Members system terms

The rules for using CYPC Members. Please read them once before you start.

Version 2.0 · 9 November 2026

1. Who these terms are between

These terms are an agreement between you and the Crawley Young Persons Council ("CYPC", "we", "us"), a youth council run by and for young people in Crawley. They cover the CYPC Members system at members.cypc.co.uk and everything inside it.

You accept these terms by ticking the box on the sign-in screen and signing in. We keep a record of who agreed, to which version, and when. If you do not accept them, do not sign in, and tell an organiser so your account can be closed.

If you are under 18, please read these terms with a parent or carer.

2. Who can use it

• You must be a member of CYPC. Membership is for young people aged 11 to 25 who live, study or work in Crawley.
• An organiser gives you access. You cannot sign yourself up.
• Organisers and supporting staff also have accounts, with extra tools and extra responsibilities.
• If you leave CYPC, or stop meeting the membership rules, your access ends.

If you are under 18, a parent or carer can ask us at any time what we hold about you and how the system works.

3. Your member key, and signing in

• Your member key is yours alone. Do not share it, write it somewhere other people can see it, or sign in on someone else's behalf.
• If you think someone else knows it, tell an organiser straight away and it will be changed.
• You may be asked for a code sent to your email when signing in on a new device. This is to protect your account.
• You can turn on Face ID, Touch ID or a fingerprint instead of typing your key. Your device keeps that on its own; CYPC never sees your face or fingerprint. Only set it up on a device that is yours and is locked.
• Anything done from your account is treated as done by you. That is why keeping your key private matters.

4. Using CYPC around school, college and work

Schools, colleges and workplaces have their own rules about the internet and phones. CYPC respects them, and so must you.

• Use CYPC outside the school or college day. Do not use it in lessons or at any time your school says phones must be away.
• Do not use CYPC on a school, college or work device, or on their Wi-Fi, unless they have said you can.
• Never try to get round a school's, college's or workplace's filtering or monitoring to use CYPC. That includes VPNs, proxies, hotspots, or switching to mobile data where their rules say you must not.
• CYPC does not check for or block school networks or devices. Following your school's rules is up to you.
• On a shared or public computer, sign out when you finish and do not let the browser save your member key.

5. Your CYPC email address

You get a [email protected] address. It is a real email address: you can write to anyone and anyone can write to you.

• Organisers can read it. Every email you send or receive through it can be seen by CYPC organisers. This is not optional and it is not a punishment: it is how we keep young people safe. You are told this before you first use email, and you have to agree to it.
• Use it for CYPC business. It is not a personal email account.
• Do not use it to sign up for things that have nothing to do with CYPC, or for anything you would not want an organiser to read.
• Do not pretend to be someone else, or to speak for CYPC or the Council unless you have been asked to.
• Email between cypc.co.uk addresses stays inside CYPC. Email to anyone else leaves as ordinary email and we cannot get it back once it has gone.
• Attachments are limited in size and number, and some file types are blocked because they are used to carry viruses.

Connecting your own inbox

You can optionally have CYPC email copied to a personal inbox, write CYPC email from inside Gmail, or send from your own Gmail address. These are conveniences, not a way around oversight: a copy of everything still goes through CYPC and organisers can still read it. You must verify any address you connect, and you must only connect an inbox that belongs to you.

CYPC Drive

• Organisers can open your files. Anything you keep in CYPC Drive can be opened by CYPC organisers, so they can keep everyone safe. It is not private from them.
• You can see when they do. Every time an organiser opens one of your files or looks through your drive, it is recorded with their name and the time, and you can see it under “Who has looked”.
• Keep it to things for CYPC. No bullying, sexual content, hate, anything illegal, or other people's personal details or photos without their permission.
• You can share files only with other CYPC members. Anyone you share with can open and download the file.
• Your files are kept in CYPC's Google Drive, in a private folder called CYPC DRIVE.
• Each file can be up to 25 MB, and each member has a set amount of space (25 GB unless an organiser changes it). Some file types are blocked because they carry viruses. Deleted files stay in the Bin for 30 days, then go for good.

6. Chat, the noticeboard and votes

• Members chat is moderated. Organisers can read it, and can remove messages.
• Be respectful. No bullying, harassment, threats, discrimination, sexual content, or content that promotes self-harm, drugs or illegal activity.
• Do not post other people's personal information: addresses, phone numbers, photos of someone who has not agreed, or anything said to you in confidence.
• Votes and polls are one answer per member. Do not try to vote twice or on someone else's behalf.

7. Reporting a concern

The Report tool goes to CYPC organisers and the adult who supports CYPC with safeguarding. Use it if you are worried about yourself or someone else.

We cannot promise to keep a report private. If someone may be at risk of harm, we have a duty to act on it, which can mean telling other people such as a school, children's services or the police. We will tell you what is happening wherever we safely can.

If someone is in immediate danger, call 999. You can also call Childline free on 0800 1111, or Samaritans on 116 123.

8. Council documents and signing

• Only organisers can issue official CYPC documents.
• An electronic signature you add is intended to carry the same weight as signing on paper. Only sign something you have read and agree with.
• Do not sign on someone else's behalf, or use someone else's saved signature.
• Anyone holding a document can check it is genuine at cypc.co.uk. A document that has been altered will not match.

9. Search

CYPC Search has its own rules, which you accept separately before using it. In short: it is filtered, there is a monthly limit shared by everyone, and searching for blocked material is recorded. The full rules are at cypc.co.uk/search-rules.

10. Things you must not do

• Try to get into another member's account, or into parts of the system you have not been given.
• Try to break, overload, copy or reverse-engineer the system.
• Upload anything illegal, anything containing a virus, or anything you do not have the right to share.
• Use CYPC Members to sell things, advertise, or run anything for your own profit.
• Use it to campaign for a political party. CYPC is cross-party and has to stay that way.
• Take screenshots of private chat, email or safeguarding material and share them outside CYPC.

11. What happens if a rule is broken

Depending on how serious it is, organisers may: talk to you about it; remove a message or document; pause your access; reset your member key; or end your membership. Serious matters, particularly anything involving someone's safety, may be passed to your school, children's services or the police.

You can ask for a decision to be looked at again by a different organiser, or by the adult who supports CYPC.

12. Your information

What we collect, why, and your rights under UK data protection law are set out in the privacy policy, which forms part of these terms.

13. What we do and do not promise

• CYPC Members is run by a youth council, largely by volunteers. We do our best, but we cannot promise it will always be available or free of faults.
• Back up anything you would be upset to lose. Do not treat the system as the only copy of something important.
• We may change, pause or remove features. If a change affects you meaningfully we will tell you.
• We are not responsible for content written by other members, or for outside websites the system links to.
• Nothing here limits our responsibility for anything the law does not allow us to limit.

14. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. If we make an important change you will be asked to read and accept the new version the next time you sign in. Continuing to use the system after a change means you accept it.

15. Ending your access

You can stop using CYPC Members at any time and ask an organiser to close your account. We may end access if you leave CYPC, if these terms are broken, or if the system closes. Some records, including safeguarding records and official documents, are kept afterwards where we are required to keep them.

16. Law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales deal with any dispute.

17. Who to contact

Crawley Young Persons Council.
Email [email protected], or speak to any CYPC organiser.