r concerns about the safety of children, whether this is when problems are first emerging (e.g. persistent school absences), or where a child is already known to local authority children’s social care (e.g. they are being supported as a child in need or have a child protection plan). In some circumstances, it may be possible to consider and refer the family to a range of early help and support they could access in the local area to address evolving concerns and before there is an impact on the child’s overall safety. However, where a referral to these services is not necessary to protect a child from harm, you should generally seek the family’s consent before doing so. Sharing and acting on that information early, helps to ensure that a child and their family, receive the right services at the right time and helps to prevent a risk or need from becoming more acute. You or your agency or organisation may hold the key information in the jigsaw that confirms or corroborates the safeguarding risk. Practitioners should be proactive in sharing their concerns about new or evolving risks impacting on a child’s safety. Who you share information with should be guided by your local safeguarding arrangements and procedures. It is important and necessary to ensure information shared is relevant, timely, of sufficient quality and accurate. Practitioners should also be alert to the potential need to share important information about any adults with whom that child has contact, where it is reasonable to believe that their actions or neglect may cause harm to a child. Data protection law does not prevent you from doing that, when it’s necessary, fair and proportionate, and provides a framework to help you to do so25. While it is essential to ensure that there is a lawful basis in data p