Retention of information policy

The General Data Protection Regulation requires us to share information with you about data retention after your child has left Parklands Day Nursery.

There are five main types of data which we retain:

Safeguarding and welfare data linked to Ofsted, the Early Years Foundation Stage requirements, insurance requirements and the Limitation Act.
Financial data such as bank statements or invoices for HMRC purposes.
Funding data retained for Local Authority purposes.
Data relating to the learning and development requirements of the EYFS.
Personal contact data.

Data relating to the Safeguarding and Welfare requirements of the EYFS.

To comply with the Limitation Act 1980 and insurance requirements, we keep accident, incident, medication and first aid records using the legal basis of “legal obligation” until your child is 22 years old. We also retain parent/provider contracts (registration forms) and daily registers using the legal basis of “vital interests” to prove additional evidence of compliance with the EYFS. All this data is retained in paper format and is stored either in a locked filing cabinet or in a locked area of one of the nursery offices.

Further data related to safeguarding and welfare requirements of the EYFS should be retained for a “reasonable period of time”. ICO advice is that this should be retained for one Ofsted inspection cycle.

They are marked with a destruction date, when the data will be shredded or burned. Stored papers will be checked annually to arrange necessary disposal.

Financial data.

We keep documentation including your name and payment records for HMRC using the legal basis of “legal obligation”. The data that is retained in paper format is stored in a locked area of one of the nursery offices. We mark this data with a destruction date, retain this information for 7 years and our annual disposal check will trigger us to destroy them. We also hold some financial information online for 7 years at which time it will be securely deleted, along with any of this data on backups.

Any professional advisors who we have shared your data with will also be required to destroy your data after the appropriate time has elapsed as they are required to do so under our contract or signed data sharing agreement.

Funding data.

We keep documentation including your name, address, national insurance number and tracking data for Local Authority Funding forms using the legal basis of “contractual necessity”. This data is held in paper format, marked with a destruction date, retained for 7 years and stored in a locked area of one of the nursery offices until our annual check will trigger disposal.

Data relating to learning and development requirements of the EYFS.

We keep documents relating to your child’s learning and development including photographs of your child’s progress, activities and experiences. We use the legal basis of “legal obligation” when recording your child’s progress and the legal basis of “legitimate interest” because it is reasonable for us to process this data to provide you with a good quality service.

Most of this information will be given to you or destroyed when your child leaves the nursery but we retain some progress documentation for a period of 1 year after your child has left Parklands and use the legal basis of “parental consent”. This data is held in paper format, marked with a destruction date and stored in a locked filing cabinet or locked area of one of the nursery offices until our annual check will trigger disposal.

Most of your child’s photographs will be given to you when your child leaves the nursery but we also retain photographs of your child on our displays, computers, tablets, laptops, memory sticks or back up hard drives for a period of 1 year after your child has left Parklands and use the legal basis of “parental consent”. We also request consent to store your child’s photographs on the nursery website and Facebook page after your child has left the nursery. This data is held in digital format, marked with a creation date, stored on password protected computers/laptops or encrypted memory sticks/hard drives and securely deleted upon our annual check, if required.

Personal data.

The ICO advise that it is reasonable to keep a record of your name, telephone number and email address on one of the nursery computers for up to 1 year after your child has left Parklands to enable us to contact you in the event of a query e.g. a local authority funding query. The data will be securely deleted after this period, prompted by our annual check.

The personal data which you give to us via email/telephone/Facebook message upon initial contact with the nursery will be stored for up to 1 year after this first contact, regardless of whether or not your child eventually attends the nursery. This information will enable us to re-contact you for feedback on your visit to the nursery, invite you to special events and monitor interest in the nursery to develop it further. Your personal details would be processed under the legal basis of “consent”. The data will be stored as paper documents in one of the nursery offices and securely deleted after this period, prompted by our annual check.

Visitor books and sheets will also be retained as they are related to safeguarding and welfare requirements of the EYFS and will be securely stored in one of the nursery offices. ICO advice is that they should be retained for one Ofsted inspection cycle and they will then be destroyed.

In the event of the closure of the nursery, we will retain documentation for as long as legally required by the purpose for which is was collected. There is no absolute duty to encrypt data stored online but we will keep it as securely as possible during the retention period.

Your right to erasure.

Under GDPR, you have the right to ask for information held about you and your child to be withdrawn. Any request for erasure of data should be forwarded to our Data Protection Lead/Deputy in writing to allow erasure procedures to commence. However, we may need to retain information if we are legally required to do so, when exceptions to the right to erasure may apply. We will make a decision on each erasure request individually.