Guidance regarding Parental Consent.

Parental Consent and using Motional is an interesting topic. When we first started Motional, there was quite a knee-jerk reaction from some users asking about consent forms. This was unsurprising as it was around the same time GDPR was about to become law. We have obviously done a significant amount of research and sought lots of advice about this.

If you just want a sample form to edit and use you'll find one below, but we'd urge you to read this article before you try to utilise the form.

Our overriding philosophy is about openness and honesty, and we firmly believe that parents should be involved in all aspects of their child's upbringing. We also firmly believe in the rights of individuals when it comes to their personal data.

None of what's written here is intended to remove parents from being involved in Motional or to circumvent anyone's rights. It's about the technical legal requirements of using Motional with children that you have a duty to look after, whether as a foster carer, adoptive parent, parent, member of school staff, therapist or other practitioner working independently, or a local authority service. It's also not legal advice!

We can split the possible requirement for consent into two areas;

  1. Storing and processing a child's personally identifying data (Snapshots and Reporting)
  2. Doing an intervention with a child (Programs)

Storing and Processing Data

At Motional we process data about children and their mental health and wellbeing. We are a data processor. You are the data controller. We only do something with the data if you specifically instruct us to. So we'll only create a Snapshot if you fill in the answers on the Snapshot page. We only suggest relationship techniques and activities if you create a Program. We only compare a child's results against other results when you look at their data or run a Report that includes that child. We have a duty to tell you if we think you've asked us to do something illegal with the data we hold.


You have a duty to ensure that you have a lawful basis for collecting the data you enter into Motional. There are only certain bases that are lawful. They are set out in GDPR (the General Data Protection Regulation), and the UK's interpretation is in the DPA 2018 (Data Protection Act 2018). A good resource is the ICO (Information Commissioner's Office) website - ICO.org.uk

For Schools and public authorities

We have spoken to both the ICO and our lawyers who both suggested that consent was not the best option for schools using Motional. Many schools that we speak to about this are now using the 'Public Task basis' ( https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/lawful-basis-for-processing/public-task/) .

Individuals and Other Organisations

For organisations that aren't schools, you may find that you wouldn't be able to use Public Task as your lawful basis. If you already have a professional membership that includes confidentiality (such as being a registered therapist) then you are in a different position to say a forest school practitioner. The latter will probably have to rely on explicit consent ( https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/lawful-basis-for-processing/consent/ ). The ICO has a somewhat useful interactive guide ( https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/resources-and-support/lawful-basis-interactive-guidance-tool/ ) or you may need to seek legal advice if you're not sure.

Doing an Intervention

The activities and Safety and Advice strategies given in Motional are best-practice suggestions which are in the best interest of the child. They are not psychotherapeutic or counselling techniques. As such it's highly unlikely you would need to seek consent to do these, as any reasonable person would expect you to be doing what is best-practice and in the best interests of the child.

If you feel (or know) that the Participant you're working with has SEN ("A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her" - SEND Code of Practice) and your use of Motional forms part of their SEN Plan, then para 6.48 of the Code says "Where it is decided to provide a pupil with SEN support, the parents must be formally notified, although parents should have already been involved in forming the assessment of needs as outlined above. The teacher and the SENCO should agree in consultation with the parent and the pupil the adjustments, interventions and support to be put in place, as well as the expected impact on progress, development or behaviour, along with a clear date for review."

A Parental Info/Consent Form template

We've put together a template Word document you can use as an info document and/or consent form for parents - you'll find a link to it below. Please bear in mind that it's a technical document designed to be used by Data Protection Officers or SLT. Don't just print and send - you'll need to adapt it to reflect the decisions your setting has made.