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Privacy Notice

Who we are

This service is run by the Department of Education.

This means the DfE is the data controller for the Eligibility Checking Engine and decides how and why any personal data is processed, including by third parties on our behalf.

We will use the information you give us according to DfE personal information charter.

This privacy policy is relevant to parents and/or guardians using the service, and also to any children you may be checking or applying for.

It does not relate to the privacy of users elsewhere in the entitlement checking and applying process where other privacy statements may apply.

Personal data standards

To lawfully use your personal data, we need to meet one or more conditions in the data protection legislation.

You can read the DfE Personal information charter for more information about the standards DfE adheres to when we collect, hold or use your and/or your child’s personal data.

When you use this service, we will use any personal information you give us for administration and research purposes.

What personal data we use

This service will use your

  • personal details as a parent or guardian, including your name and email address
  • your National Insurance (NI) number and/or Asylum Support Reference (previous known as National Asylum Support Service) number
  • any social and/or financial benefits claimed by you
  • child's/children’s details including first name(s), surname(s) and school(s), eligibility number(s) and date(s) of birth
  • details of which version of web browser you use to access the service
  • information on how you use our site, based on cookies and page tagging techniques
  • any personal information in questions, queries, feedback or communications you make, including your email address, if you contact our support team

We must have a valid reason to collect your personal data – also known as ‘lawful basis’ under the The Data Protection Act 2018. Our lawful basis is that of 'public task', so that we can run the Entitlement checker as a service to you.

In relation to your child’s personal information, DfE has specific privacy policies. You can read Privacy information for:

How we use your data

We will use your personal information to:

  • check if you or your child/children are eligible for entitlements such as free school meals
  • send eligibility outcomes to schools in order to register you and your child/children for the possible entitlement
  • send eligibility outcomes to local authorities
  • ensure that pupils entitled to free school meals receive them
  • ensure that schools receive additional funding known as pupil premium
  • enable us to identify which pupils are potentially eligible for entitlement to free school meals
  • ensure the protection of public funds
  • prevent and detect fraud
  • send you notifications, service updates and notices

How we protect your data

When we process your information, we maintain your information’s confidentiality, integrity and availability;

  • confidentiality means only authorised users can view access, change, use your information
  • integrity means we ensure your information is correct and accurate
  • availability means we ensure your information is available, in a secure system, when required

We comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 to protect your personal information.

We will

  • tell you why we need the information
  • only ask for what we need
  • make sure no one has access to it who should not
  • only keep the information for as long as we need it

Our users must comply with Data Protection regulations when handling information and understand how important it is to protect personal and other sensitive information.

How long we keep your data

We only keep your personal information for as long as we need it. We decide how long to keep your information based on what we need and also what the law says. All data is securely and permanently deleted at the end of the retention period. We call this our retention and disposal schedule.

We keep your personal information for 7 years. After this, it will be securely destroyed. This will usually be 7 years after the end of each contract.

This meets legal requirements for the retention of finance data.

When you finish checking you or your child’s entitlement, we'll

  • delete your personal information (unless you give us permission to pass it onto a school and/or local authority)
  • keep audit records of your user account activity for up to 6 years

We can lawfully keep personal data processed purely for research and statistical purposes indefinitely.

This is under Data Protection Legislation and in compliance with the relevant data processing conditions.

Your data protection rights

You have the right to:

  • ask us for access to information about you that we hold.
  • have your personal data rectified, if it is inaccurate or incomplete
  • request the deletion or removal of personal data where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing
  • restrict our processing of your personal data (for example, permitting its storage but no further processing)
  • object to direct marketing (including profiling) and processing for the purposes of scientific or historical research and statistics
  • not be subject to decisions based purely on automated processing where it produces a legal or similarly significant effect on you

Asking to see your information

If you want to see the personal information we hold about you in relation to this service. This is known as a subject access request (SAR).

You can

If you want us to delete all the information we hold about you, email our support team. There is no charge for this.

Sometimes we can withhold information, for example to protect national security. You can read more about your rights in relation to personal data at Information Comissioners Office.

The right to lodge a complaint

If you are unhappy with our use of your personal data, you have the right to raise any concerns with the Information Commissioner's Office.

Third party integration

We use third party software to help us improve your experience of the Entitlement checker.

These include:

We will store this information in a way that it cannot be used to identify you.

Last updated

This version was last updated in July 2024.

We may need to update this privacy notice, so we recommend you revisit this from time to time.

Further information

Get more information about the Department for Education.