Last updated: 11 November 2026. This policy explains what personal data ParentLink collects, why we collect it, who we share it with, and what rights you have over it.
For the technical controls that back this policy, see /security. For the contract terms that apply when you use the service, see /terms.
ParentLink is operated by ParentLink Education Ltd, a company registered in Scotland under company number SC900539. We are registered with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office as a data controller, reference ZC232143.
For privacy questions, email privacy@parentlinkeducation.co.uk. For security disclosures, email security@parentlinkeducation.co.uk.
ParentLink operates as a data processor for the nurseries, clubs, and childminding settings that use the platform. That means your nursery — not ParentLink — is the data controller for the personal data they enter about children, parents, and staff. We process that data on their instructions, under a written data processing agreement.
ParentLink acts as the data controller only for a narrow set of platform-level data: your account email when you sign in, our billing relationship with the nursery, support correspondence, and the operational telemetry we need to keep the service running.
We do not use advertising cookies, behavioural tracking pixels, cross-site trackers, or session-replay tooling. We do not run Google Analytics, Hotjar, or Facebook Pixel. For basic traffic measurement we use Vercel Web Analytics, which is cookieless, stores no personal data, and only records anonymous, aggregated page views — it cannot identify or follow you across sites. Vercel Speed Insights measures how quickly pages load on real devices, the same way: timings, the page’s address with any record id removed, and the device type — nothing that identifies you. ParentLink sets no cookies of its own. The app keeps your sign-in session and a few preferences (such as the tab you last had open) in your browser’s local storage — strictly necessary for the service to work, so no consent banner is needed. If your setting switches on “Let tablets open with no connection”, its register tablet and staff clock-in also keep a copy of the coming days’ bookings, locked with a code the setting sets, on the tablet itself (names, booked sessions, a yes/no health flag, who may not collect, and the staff list with today’s staff sign-ins), so they work when the wifi is down; it is deleted when the setting switches it off or the tablet is signed out. Card and Direct Debit payment pages are run by Stripe and GoCardless, which set their own cookies under their own policies.
| Purpose | Lawful basis (UK GDPR Art. 6) |
|---|---|
| Providing the platform to the nursery | Contract (with the nursery) — Art. 6(1)(b) |
| Processing children's data on the nursery's behalf | Performance of the nursery's contract with parents — Art. 6(1)(b) |
| Health and dietary data for safeguarding | Vital interests + safeguarding child welfare — Art. 6(1)(d), Art. 9(2)(c) |
| Audit logging and security telemetry | Legitimate interests — Art. 6(1)(f) |
| Direct billing relationship with the nursery | Contract — Art. 6(1)(b) |
| Service announcements (outage notices, breaking-change notes) | Legitimate interests — Art. 6(1)(f) |
| Marketing emails to nursery decision-makers | Consent (opt-in) — Art. 6(1)(a) |
| Emails to a setting's existing parents about spare sessions at that setting | Legitimate interests + PECR soft opt-in (reg. 22(3)) — Art. 6(1)(f); one-click opt-out in every email |
We use a small number of third-party services to run ParentLink. Each one is a data sub-processor under our DPA. Your nursery’s operational data — children, staff, attendance and billing records — is hosted on Supabase’s UK (London) region, so the primary database stays in the UK with no cross-border transfer. The other services below — edge delivery, email and SMS, push notifications, translation and AI assist — can involve transfers outside the UK, to the EU and to the US. Transfers to the EU rely on the UK’s adequacy regulations for the EU; transfers to the US rely on the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified, or otherwise the UK International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU standard contractual clauses.
A nursery can export its invoices for its own accounting software (Xero, Sage or QuickBooks). That software is the nursery’s own account, chosen by the nursery, rather than a ParentLink sub-processor.
We do not sell, rent, or share customer data for advertising, behavioural profiling, or any other secondary purpose. Ever. This is hardcoded into our DPA and would be a breach for us to do otherwise.
Each nursery decides how long it keeps its records, in Settings → Data retention. ParentLink starts every nursery on the periods commonly advised for UK early years — for example registers 3 years after a child leaves, accident and medication records until the child is 21, safeguarding records until 25, and invoices and payments 6 years after leaving — and the nursery can change them (safeguarding, accident and medication records can be kept longer, never shorter). These periods count from when someone leaves, so nothing about a child or member of staff who is still at the nursery is due by them. A nursery may also choose how long to keep the messages, daily care logs, registers (never less than 3 years) and gallery photos of children still there; each is kept while the child is there until it chooses. (Not yet for a nursery in the Republic of Ireland, whose rules count from when a child leaves: there, these records are kept while the child is there.) Records it may still need stay whatever the period — a week still owed on a bill keeps its register, and nothing is due for a child with a protection order in force, any entry in the safeguarding log, or who is or was looked after, nor their family’s messages. The same holds once such a child has left: their registers, photos, diary and learning records, and their whole record, are kept until their safeguarding records have gone, at their own period, and no order is in force. Once a period has passed, the records are deleted only when someone the nursery allows approves it (in its Roles and permissions; a manager unless the nursery chooses otherwise), and only such a person can choose the periods for children still there; safeguarding records also need someone the nursery allows to open its safeguarding log, and invoices and payments someone with Finance. When every period for a child has passed, the nursery can delete the child’s whole record — with a parent’s account and messages, once they have no child at the nursery, and the child’s enquiry. An enquiry that ends without the child starting (withdrawn, declined or closed) is due 12 months after that outcome by default; a family still waiting is never due. A staff member’s records after they leave include their absences and sickness, leave, timesheets, time off in lieu and personal details, and their login is closed; their name, rota and clock-ins are kept, for any later question about staffing ratios. Some things clear automatically: a moment a parent deleted (after 30 days, unless held as evidence), in-app notifications (after 12 months by default), the record of each staff sign-in — the device and network address — after 12 months, and, at the periods shown in Settings → Data retention, planned activities, the visitor log, the Today brief’s records and payment providers’ event records. Where a nursery chooses, gallery photos someone has already archived are cleared automatically too, at the period it sets (at least 30 days after the archive). Every deletion is logged with what went, how many, who approved it and when. A request to erase a child’s record goes to the nursery, which is the controller; we help where it asks us to. When a nursery leaves ParentLink it has 60 days to export its data, and we then delete it within a further 30 days (as our Terms set out). A free setting, or one whose free trial of a paid plan has ended, with nothing added to it and no sign-in for 28 days is deactivated, and deleted 30 days later unless someone signs in, which reactivates it. We email the account owner a week before it is deactivated and again when it is.
Under UK GDPR you have the right to:
If your data is controlled by your nursery (i.e. data about your child), please raise the request with your nursery in the first instance — they have the tools to fulfil it directly. If you can’t reach them, email privacy@parentlinkeducation.co.uk and we’ll help.
You also have the right to complain to the UK’s data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), at ico.org.uk. If you are in Ireland, you can also complain to the Data Protection Commission at dataprotection.ie.
We’ll update this page if we change how we handle data. Material changes will be flagged at the top of the page for 30 days. The “last updated” date at the top tells you when the most recent change was.