Privacy notice

Nothing you type into this calculator is ever sent anywhere, to me or to anybody else. That is not a policy promise. It is how the site is built. The one thing that leaves your browser is a count of which pages you looked at, and only if you agree to it.

How the calculator works

Everything the calculator does happens inside your own browser. There is no server that performs the calculation, and therefore nothing for your answers to be sent to. Your child's age, your income, your savings, your benefits, none of it leaves the device you are reading this on.

I built it this way deliberately. Financial and family circumstances about a child are about as sensitive as personal data gets, and the safest way to protect information is not to receive it.

The one thing that is sent anywhere

If you use the “find my council” button, your browser sends the first part of your postcode (like SW1A) to postcodes.io, a free public service, to look up which council covers that area. That is the only outbound request carrying anything you typed.

• It only happens when you press the button. Never as you type.
• Only the outward code is sent, not the full postcode.
• Nothing else you have entered is sent with it.
• The answer is used and then discarded. I do not store it, log it, or put it in the web address.
• You never have to use it. Choosing your council or region from the list works just as well.

Cookies

I set no cookies at all unless you agree to analytics. Until you answer the question at the bottom of the screen, nothing is stored and nothing is counted.

If you say yes, Google Analytics sets its own cookies on your device to recognise a returning visit. If you say no, it never loads and no cookie is set. Your answer is remembered in your own browser, which is the one thing kept either way, and it is not sent anywhere.

Analytics

Only if you agree. I use Google Analytics to see which pages people find useful and which ones they leave. It is the only third party on this site apart from the postcode lookup above.

What Google receives when you have agreed:

• Which pages you looked at, and in what order.
• Roughly where in the world you are, worked out from your IP address.
• What kind of device and browser you used.

What it never receives, whichever you choose:

• Anything you type into the calculator. Your child's age, your income, your savings and your benefits stay in your browser, exactly as described above.
• The details inside a shared result link. Those addresses carry ages and a council, so the site deliberately reports only the plain page address to Google, with everything after the question mark removed.
• Your full postcode, which never leaves your browser at all.

Advertising features and Google Signals are switched off, so nothing here feeds ad targeting. Google is the data controller for what it receives, and its own notice explains what it does with it: policies.google.com/privacy.

Saying no changes nothing about how the site works. There is no feature behind the question and no reminder if you decline.

Changing your mind

You can turn analytics on or off here, at any time, as easily as you first answered. The choice is stored on this device, so a different browser or a private window will ask you again.

Sharing a result

The share link contains your nation, region or council, your children's ages, and whether you were a foster carer. It never contains anything about your finances, your benefits, or your postcode. Web addresses end up in browser history, server logs and messaging app previews, so I keep the sensitive things out of them entirely.

Saved progress

I do not save your progress. If you refresh the page you will start again. That is deliberate: shared and family computers are the normal case for the people who use this site.

Your rights

Data protection law gives you rights over personal data an organisation holds about you. I hold none, so there is nothing for me to give you access to, correct, or delete.

If you agreed to analytics, Google holds what is described above. You can stop any further collection here at any time, and Google's own notice explains how to ask it about what it already has.

If you think any of this is wrong, please get in touch and I will look into it.