GDS Analytics data protection specialists

Data protection delivered intelligently

Fractional Data Protection Officer and Chief Information Security Officer support for independent schools, charities and commercial businesses, from a named adviser who learns how your organisation works.

Book a free consultation

For independent schools

The Long Room library at Trinity College Dublin, with its barrel-vaulted wooden ceiling and two levels of bookshelves

Trusted by schools and businesses since 2018

St Albans School

Haberdashers' Elstree Schools

Liverpool Experience Campus

For independent schools

Your school's named DPO and security adviser

An independent school holds safeguarding records, medical and SEN information and the financial details of every fee-paying family, without the local authority support that state schools can fall back on. We have been the named Data Protection Officer and security adviser to independent schools since UK GDPR came into force in 2018.

See how we support schools

Read our subject access guide

Named DPO

Policies, rights requests (including the contentious ones), DPIAs for EdTech and termly reports to governors.

Fractional CISO

Security strategy, the risk register, the DfE cyber security standards and insurer questionnaires.

Compliance and audit

UK GDPR health checks, gap analysis, Cyber Essentials readiness and your record of processing, kept current in our client portal.

Incident response

Containment, the 72-hour ICO decision, parent communications and lessons learned.

Who we help

Reducing your risk and protecting your data

Independent schools

A named DPO and fractional CISO who knows how schools work, from the bursary to the board.

Support for schools

Businesses and charities

A named DPO and fractional CISO for financial services, hospitality, retail and charities, with compliance health checks, Cyber Essentials readiness and UK and EU representation under Article 27.

DPO and CISO services

The GDS client portal

Your plan, assessments, supplier monitoring, DPIAs and record of processing in one secure place, with us as your DPO or run by your own team.

Explore the portal

What clients say

“

He knows our school, our history, and our risk appetite, so his advice is always grounded in our reality rather than generic guidance.

Rebecca Mitchell

Deputy Clerk to the Governors and Data Protection Manager, St Albans School

Guidance

Practical help with the hard parts

Our step-by-step guide covers deadlines, parents and pupils, safeguarding exemptions and the requests that arrive in the middle of a fee dispute or a separation, updated for the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

How to handle a subject access request

What we offer

Data Protection Officer as a service

Chief Information Security Officer as a service

Compliance health checks and Cyber Essentials readiness

UK and EU representation

The GDS client portal

Supplier monitoring

Free compliance quick check

Subject access request guide

Find out where you stand

A free, no-obligation 30-minute consultation on your current position, the questions your governors, board or insurers are asking, and the two or three things worth fixing first.

Book a free consultation

0333 121 6772