Choosing a nursery parent app: the questions to ask suppliers

When you choose a parent communication app, your nursery stays the data controller and the supplier becomes your processor. UK GDPR requires a written contract between you with specific terms, including that the supplier acts only on your instructions and deletes or returns the data when the contract ends. So the most useful questions are about data, photo consent, and leaving. Ask them before the demo dazzles you. Notification volume, offline behaviour and shared devices decide whether your staff and families actually use it.

A disclosure: Coat Peg makes one of these apps, so weigh our view accordingly. The questions below are the ones we think any supplier, including us, should be able to answer in writing.

Why the data questions come first

Everything you put into a parent app is personal data about young children: names, photos, sleep and nappy records, accidents, medication, sometimes allergies and health needs. The EYFS requires records to be held securely and seen only by people with a right or professional need to see them, and it says they may be kept securely off the premises (paragraph 3.96 of the group and school-based framework, 3.95 for childminders). An app is exactly that: your records, kept off the premises by someone else.

The ICO sets out what the controller-processor contract must include. In summary, the processor must:

• act only on your documented instructions
• make sure its staff are bound by confidentiality
• keep the data secure
• use sub-processors only with your authorisation, and pass the same obligations on
• help you respond when a parent exercises their rights, such as asking for a copy of their child’s data
• help you with security, breach notification and impact assessments
• delete or return all the data at the end of the contract
• give you the information you need to check it is complying, and allow audits

If a supplier cannot show you where each of those is covered, that tells you something.

Do you need a DPIA?

A data protection impact assessment is required when processing is likely to result in high risk. The ICO’s list of processing that needs one mentions children specifically where their data is used for marketing, profiling or automated decisions, or where online services are offered directly to children. A nursery app does not obviously fall into those. However, the ICO also says that if you are in any doubt, you should do one. Photos and care records for a whole nursery are reason enough. Ask the supplier for their own assessment and security information to help you write it.

Does the data have to stay in the UK?

No. UK GDPR allows personal data to leave the UK if the destination has UK adequacy regulations, or if appropriate safeguards are in place, such as the International Data Transfer Agreement with a transfer risk assessment. “UK data residency” is a preference, not a legal requirement. What matters is that the supplier can tell you exactly where data is stored, which sub-processors handle it (hosting, email, push notifications, photo storage), and which transfer route applies to each.

The supplier question checklist

Send these in writing and keep the answers. They become evidence for your DPIA and your own records.

Data and contract

Ask	A good answer looks like
Will you sign a data processing agreement, and can we see it now?	Yes, a standard agreement covering every contract term above, available before you commit.
Where is our data stored, and who are your sub-processors?	A named list with countries, and the transfer route for anything outside the UK.
Do you use our data for anything except running the service?	No advertising, no selling, no training products on children’s photos, stated in the contract.
How will you tell us about a breach, and how quickly?	A named process and a timescale that leaves you room to meet your own duty to report.
Who at your company can see our children’s photos?	A small, named group, with access logged and only for support you have asked for.

Photo consent

Ask	A good answer looks like
How does the app stop a child without photo consent appearing in a photo?	The child cannot be tagged, and staff are warned before posting. Relying on staff memory is not enough.
If a parent withdraws consent, what happens to photos already shared?	They stop being visible to other families, not only future posts.
What happens to a group photo when one child’s family withdraws?	A specific answer, such as the photo being hidden from other families, rather than a promise to look into it.
Is location data removed from photos?	Yes, before they reach any parent.

When a family leaves

Ask	A good answer looks like
Can a family download their child’s photos and records before they go?	Yes, in a common format, without needing you to do it for them.
If a parent deletes their account, what happens to the child’s records?	The parent’s login goes, and the nursery’s statutory records, such as accidents and medication, are kept.
Can one separated parent’s access be removed without affecting the other’s?	Yes, per parent, with no effect on the child’s record.

When your nursery leaves

Ask	A good answer looks like
How do we export everything, and in what format?	A full export of records and photos in open formats, at no extra charge.
What happens to the data after we cancel, and when?	A stated deletion date after a grace period long enough to collect your export.
How do we keep accident, medication and safeguarding records we are required to hold?	An export you can store yourself. The EYFS requires records to be kept for a reasonable period after a child leaves, and that duty stays with you, not the supplier.

Notifications

Ask	A good answer looks like
How many notifications does a parent get on a busy day?	A number, not “it depends”. Twenty pings a day trains parents to mute the app.
Can urgent messages still get through straight away?	Yes, separately from everyday updates.

