Terms and conditions
SWAT UK's business practice disclosures
Disclaimer
The user has no right to store or reproduce or distribute the information in this site in any form or by any mean without permission in writing from SWAT UK Ltd.
The information on this site is provided "as is" with all faults and without warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, including those of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, or arising from a course of dealing, usage or trade practice.
SWAT UK Ltd makes no warranties or representations regarding the accuracy or completeness of the information on this site.
SWAT UK Ltd does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, currentness, validity, completeness, or suitability of any information for any purpose.
The user shall determine whether the information complies with his or her needs.
In no event shall SWAT UK Ltd, its employees or webmaster be liable for any incidental or consequential damages, lost profits, or lost data, or any indirect damages even if any or all of them have been informed of the possibility thereof.
Registering with SWAT UK
When you register with SWAT UK to receive our monthly newswire, or our monthly direct mailings, we make the following promises:
- The information that you provide will remain confidential and will NOT be provided to any third party, in accordance with our privacy practices.
- We will not inundate you with e-mails! We will use this means of communication sparingly.
Returns Policy
Under the Distance Selling Regulations 2000, where you sign up to receive goods or services purely by means of distance communications (which includes over the Internet) you normally have the right to withdraw from the distance contract within seven working days, and without penalty (although you are required to pay the cost of returning any goods sent to you). Where you exercise this right, SWAT UK will refund the sums paid by you within 30 days.
Returns Policy – CD Products
All of our CD products have a security seal attached to them. You can return your purchase to us in its original condition within 30 days of the date you received the item, with its security seal intact and we will issue a full refund for the price you paid for the item. We can only accept the return of opened items (where the security seal has been broken) if they are faulty.
Course Booking Conditions
1. SWAT UK offer a wide range of training subscriptions that offer unlimited access to different types of courses, as indicated below:
- Per person training subscription
- Firm-wide training: Public Courses and Webinars subscription
- Firm-wide training: Webinar subscription
2. When joining a Firm-Wide training subscription, all principals and technical staff (being staff that carry out any chargeable client work) must be included in the subscription. If you do not wish to include all principals and technical staff you can select the “per person training subscription” or purchase your training using course credits.
3. You acknowledge clause 2 above and agree to SWAT UK’s right to invoice for additional principals and technical members of staff if it subsequently becomes clear that at the time of making the initial declaration of principals and technical staff, one or more individual was omitted from the list.
4. Firms can select which staff are included in the per person training subscription.
5. Any individual who is included in a training subscription will be treated as one person, even if they are part time or job sharing.
6. Individuals included in the training subscription are not restricted to attending courses in particular venues/webinars, nor is any restriction placed on the number of those staff from your firm attending each course.
7. Webinars can only be accessed by purchasing a firm-wide training subscription, course credits or upon payment of the cash price.
8. Webinar training subscribers will only be able to access webinars and webinar recordings for a period of 12 months from the date of joining the training subscription.
9. You are advised to book early, places are limited on all courses and bookings are taken on a strictly first come, first served basis.
10. Where courses are full, we may choose to run an additional session subject to numbers warranting such action.
11. On receiving your booking, or when the course has been confirmed as proceeding, we will send you a confirmation by email, fax or post advising you of the date, time and location of the course.
12. The confirmation email which is sent automatically via our website does not guarantee that a place is available.
13. If you have not received confirmation of your booking one week before the course, please telephone us to make sure it has been received. Variable postal conditions and / or problems with different email systems might delay your application or joining instructions.
14. We reserve the right to cancel, or make changes to, any event shown without prior notice.
15. Course documentation can only be provided to those who book to attend the event concerned. Where the copyright in the course documentation is owned by a third party such as an external lecturer we can only provide course documentation with that third party’s explicit permission.
16. Tea, coffee and biscuits are provided during the breaks of all public courses, with the exception of webinars.
17. Delegates with special dietary requirements are requested to advise us of these as soon as possible.
18. SWAT UK cannot be held responsible for any personal belongings left at any course venue.
19. All cancellations must be made in writing or via an email with a read receipt.
20. The brochures are correct at the time of going to press and the content may be subject to change. Please refer to the terms and conditions listed in the brochure itself.
21. No responsibility for acting upon or refraining to act upon any advice during the courses contained in this programme can be accepted by the course presenter, notes author, or SWAT UK.
22. We appreciate that from time to time it may not be possible to attend every course that you have booked. However, where individuals on a training subscription are booked to attend 10 or more courses, yet they fail to attend 50% or more, and do not give us written confirmation within 10 working days of the course(s) that they are cancelling, SWAT UK reserves the right to charge the firm a cancellation fee equal to half of the published course fee for non-member firms.
23. SWAT UK also operates a fair usage policy for our training subscriptions. The aim of the subscription is to enable firms and individuals to meet all their training needs within the fixed monthly payment. Unfortunately a very small number of customers abuse the unlimited nature of the package. For example, they book on dozens of courses but do not attend most, which takes up a space on an oversubscribed course and prevents other clients from attending. They also order an excessive number of webinar recordings on CD such that it is clear that they have little or no chance of watching them within the subscription period. If a customer’s usage is excess, unfair or affects other customers’ enjoyment of our training we will first raise our concerns with that customer. However, in extreme cases we reserve the right to increase the subscription charge for the firm or individual or to cancel the subscription.
