Data Retention Policy

1. Principles

We follow the UK GDPR principle of storage limitation — data is not kept longer than necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. Tuition centres are responsible for their own data retention decisions regarding student and parent data; CentreFlow provides the tools to manage and delete records.

2. Retention Periods by Category

Student Records

• Active students: Retained indefinitely while the centre subscription is active
• Discontinued students: Retained for 3 years after the discontinuation date unless deleted earlier by the centre
• Enquiry records (unconverted): Retained for 12 months unless deleted by the centre

Attendance Records

• Retained for 3 years from the session date to support compliance and OFSTED readiness
• Centres may export and delete records at their discretion

Payment Records

• Payment history and invoice records are retained for 7 years in line with HMRC guidance on financial records
• GoCardless mandate and transaction references are retained for the same period

Communication Logs

• Student communication tracker entries are retained for 2 years from the last activity date
• Staff audit logs are retained for 12 months

Staff Records

• Active staff records: retained while the staff member is active
• DBS and compliance records: retained for 3 years after the staff member's last activity, or longer if required by law
• Staff time logs: retained for 2 years

Digital Form Submissions

• Signed forms and consent records: retained for 5 years or until the student record is deleted, whichever is later

Account and Login Data

• CentreFlow user account data: retained while the account is active
• Login timestamps and session records: retained for 6 months

3. Centre Subscription Cancellation

When a subscription is cancelled:

• A 90-day grace period applies during which data remains accessible for reactivation or export
• After 90 days, all centre data is queued for secure deletion
• Deletion is completed within 30 days of the grace period ending
• Backups containing the data are purged within a further 30 days

Centres may request earlier deletion by contacting privacy@centreflow.co.uk.

4. Backup Retention

Platform backups are retained for up to 30 days. Backup data is encrypted and access-controlled. Deleted records may persist in backups for up to 30 days before being permanently purged.

5. Deletion Requests

Centres may delete individual student, staff, or record entries at any time via the CentreFlow interface. For bulk deletion or full account erasure requests, contact privacy@centreflow.co.uk.

6. Review

This retention policy is reviewed annually and updated as the platform evolves or legal requirements change.