid in information sharing and multi-agency working. Make sure you are familiar with local processes and pathways for information sharing and multi-agency working. This should include understanding your local resolution and escalation policy to make sure concerns are responded to effectively and that risk is managed. This can be used if agencies or professionals working together are struggling to co-operate or are experiencing disagreements.

Managers and leaders should put in place clear channels for communication and an information sharing policy with a data sharing agreement. This should include processes for sharing information when cases transfer between local authorities. Seek guidance and training where needed on information sharing, confidentiality, data protection and consent, so that you can confidently support and challenge if people are reluctant to share information.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Is there a process already in place that I can use to share information or use to work more effectively with others?
• Am I confident in understanding and being able to explain that data protection laws allow the sharing of information about child protection and safeguarding concerns?

> Find out more about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Meetings are an important way of sharing, understanding and agreeing actions to address safeguarding and child protection concerns.

Aim to share concerns and priorities with the Lead Professional (England, Scotland), Designated Professional Lead (Northern Ireland) or Lead Practitioner (Wales) before meetings take place, so that they can facilitate discussions during meetings. Where appropriate, make the child and family aware of the information that will be shared.

Encourage the participation of all professionals who can provide an insight into a child’s life in meetings, including those from health or education. Consider using virtual or hybrid meetings to help enable this as they may be easier to fit in around busy schedules.

You should also share the minutes of meetings and conferences in a timely manner with all safeguarding partners, whether they attended the meeting in person or not.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Who should be involved in a meeting and how can I reach out to them?
• Am I clear on what I need to share in the meeting, what I need to know and ideally what decisions need to be made?
• Is there a way I can make the meeting more accessible?

Develop relationships with colleagues and other agencies that aid seamless and continuous communication, build trust and help collaboration. Having an ‘open door’ approach to communication can help encourage this, as can responding to requests for information or feedback in a timely manner.

Take the time to be curious about and understand the roles, responsibilities, skills and expertise of professionals from other agencies. This can help inform how you work and share information with each other to provide the best support to a child.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Do I understand the roles and responsibilities of the wider safeguarding partnership and how this interacts with my own practice?
• How can I build positive relationships with colleagues across different agencies?
• How can I draw on and learn from the expertise and skills of the professionals around me?

> Find out more about multi-agency expectations for all practitioners in England in our CASPAR briefing on Working together to safeguard children

Multi-agency working can feel disjointed when there isn’t a common purpose. Align your priorities by taking a child-centred approach.

Try to co-ordinate joint visits with other agencies, such as health, education or adult services. This allows you to work together to achieve desired outcomes, share perspectives and make decisions quickly in the interests of the child.

Leaders could invest in a ‘champion’, named link person or key individual. This ‘champion’ is separate from a Lead Professional (England, Scotland), Designated Professional Lead (Northern Ireland) or Lead Practitioner (Wales), and is someone whose role is to bring together the different agencies involved with a family and make everyone aware of who to contact for more information.

Questions to ask yourself:

• How can I encourage an approach, in myself and others, that seeks out and considers the feelings, wishes and opinions of the child I am working with?
• In what ways or situations can I carry out joint work with other professionals from other agencies?

Multi-agency working is key in making decisions that are fully informed and best help the child. Use the knowledge of the wider safeguarding partnership to inform your decisions, especially at critical transfer points such as during assessments and before case closures.

Give just as much consideration to the concerns and knowledge of third sector organisations and information shared by extended family and members of the public as those of statutory organisations.

Take advantage of any positive relationships that already exist between professionals, children, parents and carers when working with families to encourage change.

Be aware of what services are available to support children and their families and the referral processes for these services so that you can confidently signpost to them.

Questions to ask yourself:

• How can I use existing positive relationships a child or their family has with other professionals?
  • If the positive relationship already exists between you and the family, how could you use this to aid other professionals?
• Who else, be it statutory, third-sector or other professionals, has knowledge about the child and their circumstances that could help me to get a full picture of the child’s life?
• What other perspectives or information could the wider safeguarding partnership have, and have I included these to inform decisions?

> Find out more about how good quality assessments are central to safeguarding children