Last updated: 9 August 2026 · See also our Terms of Service and Data Processing Agreement
IlmFlow (“we”, “us”) is web-based software that madrasahs use to run their attendance register, Qur’an/Hifz and dua tracking, exams and report cards, fees, UK payroll, and parent/teacher/admin portals. This policy explains, in plain terms, what personal data we handle, why, who we share it with, and what rights you have. For the records a madrasah keeps in IlmFlow (students, attendance, grades, fees, staff), the madrasah is the data controller and IlmFlow acts as its data processor, processing that data only on the madrasah’s instructions. For our public website, sales enquiries, and the running of our own business, IlmFlow is the controller. IlmFlow is a trading name of ILMFLOW LTD, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 17434787).
IlmFlow: email hello@ilmflow.co.uk, WhatsApp +44 7562 857919. If your child attends a madrasah that uses IlmFlow, that madrasah is the controller of your child’s records. Please contact them first for any request about that data, and we will support them as their processor.
Data protection law draws a line between a controller (the organisation that decides why and how personal data is used) and a processor (an organisation that processes data on the controller’s instructions). This matters because it decides who you should contact with a request, and who is legally responsible for what.
What we hold about you depends on your relationship with IlmFlow:
Name, email, phone, madrasah name and address, role, and login details (your password is stored hashed, never as plain text). We use this to set up and run the madrasah’s account, keep you updated about the service, and handle billing. Lawful basis: performing our contract with the madrasah, or our legitimate interest in running that relationship.
Name, contact details, role, classes taught, login details, and timesheet clock-in/out data. Where a madrasah uses IlmFlow’s UK payroll feature, we also process tax code, National Insurance number, salary/pay rate, bank details (sort code and account number), pension scheme, student/postgraduate loan status, and the HMRC Starter Checklist declaration needed to run PAYE, produce payslips, P60s and P45s, and, once direct Real Time Information (RTI) filing goes live, report to HMRC.
Some madrasahs also record a staff member’s DBS (criminal record check) reference and expiry date, and right-to-work/visa status, as part of their own safeguarding and employment-law duties. This is sensitive information: under UK data protection law we only process it under the specific conditions the law allows employers to use for safeguarding and right-to-work checks, and only on the madrasah’s instructions as controller.
Lawful basis: performing our contract with the madrasah; the madrasah’s legal duties as an employer (payroll, safeguarding, right-to-work checks); and, for HMRC reporting, our own legal duty once we file on a madrasah’s behalf.
Name, date of birth, gender, class, address, attendance records, Qur’an/Hifz and dua progress, recitation logs, exam results and report cards, fee records, a per-madrasah student reference ID, and the name/contact details of parents or guardians linked to the child.
Because IlmFlow is used by Islamic supplementary schools, some of this data (for example, attendance at Qur’an or Hifz classes) can, by its nature, reveal or suggest a child’s religious belief. Where that’s the case, the madrasah, as controller, is responsible for having a proper basis under UK data protection law for holding it (typically, that a parent/guardian has chosen to enrol their child at a religious educational institution for that purpose). We only process this data as the madrasah instructs, and only to provide the service.
Lawful basis: set by the madrasah as controller (typically performing its own contract with parents, or its legitimate interests as an educational institution). IlmFlow processes it under the madrasah’s instructions as processor.
Name, email, phone, and the link to your children’s records, plus anything you submit yourself (for example, a message sent through the in-app chat, or a report of your child’s absence). Lawful basis: the madrasah’s agreement with you as a parent, or our legitimate interest in providing the parent portal on the madrasah’s behalf.
If you book a demo, submit an enquiry, or message our "Ask IlmFlow" website chat assistant or WhatsApp number, we collect the details you give us (for example, name, madrasah name, email, phone, and your message) to reply to you and, if you agree, to follow up about IlmFlow. Lawful basis: our legitimate interest in responding to enquiries, or your consent where marketing follow-up needs it. You can unsubscribe from marketing messages at any time.
We use Anthropic’s Claude AI for two specific, limited features:
We do not use AI to grade or assess pupil work, and we do not use AI to make any automated decision that has a legal or similarly significant effect on an individual. A person always reviews any AI-assisted output before it’s relied on.
Our public marketing website uses only essential cookies, plus optional analytics cookies (Google Analytics) that load solely if you accept them via the cookie banner. Declining means no analytics cookie is set. The logged-in IlmFlow application does not use analytics cookies at all; it uses only the cookies needed to keep you securely signed in.
We share data only as needed, with trusted service providers who process it on our instructions, under contract, and never for their own marketing purposes:
Our own hosting is within the European Union, which UK data protection law already treats as offering an adequate level of protection, so no extra safeguard is needed for that transfer. Some of the third-party providers listed above are based, or process data, outside the UK and EU (for example, in the United States). Where that happens, we rely on the safeguards recognised under UK data protection law for international transfers, such as the UK’s International Data Transfer Addendum or standard contractual clauses, or the provider’s own equivalent commitments.
We keep data for as long as the madrasah’s account is active and as needed to provide the service, then delete or anonymise it under the madrasah’s instructions and any legal retention requirements. For example, HMRC requires payroll records to be kept for at least 3 years from the end of the tax year they relate to. We keep website enquiry and demo-booking data only as long as reasonably needed to respond and follow up.
For a plain-English summary of how we protect your data, see our Security & Trust page.
IlmFlow is run by its founder. Only the founder has administrative access to production systems and the underlying database, and that access is used only to build, run, and support the service, for example, to fix a bug you’ve reported, never to browse a madrasah’s records for any other reason. We do not have a separate support team or outsourced staff with access to your data. A small number of narrowly-scoped, automated internal tools can read specific platform-level business data (for example, sales pipeline or invoice status) through individually restricted, read-only credentials; none of these can read student, attendance, or other madrasah records, and none can change or delete anything.
Passwords are stored hashed, access within the application is restricted by role, each madrasah’s data is kept separate from every other madrasah’s, and online payments are handled entirely by Stripe. We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data, but no method of transmission or storage is completely secure.
If a personal data breach occurs, we will assess the risk and, where required by law, notify the Information Commissioner’s Office within 72 hours, and tell affected individuals without undue delay if the breach is likely to put their rights and freedoms at high risk.
IlmFlow holds records about children on behalf of the madrasah. We only handle this data to provide the service, apply appropriate safeguards, and never sell it or use it for advertising. The madrasah, as controller, is responsible for the lawful basis for holding pupil data and for obtaining any parental consent it needs. We design the product with the ICO’s Age Appropriate Design Code (Children’s Code) in mind: no profiling or advertising based on pupil data, and settings that default to the most protective option. Our standard Data Processing Agreement (DPA), covering how we process pupil and staff data as the madrasah’s processor, is published and available to view or download at any time, no request needed.
Under UK GDPR you have the right to:
For a child’s or staff member’s records held in IlmFlow on a madrasah’s behalf, please contact that madrasah directly (the controller); we will support them in responding to you. For our own website, demo, or enquiry data, contact us directly at hello@ilmflow.co.uk. To request deletion of your own IlmFlow login account, see our account deletion page. You may also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk) at any time.
Our website does not currently respond to browser "Do Not Track" signals. You can still control analytics tracking directly through our cookie banner at any time.
We may update this policy from time to time; the "last updated" date above shows the latest version. For material changes, we will take reasonable steps to let existing customers know.
Questions about this policy? Email hello@ilmflow.co.uk.
This document is a general template and has not yet been reviewed by a solicitor. Because IlmFlow processes children’s data, it should not be relied on as final legal or data-protection advice until that review is complete.