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Overview

You must always gather informed consent from the people you conduct research with. It is important to do this in a way that they understand, to ensure we treat our participants ethically and meet our legal obligations under UK data laws.

Gaining informed consent means making sure that participants:

  • receive the right information about your research
  • can understand the information
  • can make an informed decision about their involvement

You must always:

  • Gather informed consent from every participant taking part in your research, using a consent form or method that is approved for use in DfE user research
  • Gather informed consent from a parent, guardian or other 3rd party if the participant is unable to give fully informed consent
  • Continue to confirm participants' consent throughout a research session, for example, when you move to another activity or topic of conversation
  • Securely keep a record of their consent
  • Only use their data in the ways they have consented to, including in analysis, playback and sharing data with colleagues
  • If they withdraw their consent later, remove their identifiable data from your research

The guidance on the following pages will help you do this.

During 2025, the DfE user research community informed consent working group created a set of principles for how we gather informed consent in our research. These were co-designed with user researchers in DfE and other government departments.

The principles are:

  • We want research to be fair for everyone. We are aware of power imbalances and try to reduce them in our research.
  • We make sure people can give informed consent in ways that work for them.
  • We check that people understand what they are consenting to and are happy to take part.

More about the principles, and examples of how to apply them in your work:

Further help and advice

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