Takedown policy
This policy covers requests from providers, councils, and members of the public to correct or remove service pages on FamilyPlans. It is referenced from /disclosures and /contact.
Categories of takedown request
| Type | Default response |
|---|---|
| Provider service-page takedown (commercial) | Comply if the requestor proves authority and the page is genuinely commercial-private (for example, a small independent class teacher’s home address). |
| Council request to correct or remove a public-service page | Comply within 5 business days; correct rather than remove where possible. |
| Defamation claim | Engage legal counsel; we do not respond on substance until counsel reviews; we comply with valid claims. |
| Copyright claim | Review the specific element; remove if it is a substantial reproduction; aggregate facts (which are not copyrightable) are retained. |
| Privacy / UK GDPR erasure (Article 17) | Comply unless an exception applies (legitimate interest in journalistic, archival, freedom-of-expression, or public-interest grounds). |
| Safeguarding concern (child welfare) | Immediate escalation; affected pages paused within 1 hour; investigation; relevant authorities involved if required. |
Process
- Receipt — email support@familyplans.co.uk or use /report-error noting that the matter is legal.
- Acknowledgement — we aim to acknowledge within 1 business day and to give a substantive response within 5 business days.
- Triage — we categorise the request per the table above.
- Verification — for provider takedowns we ask for confirmation that you are authorised to act for the business, the specific URLs concerned, and whether you prefer correction or removal.
- Legal review — defamation, intellectual-property, and unclear cases go to legal counsel before we respond on substance.
- Decision — we comply, negotiate, or refuse with a documented reason.
- Action — on compliance the affected records are soft-removed with a recorded reason, the page is re-evaluated by our quality gate, and the action is logged in our audit and corrections records.
- Confirmation — we confirm the outcome to the requestor with a reference.
Appeals
A refusal can be appealed to support@familyplans.co.uk. Appeals are reviewed within 10 business days.
Public log
Takedowns are logged at /research/corrections with category and date but no requestor identity. For sensitive categories such as child safeguarding, the log entry may be kept private and acknowledged only in aggregate.
What we will not take down
- Aggregate factual claims that are not personally identifiable.
- Public-record facts (for example, council-published opening hours of a public family hub).
- Editorial commentary that is fair, sourced, and in the public interest.
- Data independently published by an official source under an open licence.
Hard rules
- We do not accept payment in connection with takedown requests.
- We do not silently remove content — all removals are logged.
- We do not remove content based on private threats; if a matter is escalated to formal legal process, we engage counsel.