Acceptable Use Policy

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") sets out the rules for using the Steps nursery management software provided by Steps Systems Limited ("we", "Steps"). It forms part of the Terms of Service between you and us.

Breach of this AUP is a material breach of the Terms of Service and may result in suspension or termination of your Subscription.

1. What you must not do

You must not, and must not allow any User to:

1.1 Misuse the Service

• Use the Service in breach of any applicable law, including UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, the Childcare Act 2006, or safeguarding legislation.
• Use the Service to store, process or transmit any data you are not lawfully entitled to hold.
• Use the Service in a way that infringes the rights (including intellectual property or privacy rights) of any third party.

1.2 Interfere with the Service

• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Service, any account, or any underlying system.
• Introduce malware, viruses, worms, or any other malicious code into the Service.
• Interfere with, disrupt, overload, or attempt to circumvent any security or availability measure of the Service.
• Access the Service by any means other than the interfaces we provide, including via automated scraping tools, bots or crawlers (other than a customer using the export or download features that we provide).
• Attempt to reverse-engineer, decompile, or extract the source code of the Service, except to the extent expressly permitted by law.

1.3 Abuse communications features

• Use the Service to send unsolicited marketing communications ("spam") to parents or any other individual.
• Use the Service to send abusive, threatening, harassing, defamatory or otherwise unlawful content.
• Impersonate any person or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or organisation.

1.4 Misuse child and parent data

• Use personal data held in the Service for any purpose other than the operation of your nursery.
• Share login credentials with unauthorised persons.
• Allow any User to access personal data they do not need to see for their role.

1.5 Reuse the Service commercially

• Resell, sublicense, or otherwise commercially exploit the Service or any part of it without our prior written consent.
• Use the Service to build a competing product or benchmark it in a manner intended to give a competitor an advantage.

2. What you must do

2.1 Keep credentials secure. Ensure Users use strong, unique passwords and do not share them.

2.2 Notify us of incidents. Notify us as soon as reasonably possible if you become aware of any unauthorised access to your account or any personal data breach involving the Service, by emailing admin@stepsnursery.com.

2.3 Manage your Users. Promptly deactivate access for staff who leave your organisation or who no longer need access.

2.4 Keep data accurate. Take reasonable steps to keep the personal data held in the Service accurate and up to date.

3. Enforcement

3.1 We may investigate any suspected breach of this AUP. If we believe there is an ongoing serious risk to the Service, to other customers, or to any person, we may suspend your access without prior notice.

3.2 Where suspension is warranted for a less urgent breach, we will normally give you notice and an opportunity to remedy the issue before suspending or terminating.

3.3 Termination for AUP breach does not entitle you to any refund.

4. Reporting abuse

To report suspected abuse of the Service by another user (including phishing, harassment or misuse of data), email admin@stepsnursery.com.

5. Changes to this AUP

We may update this AUP from time to time. Material changes take effect on 30 days' notice by email. The "Last updated" date at the top of this AUP will always reflect the most recent version.