Home –Start
Westminster
Home-Start and Confidentiality
All personal information about parents and families is treated as confidential, to be discussed only
as necessary with the organiser/co-ordinator in support of the volunteer and to assist the family.
Any disclosure of the confidential information to any other person may only be undertaken with
the expressed permission of the parents for the purpose of assisting the family, except where it is
considered necessary for the welfare and protection of a child when information shall be shared
with the appropriate authority.
Standards & Methods of Practice 8.
Home-Start, through a volunteer, develops a very special and privileged relationship with a family.
By visiting a family regularly and informally at home, a volunteer becomes a friend, a trusted
listener and supporter and is likely to be the recipient of personal and private information. HomeStart has therefore drawn up very careful guidelines for best practice on confidentiality and HomeStart. These best practice guidelines have been produced for Home-Start schemes in a way that
will enable the papers to be extracted to stand alone and be photocopied as a handout or
document if required.
Confidentiality in Home-Start - Guidelines for Best Practice
The Home-Start Approach
Home-Start, through a volunteer, develops a very special and privileged relationship with a family.
By visiting a family regularly and informally at home, a volunteer becomes a friend, a trusted listener
and supporter and is likely to be the recipient of personal and private information. Home-Start has a
duty to respect information that is shared with a volunteer, which is of a personal and private nature
and does not impact on the safety or welfare of children unless the family have given their explicit
consent for information to be shared. Where there is a concern about a child's safety or welfare,
Home-Start will share information with relevant agencies. If it is decided to share information
without consent, the organiser/co-ordinator should explain to the family that they intend to share
the information unless to do so would place a child at increased risk of significant harm or put an
adult at increased risk of serious harm.
Ensuring Families Understand the Home-Start Approach
From the outset, parents and children need to know that Home-Start aims to have a good working
relationship both with them and with their referrers and other professionals supporting them.
Families, too, have a relationship with other professionals which should be respected by Home-Start.
It must be stated in written form and at the initial visit that Home-Start aims to complement the work
of other agencies and this may include sharing relevant information as below. The family should be
involved throughout and their consent sought for sharing the information.

General information about the level and nature of Home-Start's involvement with the family
might be shared.

Other information to help provide better support to meet the needs of the family may be shared
with the referrer or other agencies with the permission of the parents and/or children when they
are old enough or mature enough to give their consent (for example an older sibling who may
not be attending school regularly)

Where Home-Start has concerns about the safety or welfare of a child, information will be
shared with the relevant agency and may be shared without the consent of the parents or child.
See also:
Home-Start’s Policy and Code of Conduct for Safeguarding and Promoting the Welfare of
Children
Home-Start Position on Information Sharing.
However, all personal and private information, which has no relevance to other agencies or does not
impact on the safety or welfare of a child will remain confidential. It should be noted that other
agencies may not share Home-Start's view of confidentiality. Any communication with other
agencies should clarify Home-Start's position.
The Current Working Climate
There is great emphasis today on agencies working together and working in partnership. In many
areas of the UK, Home-Start sees itself and is seen by others as one of the key partners in the
network of family support. The development of initiatives like Sure Start Children’s Centres, where
agencies will each play a part in a comprehensive targeted service, and the acknowledged
importance of information sharing, make it essential for Home-Start to be clear, both internally and
externally about its position on confidentiality, especially in the context of working in partnership
with other organisations.
It is vital that Home-Start is not seen as secretive or un-professional by withholding information
unnecessarily. However, it is just as important to retain the trust and confidence of families.
There may be occasions when other agencies formally request statistical and other information
which could identify families either on its own or when considered with other information that the
agency may have. Such information must remain confidential unless a family gives permission for it
to be shared. There are also circumstances where information not generally regarded as
confidential, e.g. names and addresses, has been provided in the expectation of confidentiality and
therefore should be considered to be confidential.
Building a Working Relationship with Referrers
There is a need to develop a professional working relationship with referrers and other agencies in
order to offer the best possible support to families, to safeguard the welfare of children and for the
protection and safety of volunteers. Referral forms should indicate that parents are willing for a
referral to Home-Start to be made and must include all relevant information to help inform the
choice of volunteer. Referrers must be given enough information from Home-Start to feel confident
that they have referred a vulnerable family to a responsible agency. They need to know the nature
and timing of Home-Start's involvement with the family for example when a volunteer is introduced
to the family, when that volunteer withdraws, that the relationship between family and volunteer has
been reviewed at appropriate intervals and when support ceases, if possible, something about the
outcome of Home-Start's support.
