MATHS FORENSICSLAB · GCSE MATHS

Privacy policy

Last updated: 28 October 2026

The short version

We collect only what the Lab needs: your name, email address and your answers to questions.
We use it to run the Lab: marking, progress, recommendations and, for school students, teacher reports.
If you use written answers, an AI model reads a picture of your working to mark it. The picture is deleted after 7 days; your marks and feedback stay. See How AI marking works.
We never sell your data, never show adverts and don't use tracking or advertising cookies.
Your account and learning data are stored in the UK (London).
You can ask to see, correct or delete your data at any time: email support@mathsforensics.com.

1. Who we are

Maths Forensics Lab ("the Lab", "we", "us") is an online GCSE maths practice service at lab.mathsforensics.com, run by Maths Forensics (Michael Robert Taylor). Contact: support@mathsforensics.com. Postal address: Calle Cervantes 38 DCHA 5, Madrid 28014 Spain. Full business details are in our legal notice.

Maths Forensics is established in Spain and offers the Lab to students in the UK, so both the EU General Data Protection Regulation and the UK GDPR apply. Our lead regulator is the Spanish data protection authority (AEPD). Our representative in the UK for data protection is [UK REPRESENTATIVE NAME AND CONTACT DETAILS].

Who is responsible for your data depends on how you use the Lab:

Exam Pass and free accounts: Maths Forensics is the data controller. We decide how your data is used, as described here.
School accounts (students who joined with a class code, teachers and school admins): your school is the data controller and Maths Forensics is a data processor, acting on the school's instructions under our agreement with the school. Questions about how your school uses the Lab should go to your school first. We will help them answer.

2. What we collect

Data	Examples	Where it comes from
Handwritten working (written answers only)	A picture of your working, drawn on screen or uploaded as a photo, and what the AI read from it (a typed copy of your lines), your marks and feedback, and any mark you dispute	You, and our AI marking service (see section 3)
Account details	Name, email address, role (student, teacher, school admin), your school and class	You, your teacher or school admin, or Google/Microsoft if you sign in with them
Learning data	Which questions you answered, whether each was right, the type of slip made, topic progress, baseline diagnostic grade, exam question marks, teacher-set work and progress on it	Created as you use the Lab
Purchase details	Email address, order reference, what you bought and when	Our checkout provider (Systeme.io) when you buy an Exam Pass
Messages	Anything you send to support@mathsforensics.com	You
Technical data	IP address and browser type in our hosting and service logs; settings saved in your browser (see section 8)	Your device

We do not collect payment card details (these go directly to the payment provider), dates of birth, home addresses, or any special category data such as health or ethnicity. The only pictures we collect are pictures of your maths working, if you choose to use written answers. If you sign in with Google or Microsoft, we receive only your name, email address and profile picture link. We never get access to your Drive, email, files, contacts or calendar.

3. How we use it, and why we're allowed to

What we do	Legal basis
Create and run your account, mark your answers, track progress, build your Daily Case and suggestions	Contract (providing the service you or your school signed up for)
Mark written answers with AI: read your working, award marks against our mark scheme, give feedback; "Check my working" and Mike mode hints	Contract, where you bought the Exam Pass yourself. Where a parent or carer bought it for you, legitimate interests (giving you the marking and feedback they paid for). For school accounts, the school's instructions.
Check that AI marking is accurate and deal with disputed marks	Legitimate interests (making sure marks are fair and correct)
Show teachers their own students' progress and set work	For school accounts: the school's instructions (the school's own basis is usually its public task or legitimate interests)
Unlock an Exam Pass after payment and keep purchase records	Contract; legal obligation (tax and accounting records)
Send essential account emails (sign-up confirmation, invites, password resets)	Contract
Keep the Lab secure, fix problems, and improve questions using anonymised or aggregated answer patterns	Legitimate interests (running a safe, accurate service)
Marketing emails about other Maths Forensics products	Only for Exam Pass buyers or parents who have agreed to them, with an unsubscribe link in every email. We never send marketing to school students through the Lab.

Automated suggestions: the Lab recommends topics and builds a working grade automatically from your answers. These are study suggestions only. They have no legal or similarly significant effect and you are free to ignore them.

