Privacy notice for the childcare directory.
Last updated: 13 April 2026
Next review: 9 March 2027
We are the Early Years, Childcare and Business Development Service.
The Local Authority (LA) have a statutory duty to ensure that parents/carers and prospective parents/carers can access online, or are provided with, comprehensive and up to date information about childcare, including school-aged childcare, and early education, including free places in the Borough. Information collected from active Ofsted registered childcare providers and DfE registered schools is published on the LA’s Childcare Directory, a website that parents/carers, professionals and other interested parties can use to find childcare services in order for the LA to meet this duty.
If you have questions regarding this service or our privacy practices, you can contact us by e-mail or in writing at the address below:
Contact us by email at childcare@walthamforest.gov.uk or contact us by post by writing to:
Waltham Forest Council
Early Years, Childcare and Business Development Service
Higham Hill JSC
313 Billet Road
Walthamstow, E17 5PX
Please note that face-to-face meetings are by appointment only and can be arranged with the service.
We receive weekly updates from Ofsted in relation to childcare providers registered with them i.e. day nurseries, pre-schools and childminders. The information received from Ofsted provides us with the individual or registered organisation’s contact details, organisation details and Ofsted inspection judgement associated with their Ofsted registered childcare business. (in some instances, an Ofsted registered childcare provider’s business contact details may be the same as their personal contact should they choose to do this, this is particularly true of Childminders)
We also obtain information for Department of Education (DfE) registered school’s from the DfE’s online Edubase system.
Information related to the Ofsted childcare provider or school nursery’s business/service obtained from Ofsted or the DfE, information that the provider has a statutory duty to make available (e.g. fees and charges in line with DfE’s requirements, unless the LA has granted an exemption), as well as additional information they have chosen/consented to share in relation to their business is then used by the Council on the commissioned service to populate the childcare directory which can be found on the Waltham Forest Childcare Directory website.
The Directory enables families to make informed choices about childcare.
Childcare provider data obtained from Ofsted, such as:
Childcare provider data obtained from DfE Edubase (GIAS) for School based nurseries, including:
Childcare provider data obtained from childcare provider which is not available in the public domain in Ofsted or DfE information, but childcare providers can choose to publish should they wish/consent too:
Providers are responsible for:
We will publish information about childcare providers such as day nurseries, pre-schools and school nurseries as we have a statutory duty under section 12 of the Childcare Act 2006 to maintain a service that provides information for parents/carers and prospective parents/carers on the provision of childcare in their area as listed in Schedule 1 to the Childcare Act 2006 (Provision of Information to Parents) (England) Regulations 2007) and publish this information electronically on the local authority website and update it.
Therefore, the purpose of the information collected is to meet the statutory duty.
We will only publish information available/searchable in the public domain via Ofsted or the DfE in relation to Ofsted registered childcare or school provision as well as information that they have a statutory duty to make public (e.g. fees and charges information). Providers can choose/consent to publish additional contact details and organisation details such as postcode, preferred name (first and last name or first name or a business name), contact number and email address should they want to.
For childminders we will seek consent to publish information that is not available/searchable via Ofsted and non-statutory information by email communication. We rely on your consent to publish your details on the childcare directory, and you may withdraw that consent at any time; however, if you do so, you will need to demonstrate that the information required to meet statutory publication obligations is available elsewhere so that those obligations continue to be met, e.g. the costs of chargeable extras should be published on provider websites or, where they do not have any website, on local authority Family Information Services.
The expectation is that the contact details (number and email address) consented to share by Ofsted registered childminders are for their childcare business.
The lawful basis for publishing is based on the following:
Your information will be shared with:
Your childcare provision data can be shared with other childcare providers that want to signpost parents/carers to other childcare providers.
We keep data for as long as the childcare provider’s Ofsted registration or DfE registration is active and information about their service is available/searchable via publicly available Ofsted or DfE information
Ofsted registered childcare providers and DfE registered schools can withdraw consent to publish data and information that is not available/searchable via Ofsted and non-statutory information related to their childcare business by emailing childcare@walthamforest.gov.uk to notify us of withdrawal of consent.
Our Data Protection Officer is Mark Hynes. You can contact him by email at data.protectionofficer@walthamforest.gov.uk
Read the how we use and protect your personal data section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.
Read the your rights to your personal data section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.
These are included in the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.
If we’re unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)