Data privacy notice for parents/carers
As required by law, the purpose of this data privacy notice (DPN) is to explain what personal data we want to collect about you, as a parent or carer, for the purposes of a research study called: Coram Family and Childcare Parent Discussion groups 2025 (“the research”).
The research is looking to understand what parents and carers think quality childcare means to them, whether the childcare they have used meets their expectations for quality, and parent experiences of accessing the funded early education entitlements.
Coram Family and Childcare will be the only organisation involved in this research, and are the data controller for this project. We (“we”, “us”, “our”) are committed to protecting the privacy and security of the personal data we collect about you and your child(ren) (“you/your”) in this research study.
We are asking parents and carers to consent to taking part in the research.
Please read this data privacy notice carefully. It provides important information about your rights and how we handle your personal information. It should be read with the consent information provided as part of the online recruitment survey.
How and what information we collect about you
If you decide to take part in the research, we will collect personal data initially through an online questionnaire, and then through your contributions to the discussion group if you are selected to take part. This questionnaire will ask you for your name, contact details, and whether you have used childcare in the past year. We will not ask the name of your child. The data you provide will only be used for the purposes of this research study, and you do not have to answer any of the questions if you do not want to.
Purposes for which we use personal information and the lawful basis
None of the data we will collect will be special category data, a type of personal data that is considered sensitive and requires additional protection (for example data about racial or ethnic origin). We will process your personal data for the purposes of this research study under the lawful basis of Consent under UK General Data Protection Regulation Article 6.1(e).
What we will do with your data
Answers from the online questionnaire that you complete will only be used by the survey team at Coram Family and Childcare. Your name, email address, and telephone number will only be used to register your interest in taking part in the discussion groups. The information you share in the discussion group will only be used to write a report about what parents think about childcare quality and the funded early education entitlements. We will not identify anybody by name in any report, and names and email addresses will be deleted as soon as participants in the discussion groups have received their vouchers for taking part.
Sharing your data
Your data will not be shared with anyone else outside the research team at Coram Family and Childcare, and we will not share your personal data outside of the UK. There may be scenarios where we have a legal obligation to disclose or share your personal data for safeguarding reasons, as required by law. This is if we believed you or someone you mention is at risk of harm (for example they were going to be attacked). We will only ever disclose your personal data to these third parties to the extent we are required to do so by law. In the very rare occasion this might happen, we would always aim to talk to you about what information would be shared as well as how and when they are going to share this with others.
How long we keep your data
After the discussion group has taken place, we will write up the results into a report, which will not include any information that could personally identify you. As your responses to the discussion group will be anonymised, it will not be possible for anyone reading the report to identify you from your responses.
Your personal data will be deleted from our records when the report is published on 18th March 2026.
How we protect your data
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data that we process from unauthorised disclosure, use, alteration or destruction. Your information is securely stored on a dedicated drive that can only be accessed by staff at Coram Family and Childcare.
Your rights and options
Your rights relating to your personal data include:
– You have the right to access your personal data and can request copies of it and information about our processing of it
– If the personal data we hold about you is incorrect or incomplete, you can ask us to rectify or add to it
– Where we are using your personal data with your consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time
– Where we are using your personal information you can object to us using it this way
– We are not using your personal information for direct marketing purposes
Contact us
If you have any questions, or wish to exercise any of your rights, then you can contact:
Project: Coram Family and Childcare Parent Discussion Groups 2025
Organisation: Coram Family and Childcare
Address: 41 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AZ
Email: childcare@coram.org.uk
Alternatively you can contact Coram’s Data Protection Officer, Chris Kelly, Director of People and Compliance at christine@coram.org.uk.
How to complain
You can lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office:
Address: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Helpline phone number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns
Changes to this privacy notice
We may update this notice (and any supplemental privacy notice), from time to time as shown in the footer. We will notify you of the changes where required by applicable law to do so.