Terms of Service

1. Agreement to Terms

By accessing or using the Sentinel Care Management Platform ("Service"), operated by Sentinel Management Solutions Ltd ("Company", "we", "us"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

2. Description of Service

Sentinel is a cloud-based children's residential care home management system designed for use by Ofsted-registered children's homes in England. The Service provides tools for daily recording, incident management, safeguarding, regulatory compliance (including Regulation 44, 45, and 40), care planning, and inspection readiness.

3. User Accounts and Responsibilities

You must be at least 18 years of age and authorised by a registered children's home to use the Service. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activities under your account. You must notify us immediately of any unauthorised access.

The registered manager of each home is responsible for ensuring all staff users comply with these terms and with the home's data protection policies.

4. Data Protection and Privacy

The Service processes special category personal data relating to children in care, as defined under UK GDPR (Data Protection Act 2018). Our processing of personal data is governed by our Privacy Policy and the Data Processing Agreement ("DPA") executed between the Company and each subscribing organisation.

You acknowledge that the subscribing organisation is the Data Controller and the Company acts as Data Processor in respect of personal data processed through the Service.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use the Service for any purpose other than legitimate children's residential care management
• Share login credentials with unauthorised persons
• Attempt to access data belonging to other organisations or homes
• Upload malicious code, viruses, or harmful content
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble any part of the Service
• Use the Service in violation of any applicable law or regulation

6. Intellectual Property

The Service, including all software, design, text, graphics, and other content, is the exclusive property of Sentinel Management Solutions Ltd and is protected by UK copyright law, the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and international intellectual property treaties.

Data entered by users remains the property of the subscribing organisation. The Company claims no ownership over user-generated content.

7. Service Availability and Support

We aim to maintain 99.9% uptime but do not guarantee uninterrupted access. Scheduled maintenance will be communicated in advance. We provide support during UK business hours (Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm GMT).

8. Data Retention

In accordance with the Department for Education guidance and the Children Act 1989, records relating to children in care are retained for 75 years from the child's date of birth, or until the child reaches age 75. Upon termination of your subscription, we will retain data for the statutory period and provide data export facilities.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Company shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the Service. Our total liability shall not exceed the fees paid by you in the 12 months preceding the claim.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or any other liability that cannot be excluded under English law.

10. Termination

Either party may terminate the subscription with 30 days' written notice. We may suspend or terminate access immediately if you breach these terms. Upon termination, we will provide a data export in a standard format within 30 days of request.

11. Governing Law

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

12. Changes to Terms

We may update these terms from time to time. We will notify registered managers of material changes at least 30 days before they take effect. Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.