Ask to see a real parent’s phone at the end of a full day, not a demo account.

Offline and poor wifi

Ask	A good answer looks like
What happens if the wifi drops while a photo is uploading?	It saves and retries on its own. Nothing is lost and nobody has to retype.
Can staff see when something has not sent?	Yes, clearly, on the device that took it.

Shared devices and staff PINs

Ask	A good answer looks like
How do several staff share one room device?	Each person switches in with their own PIN, and every post is recorded against them.
What happens when a member of staff leaves?	You remove them in one step and their access ends everywhere.
What can a room device see?	Only what that room needs, not the whole nursery’s records or safeguarding notes.
If a device is lost, can you cut it off remotely?	Yes, immediately.

Accessibility

Ask	A good answer looks like
Does the parent app work with screen readers and large text?	Yes, tested, and they can tell you which accessibility standard they test against.
Is there a way in for parents without a smartphone?	A web version or another route, so no family is left out.
Can parents read it in their own language?	An honest answer. If not, ask how you would support those families.

Pricing and commitment

Ask	A good answer looks like
What is the price per month at our size, including every add-on we would use?	One number, in writing.
What happens to the price when we grow or shrink?	A published rule, not a negotiation.
How long is the minimum term, and what is the notice period?	Monthly, or a short term with a clear notice period.
Are there set-up, training, export or exit fees?	None, or stated up front.

How Coat Peg answers these

We said any supplier, including us, should answer in writing, so here is ours, including where we fall short. Check it against our terms and privacy notice rather than taking it from this page.

Yes:

• A published data processing agreement, accepted at signup, with a named list of sub-processors, where each one is, and the transfer route for anything outside the UK and EU.
• No advertising, no selling, no training on children’s photos, in the contract. Breaches reported to you within 48 hours.
• A child without photo consent cannot be tagged, and staff are warned first. Withdrawing consent hides photos already shared, including group photos, and location data is removed on the device before upload.
• A parent deleting their account removes their login and leaves the child’s record, and one parent can be removed without affecting the other.
• Your admins can download the statutory records (accidents, medicines, the register, sleep checks, safeguarding, photo consent history, two-year checks) at any time, as CSV files. Closing the account signs everyone out at once and deletes the rest 30 days later. The statutory records are kept, with each child’s name and date of birth, until the child’s 22nd birthday for accidents and medicines, the 25th for safeguarding, and 3 years after the child leaves for the register, photo consent history, sleep checks and two-year checks, and we send you a copy on request.
• One notification a day. Staff switch in with their own PIN, a member of staff is removed in one step, a lost device is cut off at once, and posts made without wifi send when it returns.
• A web version for parents without an iPhone. One price for the whole nursery, monthly, with no set-up, training, export or exit fees.

Partly:

• Who at Coat Peg can see your photos. Only the people who run the service and need administrator access to keep it working. Our back-office tool shows no children’s records or photos, and what it changes is logged, but access straight to the database or photo storage is not logged by our own tools.
• Your full export. The statutory records download is self-serve. Photographs and the rest of the record come from us on request, not from a button.
• A family’s own copy. Parents see their child’s records in the app and can save a copy of the two-year check. There is no button to download everything: a family who wants a copy asks you, and we help you answer.
• What a room device sees. Safeguarding concerns are only ever visible to the safeguarding lead and admins. But the register and child lists on a room device show every child in the nursery, not only that room’s.
• Accessibility. The parent app has screen reader labels, but it has not been tested against a named accessibility standard.
• Offline in a browser. In the app a post that fails keeps trying. In a browser it is kept only while the tab is open.

No:

• Urgent messages. There is no messaging in Coat Peg, in either direction, by design. The only notifications sent straight away are an accident or incident report and a medicine given, so the parent is told the same day. Anything else urgent needs a phone call.
• Other languages. Coat Peg is in English only. If some of your families would need another language, plan how you will support them.

Run a real trial, not a demo

A demo shows the best path. A trial shows your worst Tuesday. Before you sign:

• Use it in one room for two weeks, on the actual device and wifi you have.
• Ask two or three families, including one who is not keen on technology, to use the parent side.
• Set up a test child with no photo consent, try to tag them in a photo, and see what stops you.
• Turn off the wifi mid-upload.
• Hand the device between three members of staff at the busiest point of the morning.
• Ask for a full export at the end, and open it.

If the supplier resists any of those, you have your answer.