Providing Information and Advice or Sharing Information (EDT)
Amendment
In November 2023, information about the Caldicott Principles was added into the 'Providing Information about a Person/Carer' section.
The Local Authority (and anyone representing the Local Authority) has a duty under Section 4 of the Care Act to either provide directly, or provide access to a range of information and advice relating to adult Care and Support, including financial advice. This duty applies equally in respect of all local residents regardless of whether the person with Care and Support needs or carer is known to, lives in, or is already receiving services from the Local Authority.
See: Providing Information and Advice to read more about the duty to provide information and advice under the Care Act, including how information and advice should be provided and the specific information and advice requirements around finances.
The best source of local information and advice resources is the Islington Directory.
See: Islington Directory
This online directory brings together all the contact information of services for people living, visiting or working in Islington.
The link can be provided to people with care and support needs, carers with support needs and anyone else requiring information and advice.
You can also use the Directory to provide good information and advice to those contacting or being supported by adult social care.
Sometimes it is helpful to contact a well known national organisation with a dedicated information and advice service or help-line. See: National Organisations with Information and Advice Helplines for details of some national organisations offering this service.
Some national organisations do not have dedicated information and advice services but can still provide such support upon request. See: National Contacts for Adult Care and Support for a wider range of useful national contacts for adult Care and Support.
You can also see the Financial Assessment and Charging FAQ Response Support Tool for the answers to some frequently asked questions around financial assessment, including questions relating to Disabled Facilities Grants.
Information and advice must be provided in an accessible way so that the person/carer for whom it is intended can best understand and make use of it.
If you feel the person/carer for whom the information and advice is intended will need support to understand it then you should:
- Consider whether the person/carer has anyone appropriate who can help them to understand it;
- Consider any steps that you can take to support them to understand it (for example talking through the information over the telephone or summarising it in a simpler format); and
- Consider the benefit of independent advocacy.
Under the Care Act the Local Authority has a duty to not only provide information and advice where it is needed, but to ensure that the information and advice it provides has been effective.
Therefore, when information and advice has been provided you should agree appropriate arrangements to follow up with the person/carer to whom it was given in order to review how effective it has been.
The timescales for this follow up should reflect the individual circumstances and level of risk.
Where you are making arrangements for someone else to follow up on the information and advice you have given (rather than following up on it yourself) you must make sure that you have recorded this in a way that will ensure the person follows up on it at the agreed time.
The Local Authority has a common law and legal duty to safeguard the confidentiality of all personal information. As an employee of the Local Authority you are bound contractually to respect the confidentiality of any information that you may come into contact with. Under no circumstances should such information be divulged or passed to any persons or organisation in any form unless you have authorisation to do so.
All information sharing that takes place must be in line with data protection legislation (namely the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018) and local policy.
The Caldicott Principles must also be regarded. The Caldicott Principles are a set of principles that apply to the use of confidential information within health and social care organisations and when such information is shared with other organisations and between individuals, both for individual care and for other purposes. For further information, see: The Caldicott Principles.
Any unauthorised disclosure of confidential information may result in disciplinary action of individual prosecution under the Data Protection Act 2018.
For further information and guidance see: Providing Information about a Person or Carer.
Last Updated: November 10, 2023
v15
