Section 4 of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 added section 16LA to the Children Act 2004, in force since 30 September 2026. Where the duty applies, an organisation that holds information it considers relevant to safeguarding or promoting a child's welfare must share it with another organisation covered by the duty, if it considers that sharing may help that organisation's safeguarding or welfare work. The same applies when another covered organisation asks for it.
There is one exception: the duty doesn't apply if the organisation considers that sharing would be more detrimental to the child than not sharing. A disclosure under the section does not breach any duty of confidence.
The DfE's statutory guidance, Information sharing to safeguard children and young people (September 2026), lists education among the sectors it applies to, and organisations covered by the duty must have regard to it. KCSIE 2026 paragraph 144 says the duty is meant to give staff more confidence to share information appropriately and in good time.
The duty doesn't replace data protection law. KCSIE still expects schools to understand the processing conditions for sharing special category data, including sharing without consent where appropriate (paragraph 146), and says fears about sharing must not stand in the way of keeping children safe (paragraph 148). Section 16LB lets the government publish information standards; none had been published when we checked on 20 October 2026.