Sponsor terms

These terms are between LondonEY (“we”, “us”) and the business that buys a sponsored placement (“you”, “the sponsor”). They apply together with our terms of use and privacy notice.

The promise to parents

LondonEY is independent. A sponsorship buys visibility in a clearly marked place. It does not buy a better rating, a higher position in any list, or the removal of any other setting. We keep that promise because it is what makes the site trustworthy to parents, and so useful to you.

What a sponsored placement is

A sponsored slot appears in a separate band on the page you choose, labelled “Sponsored”. It is never placed inside the evidence-based list or made to look like one of its rows.
A page shows at most three sponsored slots. If more sponsors have bought a page than there are slots, the slots rotate fairly.
A slot links to your website, or to your LondonEY profile if you have one, through a tracking link so that we can count clicks.
When a slot ends or is not renewed, the space reverts to a “Sponsor this area” invitation.

A neighbourhood page, a borough page, or a category page (for example Montessori nurseries).
A guide or tool page, for family services such as baby and toddler classes, swim schools, nanny agencies, tutors, photographers and shops. These sponsors must not claim to be a nursery or to offer regulated childcare they are not registered for.
A group package across several pages, by agreement.

What sponsorship does not do

It never changes the order of any list, the “highest-rated” lists, or search results.
It never hides, removes or demotes any other setting.
It never changes the Ofsted result shown for you or anyone else. Your grades appear in exactly the same way as organic rows, with the same date and link to the official report.
It does not buy editorial influence over guides, area text or methodology.
It does not make us or Ofsted endorse you. You must not say or suggest otherwise.
It does not give you faster or better treatment for corrections to official data.

Settings (nurseries, pre-schools, schools with nursery provision) must, at the time of purchase and throughout the sponsorship:

hold an active Ofsted registration, or be an open school on the Department for Education’s register;
have safeguarding standards met at the latest inspection; and
have no current “Urgent improvement” grade in any area, and no current “Inadequate” overall grade, at the latest inspection.

A setting that is not eligible can still claim a free listing.

Other businesses (guide and tool sponsors) must be lawful UK businesses offering genuine products or services to families, and must not need an Ofsted registration they do not hold.

If you stop being eligible during your term, for example after a new inspection, we may pause or end the placement. We will refund any unused part of the month already paid.

Advertising standards

You are responsible for everything you supply. It must comply with the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct and Promotional Marketing (the CAP Code), enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), and with consumer protection law. In particular:

claims must be truthful, and you must be able to prove them if asked;
you must not mislead about fees, funded places, availability, qualifications, ratios or Ofsted results;
you must not use the Ofsted logo or suggest that Ofsted, the government, a council or LondonEY approves you;
you must not make unfair comparisons or disparage another setting; and
you must not use content you have no right to use, or photos of children without the necessary consents.

We may edit, refuse or remove a placement that, in our reasonable view, breaches these rules or the law, or could mislead parents. We keep editorial control of wording. Paid content is always marked as an advertisement (“Sponsored”), as the CAP Code requires.

Your profile

If you sponsor a setting, we publish a LondonEY profile for it quickly, using the facts you supply and facts from official sources. We check the facts before publishing and may ask for evidence. We write the description in our own words. The profile still shows the official Ofsted information in the same way as for every other setting.

Price and billing

Sponsorship is billed monthly in advance by subscription through Stripe. Prices are per month, per slot, as shown at checkout.
Founding sponsors are quoted a founding rate that is fixed for 12 months from the start date, as stated at checkout. After that we will give you at least 30 days’ notice of any new price, and you can cancel before it applies.
If a payment fails, we may pause the placement until it is paid.
We use Stripe to process payment; we never see your full card number. See our privacy notice.
You are responsible for your own tax and accounting.

Cancel anytime

You can cancel at any time, through the Stripe billing link you were given or by contacting us. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the month you have already paid for. The placement stays live until then. We do not charge a cancellation fee. We do not refund part-months except where these terms say so or the law requires.

Views, clicks and results

We count clicks on each slot with our click counter and use Cloudflare Web Analytics for page views. We will share figures for your slot on request. They are our best estimates, not audited.
We do not promise any number of views, clicks, enquiries or places filled.
Traffic guarantee: if we offer any guarantee, we will set it out in writing at purchase and it applies as written.

Changes and ending the arrangement

We may change the layout of pages and the number of slots if the effect on you is not significant. If it is, we will offer you a pro rata refund or the chance to cancel.
We may suspend or end a placement straight away if you break these terms, if the law requires it, or if Ofsted takes enforcement action (for example suspension or a notice of intent to cancel registration) that could make the placement misleading. We will refund any unused part of the month already paid unless you caused the problem through a serious breach.
We do not give your data or enquiries a special status because you are a sponsor.

Your data

We use the contact and billing details you give us to run your sponsorship, as described in our privacy notice. Please give us business contact details, not personal ones, wherever you can.

Liability

Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence or for fraud. Subject to that, our liability to you in connection with a sponsorship is limited to the fees you paid for it in the 12 months before the claim arose, and we are not liable for loss of profit, business or goodwill, or for indirect loss. Our placement is a marketing service; we do not guarantee results.

Law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.

Contact

Questions about sponsorship: contact us. To see what is on offer, see the provider page.