VIRTUAL MEMORY BOX LIMITED

Virtual Memory Box

Virtual Memory Box is a web-based 'digital life story work platform' that helps children in care safely store an organise their memories; photos, videos, documents and audio. We currently provide our award winning product to hundreds of thousands of users in local authorities and regional adoption agencies across the UK.

Features

• Secure, encrypted digital storage
• Multiple memory formats supported
• Child-friendly interface
• Multi-device access
• Exportable memory boxes
• Automatic backup & safeguarding protections
• SEND accessibility features
• Cross-functional collaboration
• Web-based access
• Comprehensive live dashboards and reporting

Benefits

• Improves emotional wellbeing, giving children ownership of their life stories
• Supports LSW in a structured, ongoing, and accessible way
• Reduces memory loss during placement changes, stabilising identity and continuity
• Provides a safe space, avoiding risks associated with social media.
• Ensures consistency as memories follow the child across placements.
• Saves carers and professionals time with streamlined digital workflows.
• Supports regulatory compliance around recording, safeguarding, and data retention.
• Helps build resilience and self-identity, improving long-term outcomes.
• Gives an affordable long-term solution for digital life story work.
• Provides a proven method for rolling service out to users.

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at christian@virtualmemorybox.org. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 15

Service ID

621648098101618

Contact

Christian Brock
+44 191 743 9808
christian@virtualmemorybox.org

About your service

• Service categories:

  Applications

  Production and operations

  • Other operations

  Service industry and public sector operations

  • Children's Social Care
• Multi cloud support: No

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Public cloud
• Service constraints: N/A
• System requirements: Web browser

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Yes
• Support response times: Support requests are acknowledged same day during business hours. Support is not offered at weekends.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: No
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: Yes
• Web chat support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support accessibility standard: WCAG 2.2 AAA
• Web chat accessibility testing: No
• Onsite support: No
• Support levels: Technical support is accessed through our account management team during business hours via email or telephone. We do not employ tiered levels of support - all contracts receive the same level of technical support and support is included as part of contract costs.; ; Urgent queries that are preventing systems from operating as normal or resulting in unexpected downtime, are treated as priority and are responded to immediately. Other support queries are acknowledged within one business day.; ; A service level agreement is included as part of any agreement.
• Support available to third parties: No
• AI chatbot: No

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: We have comprehensive training for admin sessions delivered during onboarding. All users have access to asynchronous training on the platform which contains FAQs, videos and training manuals. Professionals and carers can also self book onto webinar training which takes place weekly.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats: PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: The admin downloads their data into a zip file which they pass onto the end user on a chosen storage device such as a USB pen drive or cloud storage. They can also use the reporting downloads to extract all user data via a .CSV file.
• End-of-contract process: The data is 100% owned by the local authority or regional adoption agency. If at the end of the contract, they chose not to renew, they can download the multimedia content to .ZIP and all user data to .CSV. This is a self-service feature and included within the price. Additionally, upon request, a Postgres SQL format data dump can be provided.
• Documentation accessibility standard: WCAG 2.2 AA

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Opera
  • Other
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: Yes
• Differences between the mobile and desktop service: Responsive design scales to specific device screen size e.g. mobile, tablet
• Service interface: Yes
• User support accessibility: WCAG 2.2 AA
• Description of service interface: There is an admin portal which is web based and accessed using the same web address. This includes all user management, memory box management, live dashboards and downloadable reports.
• Accessibility standards: WCAG 2.2 AA
• Accessibility testing: We have tested the product on assistive technology such as screen readers.
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: Users can use the API for reporting purposes only.
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats: Open API (also known as Swagger)
• API sandbox or test environment: No
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: They have their own custom domain, they can add their logo to the login page and all automatic emails are bespoke, using their name and logo.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: Each instance within our Public Cloud, has its own instance (Virtual Private Cloud) per Local Authority or RAA, that Virtual Private Cloud contains its own set of resources (infrastructure) for that local authority. Within each instance we utilise rate limiting where relevant to ensure individual users cannot place undue strain on the system. This means that the demand from one of our partners cannot effect the service from another.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: Total Users, Total Memory Box, Total Uploads, Breakdown Uploads by Type, User Usage Stats, Invite Stats, Breakdown Uploads by Users, Breakdown of Users.
• Reporting types:
  • API access
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request
• Resource tagging: Yes
• FOCUS resource tagging: No

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: None

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: United Kingdom
• User control over data storage and processing locations: No
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 4.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CREST-approved service provider
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v4.0
  • Encryption of all physical media
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Equipment disposal approach: Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001
• Data sanitisation type: Deleted data can’t be directly accessed / Cryptographic Erasure