AI marking: marks for written answers are produced automatically by an AI model, checked against our mark scheme rules. They are practice marks to help you learn, not exam results, and have no legal or similarly significant effect. You can see what the AI read from your working, and you can dispute any mark: a person (Mike Taylor) will review it. How AI marking works explains this in full.

4. Children

The Lab is designed for GCSE students, usually aged 14 to 16, and we follow the principles of the UK Age Appropriate Design Code: we collect the minimum data, have no adverts or tracking, keep privacy-protective settings by default and don't share data for marketing. Students under 13 should only use the Lab through their school or with a parent or carer setting up the account. Parents and carers can contact us to see, correct or delete their child's data.

We tell students clearly, before they use it, that written answers are marked by AI. We have a plain-English guide for students and a safeguarding statement.

5. Who can see your data

You.
Your teacher and school admin, if you joined a class: they see your answers, progress, grade and set work for that class. Other students never see your data.
Maths Forensics, only to provide support, fix problems or when legally required. Access is limited to the account owner.
Our service providers, who run parts of the Lab for us under contracts that require them to protect your data and use it only on our instructions:

Provider	What they do	Where data is held
Supabase	Database, sign-in and storage (accounts, answers, progress, pictures of working)	London, UK
Anthropic	AI marking of written answers, "Check my working" and Mike mode. Receives only the picture of your working and the question, never your name or email. Under its commercial terms Anthropic may not use this data to train its AI models.	USA
hosting.com	Hosts the Lab's web page (server logs)	[HOSTING REGION]
Resend	Sends account emails	EU (Ireland)
Systeme.io and its payment providers (e.g. Stripe, PayPal)	Checkout and payments for the Exam Pass	EU, with some processing elsewhere
Google / Microsoft	Only if you choose "Continue with Google" or "Continue with Microsoft"	Their own sign-in services
Google Fonts and jsDelivr	Deliver the Lab's fonts and code library; they see your IP address when the page loads	Global networks

Where a provider processes data outside the UK or EU, we rely on recognised safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the EU Standard Contractual Clauses. We never sell personal data and never share it with advertisers.

6. How long we keep it

School accounts: for as long as the school's licence is active. When a licence ends and isn't renewed, we delete or return the school's data within 90 days, or sooner if the school asks.
Exam Pass and free accounts: while your account is in use. We delete accounts that have not been used for 2 years. You can ask us to delete yours at any time.
Pictures of your working: 7 days, long enough to dispute a mark, then deleted automatically. A picture is kept longer only while a dispute about it is open. "Check my working" and Mike mode don't keep pictures at all.
Marks, feedback and what the AI read from your working: kept with your account as part of your learning record, for as long as your account is kept (above).
Purchase records: 6 years, because tax law requires it.
Support emails: up to 2 years after the conversation ends.

You can also clear your own answers at any time from the Case file page ("Clear my case file").

7. Keeping it safe

All connections are encrypted (HTTPS).
Passwords are stored securely hashed by our sign-in provider. We can't see them.
Database rules make sure each person can only see the data they are allowed to: students their own, teachers their own classes, school admins their own school.
If a data breach ever affects you, we will tell you (and your school, and the regulator where required) without undue delay.

8. Cookies and browser storage

The Lab does not use advertising, analytics or tracking cookies. It saves a few items in your browser's local storage so it works properly:

Your sign-in session, so you stay signed in (essential).
Your preferences: whether the exam timer is on, whether you have hidden the guide, which Case briefings you have already seen.

These stay on your device. Signing out removes your session; clearing your browser data removes the rest.

9. Your rights

You have the right to:

see the personal data we hold about you and get a copy;
have it corrected if it's wrong;
have it deleted;
restrict or object to how we use it;
receive your data in a format you can take elsewhere.

Email support@mathsforensics.com. We reply within one month. If you use the Lab through your school, we may pass your request to the school, as it is responsible for that data.

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, you can complain to the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos, our lead regulator (aepd.es), or, if you are in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk). We'd appreciate the chance to put things right first.

10. Changes to this policy

If we make important changes, we will show a notice in the Lab and email account holders and schools before they take effect. The date at the top shows when this policy was last updated.

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