Privacy Policy
Key point: SEND Parents Help is a simple website that links you to third-party AI platforms (ChatGPT and Google Gemini). We do not collect, store, or have access to your conversations with these AI assistants.
Overview
SEND Parents Help ("we", "our", "the service") is a small, free website that helps families navigate SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) processes in England, and links you to third-party AI assistants. To keep the site working and secure we collect a small amount of information. This policy explains how we use it, who we share it with, and the rights you have.
Who We Are
This website is run by SEND Parents Help CIC, a Community Interest Company registered in England, company no. 17308607. We are the data controller for the information described in this policy. To ask us anything about it, including a request about your own information, please use our contact form.
What We Collect
When you use our API (directly or through a Custom GPT), we may collect:
- API request logs - timestamps, endpoints accessed, and response codes for operational monitoring
- Authentication tokens - these identify the AI platform making the request (e.g. ChatGPT), not you as a user; they are not tied to any individual and are never stored, only validated
How we check things are working
This website is built and run by a single SEND parent, not a company with a team watching dashboards around the clock. To keep the site working and safe, we collect a small amount of technical and usage information, for example which pages are visited and roughly how the site is performing.
We use it only to spot problems, keep the service secure, and understand in general terms how the site is being used. We do not build advertising profiles, and we are not trying to work out who you are.
Cookies and Local Storage
This website stores your dark/light mode preference in your browser's local storage. This is not a cookie and is not transmitted to any server - it stays entirely on your device to remember your theme preference.
We also keep a random, anonymous id in your browser's local storage. It lets us tell whether you have been to the site before, so we do not keep showing you introductory guidance you only need to see once. It holds no personal information, is never shared with anyone else, and resets whenever you clear your site data.
What We Do NOT Collect
Our Lawful Basis
Under UK data protection law we need a lawful basis for using any information about you. Ours is legitimate interests: keeping this free service running, keeping it secure, and understanding in general terms how it is used so we can fix problems and improve it. We have weighed this against your privacy and keep what we use to a minimum. When you send us a message, you choose what to share, and you give an email address only if you would like a reply.
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and Our API
The AI assistants linked from this website are instructed to never send personally identifiable information (PII) to our API, even if requested by a user. The only exception is the local authority name, which may be sent to retrieve location-specific guidance.
While it is extremely unlikely that any PII would be transmitted to our API, we cannot guarantee this with absolute certainty due to the nature of AI systems. If you have concerns, avoid sharing sensitive personal details in your conversations.
Important Notice
Your conversations occur directly with third-party AI platforms (OpenAI or Google). Any personal information you share in those conversations is subject to their privacy policies, not ours.
How Data Is Used
The limited data we collect is used solely to:
- Serve knowledge base content in response to API requests.
- Monitor service health and performance.
- Prevent unauthorised access.
- Understand in general terms how the site is used, so we can spot problems and improve it.
- Reply to you if you send us a message.
Third-Party Services
When you use the AI assistants linked from this website, you interact directly with third-party platforms. Your conversations and data on those platforms are governed by their respective privacy policies:
A small number of providers also process information on our behalf so the service can run. They may use it only to provide their service to us:
- Cloudflare hosts the website and provides its analytics infrastructure, the anti-spam check on the contact form, and email delivery.
- OpenAI (ChatGPT) and Google (Gemini), only when you choose to open one of their assistants. Your conversation there is with them directly, under their own privacy policies.
Some of these providers are based outside the UK, including in the United States. Where information is transferred, it is protected by the safeguards UK data protection law requires.
Every picture on our blog is created with AI. Look for the small "AI" mark on the corner of any image, tap it, and it will tell you the same.
How we use AI to make our images
A proper photo shoot was always going to be out of reach for a project this small, and stock photos rarely capture the reality of SEND life. So instead of leaving posts bare or settling for pictures that feel a bit off, we use AI to make our own. It is the honest way a tiny team can give every article a warm, fitting image.
None of it is left to a machine on its own. A person writes a careful brief for each picture, chooses the one that best suits the post, and looks it over before it goes live. Think of them as gentle illustrations that set the scene, not photographs: they are not real children, families, or places, and they are never meant to depict a real person or hint at a diagnosis.
We would rather be open about all this than quietly slip it past you. That is why the small "AI" mark sits on every image, wherever it appears, ready to tap and bring you straight back here.
UK GDPR and Your Rights
The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 govern how we handle your information. The sections above explain who we are, what we collect and why; this section explains what the law gives you.
Because we use a small amount of information that data protection law can treat as personal, you have rights over it. You can ask us for a copy of it, ask us to correct or delete it, restrict how we use it, or object to how we use it. To make a request, or to ask anything about this policy, please contact us.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk. We would appreciate the chance to put things right first.
Children's Privacy
This service is designed to help parents and carers of children with SEND. We do not knowingly collect any information from children. All interactions with the AI assistants are between the adult user and the third-party AI platforms.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" date.
"This service provides general information only and is not legal advice. Always verify important information with official sources."