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: Multimedia is exported to .ZIP and user data is exported to .CSV. Admin have access to download these at any time.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data export formats: .ZIP
• Data import formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data import formats:
  • XLSX, XLS
  • JPG, PNG, HEIC, GIF
  • PDF, DOC, DOCX
  • MOV, MP4, AVI
  • MP3, M4A, WAV

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks: TLS (version 1.2 or above)
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: We guarantee an uptime of 99.9% with the offer of service credits if this service level agreement is not met.
• Approach to resilience: The datacentre provides resilience through physical safeguards such as camera surveillance, biometric scanning, personnel screening and background checks and confidentiality agreements. Dual power paths run into the datacentre providing an uninterruptible power supply with additional contingency provided through onsite generators. Instances are hosted within a cloud-based server infrastructure where resources can be easily scaled, or moved and restored, even in the event of total site failure. We operate back-ups of all data on a nightly basis, retaining data up to 30 days, and have a full disaster recovery plan documented.
• Outage reporting: We have a public dashboard, an API and email alerts.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: We use Multi-factor authentication and the admin and reporting systems use TLS v1.2 to encrypt data in transit.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication:
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• How long system logs are stored for: At least 12 months

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards:
  • CSA CSM version 4.0
  • ISO/IEC 27001
  • Other
• Other security governance standards: Cyber Essential Plus
• Information security policies and processes: We follow the NCSC Cloud Security Principles and our technical infrastructure partners are ISO/IEC 27001 certified. We have detailed policies which included those on business continuity, disaster recovery and data integrity. We also operate change approval boards and peer-reviews of code releases, release management, and automated patching via dependency scanning tooling.
• Software Security Code of Practice: Yes

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: We follow secure development practices in line with the NCSC Cloud Security Principles, we conduct change advisory boards weekly which detail production rollouts, code-level changes, and config-level changes. Changes are tracked through release tickets which are auditable in terms of date and actor and changes made. Changes are propagated to live environments via a visible pipeline which again specifies and allows us to track date and actor.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: We assess threats using a range of automated tooling from an automated vulnerability scanning perspective, from a static code analysis perspective (SAST) and from a dynamic dependency scanning perspective. Scans are carried out at most weekly but in most cases nightly. Vulnerabilities are graded using the CVSS industry standard. High severity patches are then deployed to live within 48 hours after a meeting of our eCAB (emergency change advisory board) to assess wider impact and ensure a safe and secure rollout. Our automated tooling uses the GitHub Dependabot and GitHub Advisory databases as a dataset.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: We use layered protective monitoring across our AWS VPC infrastructure. AWS GuardDuty provides continuous threat detection, Sentry monitors logs and application errors, and AWS CloudWatch tracks unexpected behaviour and system pressure. Network activity is controlled through security groups and VPC firewalling, with host-level monitoring via Linux logs, ClamAV scans and ufw events.; When a potential compromise is identified, we verify the alert, isolate affected resources if needed, capture logs and remediate (e.g., blocking traffic, removing malware or restoring from AWS Backup). High-severity alerts are investigated within 1–2 hours in working hours; lower-severity events within one working day.
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: Incidents are reported to our team via email. Our account management team will work to resolve the issue internally and raise issues where relevant to the technical team, and based upon severity to the Technical Director.
• Post-quantum cryptography secure: No

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Conforms to a recognised standard, but self-assessed

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: No

Pricing

• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: No

Discount percentage by annual call-off contract value (excluding VAT)

• Less than £250,000: 0%
• Between £250,000 and £500,000: 0%
• Between £500,001 and £1,000,000: 0%
• Between £1,000,001 and £2,500,000: 0%
• Between £2,500,001 and £5,000,000: 0%
• Over £5,000,001: 0%

Non-mandatory Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: No
• ISO 28000:2022 certification: No
• ISO 9001 certification: No
• Quality management systems (QMS): Yes
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Please provide your Cyber Essentials Certificate Number: F6f51d53-dd78-4747-a52e-f86f0ee2a8d2
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Please provide your Cyber Essentials Plus Certificate Number: 7d0a362c-67f8-4175-ad67-1e32deb65407
• Other security certifications: No

Social value

• Section B - Commitment for Future: Delivery:

  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 1: Fair work: That offers fair wages and good working conditions. Help people get a job, stay in work, and progress in their careers, with good employment opportunities across the country. Notes: Where there is a large proportion of labour costs in the contract, commercial teams should consider MAC in Outcome 1 as a priority

