Building the Golden Record: How Welfare Call’s API Is Powering Data Interoperability for Virtual Schools
The power of data lies not just in what you collect, but in how seamlessly and accurately you can use it. That’s why we’re investing in the development of a new Application Programming Interface (API) designed to enable true data interoperability across the systems you rely on every day.
Currently in active development, this API is being shaped in close collaboration with several of our Virtual School partners. The goal is to unlock the full potential of the data we hold across attendance, PEP, and analytics, and deliver it directly into the platforms Local Authorities already use – safely, efficiently, and intelligently.
Why Interoperability Matters
Virtual Schools handle an incredible amount of information across systems, often juggling multiple platforms to keep track of attendance, personal education plans, interventions, and outcomes. This fragmented approach creates unnecessary duplication, delays, and sometimes even conflicting records.
Our API will solve that problem.
By offering a secure, streamlined way to transfer data from Welfare Call into Local Authority systems (i.e. Liquid Logic, CACI, Capita, Servelec, OLM, and platforms like Microsoft Power BI), we’re enabling Virtual Schools to:
- Reduce their administrative burden
- Minimise manual data entry
- Improve data consistency and reliability
- Strengthen multi-agency collaboration
- Make faster, more informed decisions
What Is a ‘Golden Record’ and Why Does It Matter?
A golden record is the single, trusted source of truth about a child. It brings together the most up-to-date and accurate data from different systems and presents a clear, consolidated view.
For Virtual Schools, this means no more reconciling data across separate spreadsheets or systems – just one definitive view of the child, their education journey, and the support they are receiving.
Welfare Call’s API is being built with this outcome in mind. By enabling smooth data exchange, it will help create and maintain golden records that everyone from Designated Teachers to social workers and senior leaders can rely on.
Collaborating with Virtual Schools to Get It Right
We’re not building this API in isolation. We’re working directly with Virtual Schools to ensure the solution reflects real operational needs and integrates with real-world workflows. That means:
- Prioritising security and data protection at every stage
- Ensuring flexibility to work with a wide range of systems
- Supporting a clear, standardised data structure
- Making the process as automated and low-effort as possible for the end user
The result will be a tool that’s not only technically strong, but genuinely useful and built around the day-to-day challenges and demands that Virtual Schools face.
What This Means for You
If you’re a Local Authority or Virtual School currently using Welfare Call’s services, this API will offer:
- A consistent, reliable stream of real-time data from our platforms to yours
- Improved visibility across your education and social care teams
- The ability to integrate attendance and PEP insights into your wider case management systems
- Greater confidence in the decisions you make, based on a unified picture
And because the API is being developed with interoperability as a core principle, it will remain flexible enough to evolve as your needs and the tools you use change over time.
Looking Ahead
As data becomes more central to how Virtual Schools operate and support looked-after children, having access to the right information at the right time in the right system will be key.
Our API project is one of several ways Welfare Call is investing in future-ready infrastructure to support Virtual Schools and Local Authorities. It reflects our ongoing commitment to working in partnership, reducing complexity, and putting better data in your hands so you can focus on what matters most: improving outcomes for young people.
If you’d like to learn more or express interest in becoming part of the pilot phase, please email James Brown, Product Manager, at [email protected] or contact your account manager. We’d love to hear from you.