REFERRAL PROCESS · FICTIONAL PILOT
A central referral pathway should help the right organisation assess a person’s needs without circulating their full case file. This pilot tests that process with fictional adult referrals only. Real sensitive information must not be uploaded.
The referrer selects verified providers and publishes an age band, broad towns/cities, accommodation type and timescale. No name, date of birth, street, postcode, personal narrative, health, offending, gender or abuse history appears in the summary. Even combined summary fields need a check for identification risk.
A named provider account explains the assessment purpose, staff role, capacity and need to know. Approved paid membership allows participation; it does not authorise disclosure. Referrers control each request separately.
The referrer releases only the necessary assessment information to that named account, for a recorded purpose and expiry. Each reader uses their own sign-in and authenticator. Viewing and file downloading are checked separately. Pack changes revoke existing permissions.
After an authorised assessment and a suitability response, the referrer chooses a provider. Other providers lose pack access. The chosen provider must request separate, time-limited handover access. A platform response is not an agreed placement or guarantee of suitability.
Background categories, gender and local connection are restricted assessment fields. The pilot removes these from the shared summary and summary filters because they can reveal sensitive circumstances. A referrer should provide proportionate necessary information for informed assessment, including relevant risks, without concealing information the chosen provider needs to keep people safe.
Private files have random storage keys, no public file URLs and no original filename in the reader’s view. They start quarantined for a manual file and privacy check; this pilot does not claim automated malware scanning. Downloads require separate permission. Openings, file access, requests, decisions, releases, changes, revocations and closure enter the case history.
Expiry, closure, withdrawal and loss of eligibility block access on the next request. Staff review access and retention monthly. In the fictional trial, closed records become unavailable after 30 days; the referrer runs cleanup to remove due database details and stored files. Live retention periods and deletion operations need approval before use. Previously saved copies cannot be recalled remotely, so recipients need enforceable retention and deletion duties.
Organisations must verify authority, named work staff and the sharing arrangements separately from payment. Accounts must not be shared. Use the information solely for the agreed assessment/handover, restrict onward disclosure, report mistaken disclosure promptly, and close access when the purpose ends. Referrers remain responsible for legal authority, appropriate transparency and the information they release; providers remain responsible for suitability, safeguarding and their own service decisions.
Before any real referral exchange, complete a data protection impact assessment, determine controller/processor roles, agree sharing arrangements and retention, verify the lawful bases and any special-category or criminal-offence conditions, check suppliers and security, and test incident handling and deletion. Consent is not assumed from a membership checkbox. Removing names or replacing them with a case reference does not automatically anonymise a person.
Use appropriate statutory/emergency routes for urgent safety or safeguarding matters. The portal is not an emergency response service.
Read the launch completion checklistGuidance: ICO data-sharing code · ICO security guidance. Draft participation version 2026-10-17-referral-draft-1.
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