IMPORTANT LEGAL NOTICE: These Terms of Service ("Terms") constitute a legally binding agreement between you ("User", "you") and Indeparent Limited ("we", "us").

Please read these Terms carefully. By accessing, browsing, or using the Service (including viewing School Data or AI Summaries) you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms.

If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not access or use the Service.

1. Definitions

“We” or “Us” or “Indeparent”: Is the owner and operator of indeparent.com, registered as INDEPARENT LIMITED (16572948) and registered at the ICO with number C1847663.

“The Service” or “The Platform” or “indeparent.com”: The website (this website) that is owned and operated by Indeparent.

“User”: Any person that accesses indeparent.com for any reason.

“You”: Any specific User that has used the Service.

“Reviewer”: Any User that creates a review on Indeparent.

“School”: Any school that is listed on Indeparent.

“School Data”: Any and all data displayed pertaining to a specific school including fees information, contact details, school facilities and all other information.

“School Reviews” or “User Reviews”: School reviews are the reviews pertaining to specific schools that have been submitted by Users by the "/reviews" flow.

“Review Summaries”: Review summaries are summaries that have been generated by AI to summarise school reviews that have been submitted in accordance with these Terms across all users from a specified time range. See AI Usage Policy and Moderation Policy for more information.

“School Representative”: Any person authorised to act on behalf of a school as an employee, governor, contractor, agency or similar authorised role.

“School Ratings”: The “star ratings” based on aggregated review data for a given school (e.g. “culture rating”).

“Indeparent Score”: The Indeparent Score generated by aggregating the “recommendation score” across all qualifying reviews as outlined in About The Indeparent Score.

“Teacher”: A School Representative that is employed as a teacher by the school. 

‘Account”: The User’s account that is used to securely identify and authenticate them on indeparent.com.

“Profile”: The User’s Profile that stores information about the user and is connected to their account.

“Child Profile”: An extension to the user’s profile which contains information about the user’s children.

“Terms”: These Terms of Service.

“Privacy Policy”: The Privacy Policy.

“Competitor School”: Any school that is a competitor of any other School. All Schools are considered competitors of each other.

2. Interpretation

In these Terms, unless the context requires otherwise, the following rules apply:

• Singular and Plural: Words in the singular include the plural, and words in the plural include the singular.

• Gender: References to one gender include all genders.

• Person: A reference to a "Person" includes a natural person, corporate or unincorporated body (whether or not having separate legal personality).

• Include: Any words following the terms "including," "include," "in particular," "for example," or any similar expression shall be construed as illustrative and shall not limit the sense of the words, description, definition, phrase, or term preceding those terms.

• Statutes: A reference to a statute or statutory provision is a reference to it as amended, extended, or re-enacted from time to time.

• Writing: A reference to "writing" or "written" includes email but excludes fax.

• Headings and numbering: Section headings and numbering are for convenience only and do not affect the interpretation of these Terms.

• Case Sensitivity: Defined terms apply regardless of their capitalisation. For example, the terms "Service," "service," and "SERVICE" all hold the same defined meaning unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

• Grammatical Variations: References to a defined term include that term preceded by definite or indefinite articles. For example, a reference to "User" includes "the User," "a User," and "an User."

3. Liability Limitations

   1. School Data is for guidance only and Indeparent accepts no liability for decisions made based on inaccurate information. It is the User’s responsibility to verify all information before making any decisions.

   2. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Indeparent shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including without limitation, loss of profits, data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses, resulting from (i) your access to or use of or inability to access or use the Service; (ii) any conduct or content of any third party on the Service; (iii) any content obtained from the Service; and (iv) unauthorised access, use, or alteration of your transmissions or content.

   3. Indeparent acts as a platform for user-generated content. We do not verify the truth of user reviews prior to publication and we are not the primary publisher of such content. We expressly exclude liability for any loss or damage arising from content posted by third parties.

   4. Indeparent uses automated technology (AI) to summarise User Reviews. We do not guarantee that these summaries accurately reflect the entirety of user sentiment or are free from errors. These summaries constitute an aggregation of user opinion and are not statements of fact by Indeparent.

      1. See Use of AI Policy for more information.

   5. Management of School Listings:

      1. Editorial Discretion: Indeparent retains the absolute right to curate its directory. We reserve the right to add, remove, suspend, or refuse to list any School or School Data at any time, for any reason, in our sole discretion and without notice.

      2. No Obligation: The presence of a School on the Service does not constitute an endorsement by Indeparent, nor does the absence of a School imply any negative sentiment. We are under no contractual or legal obligation to list every independent school in the UK.

