Processing personal information for income-based preschool fee discounts
To apply for an income-based discount on the preschool day care fee, parents must consent to the processing of their personal information to verify their income meets the thresholds in Reykjavík City's fee schedule.
Under Reykjavík City's preschool fee schedule and Rules on Preschool Services, parents with legal residence in Reykjavík may apply for a fee discount if their income is within the specified thresholds. This policy also applies to parents whose children attend a private preschool with a service agreement with Reykjavík City, although the specific discount is determined by the terms of that agreement.
Terms and conditions
- From April 1 through June 30, 2026, parents will confirm that the income information they provide matches their previous year's tax return filed with the Director of Internal Revenue. For a married couple or cohabiting partners, only one parent needs to submit the application and provide the household's total income from their tax return.
- Beginning July 1, 2026, Reykjavík City will require applicant consent to collect income data from the Director of Internal Revenue for verification. If the applicant is a married couple or in a registered partnership, both parties must provide consent before data collection can proceed.
- Reykjavík City reserves the right to correct any fees if a discount was granted based on incorrect information.
- Applications for discounts received before April 1, 2026, will take effect on that date. Starting April 1, 2026, an application must be received by the 20th of the month for the discount to take effect on the first of the following month.
- Once all conditions are met, the discount is granted to the parent who shares the child's legal residence and legal residence affiliation, according to Registers Iceland.
Data controller
Reykjavík City is the data controller, and Infomentor ehf is the data processor. Reykjavík City has a processing agreement with Infomentor ehf.
What is the purpose for processing and its basis?
The purpose of this data collection is to provide income-based discounts to eligible parents. The legal basis for this processing is item 1 of the first paragraph of Article 9 of Act No. 90/2018 on Data Protection and the Processing of Personal Data.
If you do not provide the requested information, Reykjavík City may be unable to process your application for an income-based discount; however, this will not affect the child's preschool service.
Data storage
Personal data related to income thresholds will be deleted, while information on discounts and fees will be retained in financial systems as required by law.
What personal data is processed?
When you apply for an income-based discount through Vala, the system processes the information you provide along with other required and specified data.
Vala connects automatically to Registers Iceland to gather basic personal information on the registration page, such as the service user's name, ID number, and legal residence. Vala checks the guardian's marital status (single parent or cohabiting) with Registers Iceland and displays the relevant application options. The application displays the names of the child and the logged-in parent.
The service user can start an application on the website to apply for an income-based preschool fee discount.
Vala processes the application automatically and records the discount percentage on the child's profile. Reykjavík City's accounting system handles invoicing based on the available data.
The system processes the following basic data for parents of children enrolled in preschool: name, ID number, address, phone number, email address, siblings of preschool age, monthly statements, attachments, registration details, and marital status. Records of outstanding payments are kept in the access-controlled system.
Technical information, such as IP address, the device used for login, and actions that
are carried out in the system.
The categories of data subjects are:
- Parents and their children.
- Staff of the data controller and private preschools with access to the application system.
Where does the information come from?
Basic data is sourced from Registers Iceland, Vala, and from parents during the application process.
How long is the personal data kept?
Personal data related to income thresholds will be deleted, while information on discounts and fees will be retained in financial systems as required by law. After the specified retention period, all processed data must be transferred to the National Archives of Iceland for preservation, per Act No. 77/2014 on Public Archives.
How do we ensure the security of personal data?
The City of Reykjavík safeguards personal data through appropriate organizational and technical measures, including access controls and encryption. All City staff involved in processing an applicant's personal data are bound by confidentiality.
Sharing personal data with third parties
The City of Reykjavík will not share any other personal data belonging to you with third parties unless the City is required to do so on the basis of law, governmental orders, or a court order. Furthermore, the City will not share your personal data outside the European Economic Area without express authorization and without informing you accordingly.
Automatic decision-making
Applications for income-based preschool fee discounts are processed using automated decision-making, meaning they are handled automatically based on parental consent and without human intervention.
When a parent applies for an income-based discount, the system automatically processes the application based on whether the income thresholds are met. When automated decision-making takes place, you may ask a City employee to assess the enrollment, provide comments, ask for explanations of the decision taken, and dispute the decision. You also have the right to object to the automated processing of your application, and parents can always request a manual decision instead.
Withdrawing consent
You may withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing that occurred before the withdrawal. If not withdrawn, your consent remains in effect as long as you receive an income-based discount. Consent can be withdrawn by emailing sfs@reykjavik.is.
Your rights
You may have the right to access the personal data that the City of Reykjavík processes in connection with your application. You may also have the right to object to the processing, have the information corrected, request that it be deleted, have the processing limited, and/or have the information delivered to you or a third party in machine-readable format. More information about these rights can be found in Reykjavík City's privacy policy.
Complaints about processing
Please note that if you're dissatisfied with Reykjavík City's handling of your personal information, you can always contact the City's Data Protection Officer (personuverndarfulltrui@reykjavik.is) or file a complaint with the Icelandic Data Protection Authority (postur@personuvernd.is).