Skip to content

NewSend a plan straight to any care home or agency on the CQC register.Send a plan to any care home or agency.Take a look

Guides · 4 min read · 30 September 2026

Sharing a moving and handling plan without sharing personal data

A plan needs to reach every carer. The person's name, date of birth and address do not need to travel with it.

A moving and handling plan often has to reach people in several organisations: the hospital, the community team, the care provider, and sometimes an agency covering shifts. Each handover is a chance for personal information to travel further than it needs to, by email, attachment or paper.

What the plan actually needs

To move someone safely, a carer needs the task, the steps, the equipment, the number of carers and the things to watch for. They need to know the plan is for the person in front of them, but that can be established by the provider's own records, not by the plan carrying a name, date of birth and address.

Data minimisation

UK data protection law asks organisations to use personal data that is adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purpose. A plan that refers to the person only by a reference the issuing service controls carries nothing that identifies them to a stranger who finds it. The reference is still linked to the person in your own records, so it is treated with the same care as the rest of them; but the name, date of birth and address never have to travel.

How Handling Plan does it

Handling Plan never asks for a name, date of birth or address. A person is a client reference your service issues. The plan is held under a code, and the care team opens it with that code. Each carer records their own name and role when they read it, which is the record you need, and nothing about the person is stored.

This article is general information and not legal advice. Your organisation's information governance lead can advise on your own arrangements.

Plans that follow this guidance.

Every plan in the library is written to it. 14 days free.

Start free trial