Any communication between Home-Start and other agencies must be shared with the family unless
this will impact on the safety or welfare of a child. It is not helpful for anyone to be drawn into
inappropriate secrecy. Being open and sharing relevant information about the nature and level of
Home-Start's involvement with a family should prevent the need to have 'off the record'
conversations.
Where agencies work together co-operatively, it should be possible to share information when there
is deterioration in the family situation, normally with the permission and knowledge of the family.
Individual agencies will only have a part of the complete picture. It will be in the best interests of the
child if relevant information is shared at an early stage.
All communication with referrers is the responsibility of the scheme organiser/co-ordinator. In
exceptional circumstances, an organiser/co-ordinator may be in regular contact with the referrer and
it might not be practical to inform the family of every conversation. However, it is good practice to
record the contact and ensure that the family is aware of this level of communication. See Record of
contact with referrer or other agency.
Confidentiality and Self Referrals
It is important to acknowledge that there may be issues of personal safety for organisers/coordinators and volunteers when visiting a family where there is no previous knowledge of the
situation. The organiser/co-ordinator should explain that it is normal Home-Start practice to inform
the family's health visitor of the referral. On rare occasions the parent may not wish the health
visitor, or any other agency, to know that Home-Start support has been requested. In such
situations, the organiser/co-ordinator and trustees should agree the most appropriate action in the
context of personal safety. If support is offered to the family, Home-Start's view of confidentiality
should be explained and the organiser/co-ordinator should encourage the parents to build a more
open relationship with other agencies. However, information cannot be passed on without the
family's permission except where there is a concern about the safety or welfare of a child.
Confidentiality relating to Vulnerable Adults
Home-Start supports many families where there is mental illness, learning disabilities, domestic
violence or other problems and therefore needs information from other agencies and referring
bodies to support such families effectively. Occasionally a family situation can develop in its level of
seriousness or complexity and adults as well as children may become increasingly vulnerable. An
open relationship should be encouraged between all professionals, which still respects the personal
confidences shared with a volunteer but which also allows for any breakdown in the family situation
to be identified and acted upon appropriately at an early stage. Where harm, or risk of harm, to a
vulnerable adult is suspected Home-Start will take appropriate action in accordance with local codes
of practice.
Family Groups: The Relationship Between Families
Families may have a different view of confidentiality - in fact many will assume that information
about them is shared with other professionals. In a group setting, families can choose to share their
own information with other families and this may well be supportive in itself. It is good practice for
group leaders and families to share in the development of a set of 'ground rules', however informal,
for the group setting which acknowledge the Home-Start principle of respecting the dignity and
identity of each individual.
Volunteer Groups
It is common practice in Home-Start for groups of volunteers to meet with scheme organisers/coordinators to discuss issues arising from their work with families, to share experiences and learn
from each other. It is important that confidentiality is maintained and that personal information
about families is protected. Discussions that identify children or families should be confined to oneto-one supervision sessions between volunteer and organiser/co-ordinator.
Confidentiality in Trustees
The Trustees are drawn from representatives from families, from volunteers and from a range of
agencies, including funding agencies. All trustees and those attending Board meetings, should
respect Home-Start's guidelines on confidentiality, particularly in relation to family and
organisational issues. Minutes of meetings should be shared appropriately and formally with
members of the scheme, Home-Start and funders. However, some information discussed at
meetings may well be of a sensitive nature such as personnel matters or funding concerns. It would
not be appropriate to discuss such matters outside of the meeting. These sections of minutes
should be contained in a confidential appendix and their circulation should be restricted
appropriately.
All staff files should be stored safely and with limited access.
Trustees are responsible for all matters relating to the employment of staff, including supporting
and supervising the day-to-day work of organisers/co-ordinators with volunteers and families. In
order to carry out that responsibility, trustees need to have sufficient information about the nature
and level of referrals but not about individual families or volunteers. Anonymous case studies can
be used at meetings and can be invaluable tools in enlightening and motivating the trustees and in
giving an insight into the causal aspect of the work.
Where there are concerns for the safety or welfare of a child, organisers/co-ordinators should
discuss the situation with the scheme’s Strategic Lead for Safeguarding who may also discuss the
situation with a specialist advisor or relevant trustee to ensure both the best possible continued
support of the family and that the most appropriate process is followed within the scheme.
Information
All information, whether held manually or on computer, must be kept safely and with appropriate
access and especially where schemes share premises with other agencies.