    • New or retained jobs on the contract workforce in the relevant area that meet the criteria set out in MAC 1b, 1c and 1d
    • New apprenticeships on the contract workforce in the relevant area that meet the criteria set out in MAC 1b
    • Providing opportunities for, and measuring and monitoring of, staff workforce conditions over time, including employee engagement, involvement in decision-making and satisfaction and adapting to any changes in the results, with clear processes for acting on issues identified
    • Plans to engage the contract workforce in deciding the most important workplace issues to address
    • Ensuring new workers are informed of their right to join a trade union
    • Monitoring of employee engagement rates (by protected characteristic) and, where necessary, the development of actions to ensure all voices are heard across the diversity of the workforce
    • Employment contracts that reflect actual hours worked; steps taken to ensure employees understand their contracts and have the ability to review and adjust them if actual hours regularly exceed contracted hours
    • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about, and feel empowered to, address their physical wellbeing
    • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about and feel empowered to report and address bullying and harassment
    • Activities to cascade good practice on fair working conditions throughout the supply chain
    • Offer a pay and leave entitlement to all eligible staff who become kinship carers, ideally equivalent to statutory adoption pay and leave
    • Payment of more than the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage (as appropriate) to the contract workforce
    • Monitoring and reporting of gender and ethnicity pay gaps and plans to address them where necessary
    • Entitlement to sick pay for the contract workforce, with provision in place for any staff who do not meet the earnings threshold for statutory sick pay, payment of sick pay from day one of absence and payment of staff on the contract workforce who are off sick a replacement income of 100% of their usual earnings for as long as possible
    • Plans for an appropriate income replacement policy for staff who are required to spend time away from work to care for a sick dependent or close relative
    • Understanding of in-work progression issues affecting the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors
    • Measures to support in-work progression to help people in the contract workforce, to move into higher paid work by developing new skills relevant to the contract
    • Support for the contract workforce by providing career advice, and providing opportunities for staff working on the contract with in-work progression career development into known skills shortages or high growth areas
    • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
    • Volunteering opportunities for staff
    • Understanding of the modern slavery risks and issues affecting the market, industry, sector or country (of origin or of source) relevant to the contract, and the workforce in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key subcontractors
    • Measures to identify, mitigate and manage modern slavery risks relating to the contract and how these will be implemented
    • Outline policies and practices to be applied to or put in place for the contract to mitigate and manage modern slavery risks, including: Pre-employment checks, recruitment practices. Workplace conditions, safeguarding plans and processes in place and regular monitoring with relevant groups considered, which may include sampling
    • How these flow down the supply chain and are monitored Illustrative examples include reporting, site visits, audits, etc.
    • How to ensure business decisions re: price/cost, short lead times, payment timescales do not create modern slavery risks in the supply chain
    • How the supplier will work with NGOs, trade unions or other businesses to address modern slavery risk
    • Means of influencing staff, suppliers, customers, communities and/or any other appropriate stakeholders with respect to modern slavery risks relating to the contract

  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 2: Skills for growth: Supporting growth sectors and addressing skills gaps.

    • Understanding of employment and relevant skills issues, and of the education and training issues relating to the contract. Illustrative examples: demographics, skills shortages, new opportunities in high growth sectors, geographic/local community and skills/employment challenges
    • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
    • Activities to support relevant sector related skills growth and sustainability in the contract workforce. Illustrative examples: careers talks, curriculum support, literacy support, safety talks and volunteering
    • Delivery of apprenticeships, supported internships and T Level industry placement opportunities (Level 2, 3 and 4+) in relation to the contract

  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 3: Resilient, innovative and flexible supply chains: Support economic growth through enabling resilient businesses, opportunities for small businesses and voluntary, community and social enterprises

    • Understanding of the types of businesses in the market and the level of participation by new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutuals
    • Activities to identify opportunities to open up sub-contracts under the prime contract to a diverse range of businesses, including new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutuals
    • Plans for engaging a diverse range of businesses in engagement activities prior to appointing subcontractors (including activities prior to award of the main contract and during the contract term)
    • Activities that demonstrate a collaborative way to work with a diverse range of businesses as part of the supply chain
    • Advertising of supply chain opportunities openly and to ensure they are accessible to a diverse range of businesses, including advertising all subcontracting opportunities on Contracts Finder
    • Ensuring accessibility to contracting and subcontracting opportunities for disabled business owners and employees
    • Structuring of the supply chain selection process to ensure fairness (e.g. anti-corruption) and encourages participation by a diverse range of businesses, including with regard to new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutual
    • Understanding of local demographics, needs and opportunities for the co-design of the goods, services and works to be delivered under the contract
    • Methods for engaging with different parts of the community (including the education system and charities representing the community) and how communities come together to inform decisions, strategy and projects to leave a positive legacy for future generations
    • Measures to involve local stakeholders and/or users in design (e.g. in the design of services, systems, products or buildings)
    • Plans for positive actions with community groups.
    • Measures for making facilities used in the delivery of the contract available for community groups, education or training
    • Measures to engage users and communities and build relationships to increase community integration build trust and influence how the contract is delivered
    • Plans to respond flexibly and adapt approaches to community engagement and initiatives
    • Support for community-led initiatives relevant to the contract. Illustrative examples: improving transport links; reducing loneliness; helping with English language proficiency; and facilitating social mixing among people with different backgrounds
    • Collaborating with anchor institutions and community groups to make facilities available for education, training or community events

