WhatsApp Guidance

Are you sure WhatsApp is the most appropriate way of communicating with your client/customer?

Did you know the use of WhatsApp has only been approved for carrying out council business where the use of MS Teams is not possible or in a safeguarding situation where there is a high risk to the person’s wellbeing?

Our policy decision is to allow WhatsApp to access contacts on council-supplied phones and only to be used for council business.

Below is a list of things to consider when using WhatsApp

• Why are you using WhatsApp rather than council email or MS Teams? You should be able to justify use of WhatsApp rather than email or MS Teams. Is the use of WhatsApp recorded in a documented team/service process?
• Have you checked the person you are contacting has agreed for you to contact them using WhatsApp?
• What type of information are you intending to share using WhatsApp?
• Have you changed your settings in WhatsApp to ensure your status updates can’t be seen?
• Are you sending or receiving images, documents etc?
• Documents that contain personal or sensitive information should not be shared using WhatsApp.
• Have you changed your settings to ensure they aren’t saved to your Google drive?
• Media files (documents, photos and videos) are automatically saved to the gallery or document folder on the phone – save these to the appropriate place if needed and delete from the phone.
• Ensure you delete any suspicious messages immediately.

When using any social media you should always abide by our social media policy