Safeguarding and Welfare Requirement: Information and Records

Confidential information and records about staff and children must be held securely and only accessible and available to those who have a right or professional need to see them.

BCC – The Ark Preschool and Daycare

INFORMATION AND RECORDS

10.9 Confidentiality and client access to records

Policy statement

‘Confidential information is information that is not normally in the public domain or readily available from another source, it should have a degree of sensitivity and value and be subject to a duty of confidence. A duty of confidence arises when one person provides information to another in circumstances where it is reasonable to expect that the information will be held in confidence.'

Information Sharing: Guidance for Practitioners and Managers (DCSF 2018)

In our setting, staff and managers can be said to have a ‘confidential relationship’ with families. It is our intention to respect the privacy of children and their parents and carers, while ensuring that they access high quality early years care and education in our setting. We aim to ensure that all parents and carers can share their information in the confidence that it will only be used to enhance the welfare of their children. There are record keeping systems in place that meet legal requirements; the means we use to store and share that information takes place within the framework of the General Data Protection Regulations (2018) and the Human Rights Act (1998).

Confidentiality procedures

We check whether parents regard the information they share with us to be confidential or not.
Some parents may share information about themselves with other parents as well as staff; the setting cannot be held responsible if information is shared beyond those parents whom the person has ‘confided’ in.
Information shared between parents in a discussion or training group is usually bound by a shared agreement that the information is confidential to the group and not discussed outside of it.
We inform parents when we need to record confidential information beyond the general personal information we keep (see our Children's Records Policy) - for example with regard to any injuries, concerns or changes in relation to the child or the family, any discussions with parents 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 Children's Records Policy).

Client access to records procedures

Parents may request access to any confidential records held on their child following the procedure below:

Any request to see the child’s personal file by a parent or person with parental responsibility must be made requested to the setting leader or manager.
The setting commits to providing access within 14 days, although this may be extended.
Management, directors have a discussion regarding this.
It also includes workers from any other agency, including children's social care, the health authority, etc. It is usual for agencies to refuse consent to disclose, preferring the individual to go directly to them. Information will include any safeguarding concerns and incidents.
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.
Any information which is not agreed by relevant parties should be removed.
What remains is the information recorded by the setting, 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 parents, who are then invited in to discuss the contents. The file should never be given straight over, but should be gone through by the setting leader, so that it can be explained.
Legal advice may be sought before sharing a file, especially where the parent has possible grounds for litigation against the setting or another (third party) agency.

All the undertakings above are subject to the paramount commitment of the setting, which is to the safety and well-being of the child. Please see also our policy on Safeguarding Children and Child Protection

Legal framework

General Data Protection Regulations (2018)
Human Rights Act (1998)

Further guidance

Information Sharing: Guidance for Practitioners and Managers (DCSF 2018)

This policy was adopted at a meeting of

BCC – The Ark Preschool & Daycare

Held on April 2024

Date to be reviewed March 2025

Signed on behalf of the provider

Name of signatory Arzu Subasi

Role of signatory (e.g. chair, director or owner) Manager