  • Mission: Make Britain a clean energy superpower: To cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper, zero-carbon electricity by 2030, accelerating to net zero

    Policy Outcome 4: Sustainable procurement practices: Reducing carbon footprints, minimising waste, and promoting the use of clean energy and green technologies.

    • Understanding of opportunities for additional environmental benefits delivery in the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
    • Collaborative ways of working with the supply chain to deliver additional environmental benefits in the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
    • Delivery of additional environmental benefits through the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
    • Understanding of how to influence staff, suppliers, customers, communities and/or any other appropriate stakeholders through the delivery of the contract to support climate and nature protection and improvement
    • Activities to reconnect people with the environment and increase awareness of ways to protect and enhance it

  • Mission: Break down barriers to opportunity: By reforming our childcare and education systems, to make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain

    Policy Outcome 6: Employment and training: For those who face barriers to employment

    • Understanding of employment and skills issues, and of the skills and employment shortages of high growth sectors relating to the contract
    • Creation of employment opportunities particularly for those who face barriers to employment, such as prison leavers, care leavers and/or who are located in deprived areas, and for people in industries with known skills shortages or in high growth sectors
    • Delivery of training schemes and programmes to address any identified skills gaps and under-representation in the workforce for the contract (e.g. prison leavers, care leavers, kinship carers, disabled people)
    • Advertising, promotional and outreach activities designed to raise awareness of the offer to reach the target cohort
    • Understanding of the issues affecting the representation of disabled people in the workforce in the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors
    • Collection of the views and expertise of disabled people and their representative organisations on successfully supporting disabled employees or applicants
    • Inclusive and accessible recruitment practices, and retention-focused activities, including those provided in the Guide for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing people with a disability or health condition
    • Introducing transparency to pay and reward processes
    • Offering a range of quality opportunities with routes of progression if appropriate, e.g. T Level industry placements, students supported into higher level apprenticeships.
    • Working conditions which promote an inclusive working environment and promote retention and progression
    • Other measures to provide equality of opportunity for disabled people and those with health conditions into employment, including becoming a Disability Confident employer and inclusion of supported businesses in the contract supply chain
    • Understanding of the issues affecting inequality in employment, skills and pay in the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors. Measures to tackle inequality in employment, skills and pay in the contract workforce
    • Inclusive and accessible development practices, including guidance for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing people with a disability or health condition

  • Mission: Break down barriers to opportunity: By reforming our childcare and education systems, to make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain

    Policy Outcome 7: Creating a pipeline of opportunities: For the contract workforce, reducing barriers to entry for under-represented groups.

    • Understanding of the issues affecting the development of new skills by target cohort
    • Understanding of the underlying factors affecting improvements to reduce barriers to entry and training schemes for the target cohort(s) related to the contract workforce
    • Other measures to offer development opportunities for the target cohort(s) in the contract workforce
    • Advertising, promotional and outreach activities designed to raise awareness of the offer to reach the target cohort
    • Understanding of issues relating to entering the contract workforce
    • Creation of outreach activities to create a pipeline of employees for the future contract delivery
    • Content of the outreach activity is designed to suit the target cohort
    • Advertising, promotional and outreach activities designed to raise awareness of the offer to reach the target cohort

  • Mission: Build an NHS fit for the future: That is there when people need it; with fewer lives lost to the biggest killers; in a fairer Britain, where everyone lives well for longer.

    Policy Outcome 8: Increasing productivity through physical and mental wellbeing: In the supply chain and communities in the relevant area.

    • Understanding of issues relating to health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health, in the contract workforce
    • Understanding barriers to access to health and social care services or employment opportunities e.g. digital inclusion
    • Inclusive and accessible recruitment practices, development practices and retention policies that support-focused activities including those provided in the Guide for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing which support people with a disability or health condition
    • Actions to invest in the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the contract workforce

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at christian@virtualmemorybox.org. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.