Gloucestershire's five key principles of the Graduated Pathway

This is a TEST PAGE and currently under development. All information is in DRAFT form and not finalised. This will be launched on 1st November 2026

Before support is undertaken, informed consent will need to be gained from the young person and family you are working with. Informed consent means the young person and family are able to fully understand the reasons for information being gathered and shared.

Consent needs to be explained to the parents/carers and young person. Families should expect to be told who their information will be passed on to and why; information is shared to enable services to work together to provide the best help and support available to the family. It is important to revisit consent during the course of your work particularly if new services and organisations start to work with the child, young person or family.

When working with families please ensure that consent involves, where at all possible, both parents with Parental Responsibility (PR). Information should be safely shared with those who have PR in order to help them prioritise the needs of their children.

If one parent consents to support and another disagrees we are still able to offer assistance to the parent and child(ren).

If a parent withdraws consent midway through the helping process then consent should be revisited with the parent who agrees to ensure you can continue.

Verbal consent is perfectly fine and should be recorded but for those who chose to use it the single consent form can be accessed by clicking HERE. 

It is important that the families and young people you are working with understand what is on the consent form and what they are agreeing to when they sign it. Children over the age of 12 who understand the process will be asked to give their own consent for their information to be shared. To support your discussion with parents/young people, Gloucestershire County Council's Information Sharing leaflet can be accessed by clicking HERE.

Sharing information without consent may be necessary if there is a legal duty for information to be shared or the family or young person is at risk of significant harm or crime being committed.  Gloucestershire County Council's Privacy Notices can be found online by clicking HERE.

Further information for practitioners regarding information sharing and consent can be found in the HM Government document Information Sharing Advice for Practitioners. This can be viewed by clicking HERE.