Particular care needs to be taken with information on notice boards, card index files, fax messages
etc. Telephone messages too, can breach confidentiality if suitable care is not taken Personnel
information and family records are the most sensitive areas. It is recommended that family records
are open to families and that they are aware of the recorded information held about their situation.
Under the Data Protection Act 1998 individuals may, upon written request, obtain a copy of the
personal information stored by the organisation, for families and volunteers this will be provided
free of charge. The person requesting access to the file will need to provide proof of identity such
as National Insurance card, service bill, Child benefit details, etc. It is important that information
should only be kept which is factual, relevant to Home-Start's support of the family, accurate and up
to date. All employees should be given information concerning the Data Protection Act, and in
particular the eight Data Protection Principles governing the use and storage of personal data. See
Home-Start Policy and Guidance on Data Protection
Legal issues
Court Proceedings
There are occasions when a Home-Start representative is requested to give evidence in court
proceedings. The request may be from a family for support, all such requests should be considered
carefully taking account of the appropriateness and the relevance of any evidence that Home-Start
could provide relative to the issues in question. Organisers/co-ordinators should bear in mind that
Home-Start’s non-judgemental approach could be compromised by participating in court
proceedings. If it is decided to give evidence in these situations then the representative should
normally be the Home-Start organiser/co-ordinator, who should discuss fully with the family the
evidence to be given. The evidence must be factually accurate without any personal interpretation
being imposed by the representative. The family should be advised that the evidence may be
subject to cross examination. The role of a volunteer may be to accompany the family to the court,
but they should not normally be the person to represent Home-Start at court proceedings.
The request may also arise from the Local Authority/or other statutory body. In this case, it is
advisable for the representative to request the Authority or statutory body to obtain a witness
summons. Such a summons will only be issued by the court if it is satisfied that the evidence the
representative may give to the court is essential and cannot be obtained in any other way. The
representative should give factual responses to questions asked about the scheme's involvement
with the family avoiding adding any further unnecessary disclosure of personal information relating
to the family. It is not the role of the representative to give any opinion to the court on the facts
disclosed.
If the court proceedings are in relation to safeguarding or child protection issues then schemes
should follow the policy, code of conduct and procedures for safeguarding and promoting the
welfare of children, see Policy and Guidance on Safeguarding and Promoting the Welfare of Children.
Request for Information from the Police
The principle of confidentiality applies to requests for information from the police. On a request, the
Police should be advised of Home-Start's obligations of confidentiality and information should be
given to the Police only in accordance with the Home-Start approach as set out in this statement.
There is generally no duty to provide information relating to a crime or suspicion of a crime but
there are a number of exceptions.
There will be some circumstances where information is requested by the Police where you should
not seek consent from the individual or their family, or inform them that the information will be
shared, for example, if doing so would prejudice the prevention, detection or prosecution of a
serious crime* or lead to an unjustified delay in making enquiries about allegations of significant
harm to a child, or serious harm to an adult.
*Serious crime means any crime which causes or is likely to cause significant harm to a child or serious harm to an
adult.
If it is stated that Home-Start has a legal duty to give the information, advice should be sought from
the Home-Start regional consultant. Home-Start UK has also produced information about releasing
information to detect or prevent crime.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has produced guidance on disclosures to the Police in
cases where there is no legal duty to disclose. Your consultant can provide information or look on
the Commissioner’s website at:
www.ico.gov.uk
Confidentiality between schemes
Occasionally families move to another town and seek support from a new Home-start scheme. It
could be important for the scheme and in the best interests of every member of the family that
information is shared between the schemes. Information which is relevant to the support of the
family should, with the consent of the family, be requested and given.
When volunteers either home-visiting or trustees or paid staff move to another area of the UK, they
should be requested to give the previous scheme as a reference. Consequently, all
application/personal statement forms for volunteers and scheme staff should ask about previous
experience of Home-Start. Where the previous scheme is unable to provide a reference, it may be
helpful to discuss the situation with your Home-Start regional consultant.
Confidentiality between Home-Start UK and individual Home-Start schemes
Home-Start UK will not disclose information about individual schemes to other agencies unless there
is a danger that the actions of a scheme are likely to bring the name of Home-Start into disrepute or
where the quality of service offered to families is in jeopardy.
These guidelines have been adopted for use in Home-Start Westminster
Signed ………………..
Chairperson Home-Start Westminster
Date for review ………………..
Date ………………..