      3. Delisting Effect: If a School is removed from the Service, all associated User Reviews and Review Summaries may be removed from public view or retained in our internal archives at our discretion, subject to our Privacy Policy.

4. User Reviews

   1. By posting a review the User confirms that:

      1. The experiences and opinions expressed are informed by the user’s own personal experience.

      2. That reviews are in good faith and are honest and truthful.

      3. That the User accepts legal responsibility for the content of their review, including (but not limited to) legal risks relating to:

         1. Safeguarding, defamation, “Doxxing” or any other legal risk.

      4. You grant Indeparent a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, transferable, irrevocable and fully sub-licensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, distribute, publish, create derivative works from and publicly display such content throughout the world in any media.

      5. You agree to indemnify and hold Indeparent harmless from any claims, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including legal fees) arising from your use of the Service or your breach of these Terms.

      6. They are not a School Representative of a Competitor School to the school being reviewed.

         1. Inaccurate or untruthful reviews by a Competitor School may be treated as a “Malicious Falsehood” under the law.

         2. All Schools listed on Indeparent are considered to be competitive.

5. Account & Profile

   1. By creating an Account, Profile or Child Profile you agree that:

      1. You must be at least 18 years of age to create an account or post a review on Indeparent. By creating an account, you represent and warrant that you are 18 years of age or older and have the legal capacity to enter into this binding contract.

      2. All information has been submitted voluntarily.

      3. All information is truthful and accurate.

      4. That you are the parent or legal guardian of any children for whom you are entering information.

6. Right to Erasure

   1. Indeparent reserves the right to disable or delete accounts or reviews at their sole discretion.

   2. We reserve the right to retain content that has been derived from these deleted or disabled data, such as review summaries, under these circumstances.

   3. The removal of any content by Indeparent does not constitute an admission that the content was unlawful, nor does the retention of any content constitute an endorsement of its accuracy or compliance with our Terms.

7. Jurisdiction

   1. Disputes are handled under the laws of England & Wales.

8. Privacy

   1. By using this service you agree to the Privacy Policy.

9. Complaints procedure

   1. Complaints should be submitted in accordance with our Complaints Procedure.

10. The Indeparent Score, School Ratings & Review Summaries

    1. These summaries and metrics are based on the aggregation of user feedback and do not constitute a statement of fact regarding a school's quality or standards.

    2. Review Summaries (including 'Parents Love' and 'Room for improvement') are automated aggregations of third-party content. They are provided for convenience only. Indeparent does not adopt these summaries as its own corporate opinion or finding of fact.

    3. You acknowledge that Review Summaries are generated by artificial intelligence. While we aim for accuracy, these summaries may occasionally misinterpret or misrepresent the underlying reviews. Indeparent excludes all liability for errors, omissions, or 'hallucinations' within these automated summaries. See Use of AI Policy for more information.

11. Assignment and Change of Control

    1. Assignment by Us. We may assign, transfer, or sub-contract any of our rights and obligations under these Terms to any third party at our discretion, including in connection with a merger, acquisition, restructuring, or sale of all or part of our assets. You agree that the new owner will assume the rights and obligations of Indeparent under these Terms.

    2. Assignment by You. You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms to anyone else without our prior written consent.

12. Related Policies and Incorporated Documents

    1. By using Indeparent, you also agree to the following documents, which form part of these Terms of Service:

       1. Privacy Policy: explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal data.

       2. Cookie Policy: explains how and why we use cookies and similar technologies.

       3. Review Guidelines: sets out the standards and expectations for submitting reviews.

       4. Moderation Policy: explains how content is moderated on Indeparent, including the role of automated systems.

       5. How Indeparent Uses AI: explains how automated summarisation works, its limitations, and how your data may be processed by AI models.

       6. Acceptable Use Policy: explains what constitutes acceptable use of this service.

    2. These incorporated documents are legally binding. Your continued use of Indeparent constitutes acceptance of any updates to these documents.

13. Changes to these Terms

    1. Variation

       1. We may revise these Terms of Service at any time by amending this page. You are expected to check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we have made, as they are binding on you.

       2. By continuing to use the Service after changes are made, you are agreeing to be bound by the revised Terms. If you do not agree to the new Terms, you must stop using the Service immediately.

       3. For significant changes that materially affect your rights (for example, changes to privacy or liability), we will make reasonable efforts to notify you (e.g., via email or a prominent notice on the Service) before the changes take effect.