24. All training subscriptions exclude attendance on SWAT UK’s professional skills development programme, and the computer and personal development courses run by SWAT UK under the PASS Training brand.
Ability Impairment
25. Delegates with an ability impairment who may require specific adjustments to be made are requested to advise us before the course is due to be held.
Subscription Period
26. We will write to you annually in the last two months of your training subscription to provide you with details of the costs for the forthcoming year and any amendments to the terms and conditions. We will also provide you with our recommended package for the most cost effective approach to your training needs, based on your previous year’s usage. If we are unable to contact you we reserve the right to automatically renew your contract in accordance with our recommendation.
27. Subscribers must notify SWAT UK in writing or by email with a read receipt of any changes that they wish to make to their training subscriptions through the year. If the firm wishes to cancel someone from a training subscription during the year, no rebate will be given. However, a new person can either replace a previous ‘leaver’ and the monthly/annual subscription remains the same. An additional individual may be added during the year by paying an additional subscription on a pro-rata basis until the end of the firm’s current contract.
28. SWAT UK reserve the right to charge a £25 admin fee for any changes made to training subscriptions during the year, such as amending the details of ‘leavers’ or ‘joiners’ to the firm.
Payment Terms
29. Payment must be made by direct debit either by paying the full amount at the start of the subscription period or spread over twelve consecutive months.
30. SWAT UK’s training subscriptions are only available on a 12 month contract payable by direct debit.
31. Where monthly payments are applicable, the direct debit is collected monthly in advance on the first of each month, beginning with the first month of the agreement. We reserve the right to suspend services in the event of default on any payments and to take appropriate action to collect any outstanding amounts.
32. Invoices will be raised for any additional work not covered by the membership agreement under our standard terms.
Cancellation
33. Subject to SWAT UK’s right to cancel the subscription or suspend the availability of training under clauses 23 and 31 above, notice of cancellation by either party must be given in writing no later than one month prior to the end of the training subscription period in any given year.
Agreement to Terms and Conditions
34. New firms – By returning a signed direct debit mandate to us you are accepting our above terms and conditions for the next 12 months.
35. Renewing firms - If we do not receive written confirmation of your intention to cancel within the specified period we will accept this as confirmation that you are agreeing to our revised terms and conditions for the next 12 months.
Standard Terms of Business
Last revised May 2011
The following standard terms of business apply to all consultancy engagements accepted by SWAT UK Limited. All work carried out is subject to these terms except where changes are expressly agreed in writing.
1 Professional obligations
1.1 We are a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and in our conduct are subject to its Code of Ethics which can be found at www.icaew.com/membershandbooksection_3. This is available in English.
1.2 We will observe the Bye-laws, regulations and ethical guidelines of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and accept instructions to act for you on the basis that we will act in accordance with those guidelines. Copies of these requirements are available for inspection in our offices.
1.3 Where you give us confidential information we shall at all times keep it confidential, except as required by law or as provided for in regulatory, ethical or other professional pronouncements applicable to this engagement.
1.4 We reserve the right to act during this engagement for other clients whose interests may be adverse to yours. We will notify you immediately should we become aware of any conflict of interest to which we are subject in relation to you.
1.5 In accordance with the disclosure requirements of the Provision of Services Regulations 2009, our professional indemnity insurer is Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Plc, of St Mark’s Court, Chart Way, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 1XL. The territorial coverage is worldwide excluding professional business carried out from an office in the United States of America or Canada and excludes any action for a claim brought in any court in the United States of America or Canada.
2 Investment services
2.1 We are authorised to conduct Investment Business by the Financial Services Authority. Our authorisation is limited to non investment insurance business. For designated investment business services we will issue a separate terms of business letter. We are included on the Register maintained by the Financial Services Authority for the activities that we are authorised to carry out. The Register can be accessed at www.fsa.gov.uk/register.
Client money
2.2 Please note that we are not authorised to hold client money in connection with our designated investment business.
2.3 If you have any questions regarding investment business or require any further information please contact us.
3 Commissions or other benefits
3.1 In some circumstances commissions or other benefits may become payable to us in respect of transactions with one of our preferred suppliers. This may result from an introduction by ourselves, or from a contact established through issuing marketing material on the preferred suppliers behalf.
3.2 SWAT UK Limited puts a significant amount of time and effort into developing relationships with preferred suppliers and as a result identifying products and services of benefit to it’s clients. Many of our preferred suppliers will pay us an introducer commission based on a percentage of the amount spent with them.
3.3 You consent to such commission or other benefits being retained by us without our being liable to account to you for any such amounts.
3.4 Example of commission arrangements:
3.5 If we introduce you to a company offering Professional Indemnity Insurance, or a Fees Protection Plan we will receive a commission in the range of 5% to 10% of the premium. If, for example, the premium is £4,000 we will receive between £200 and £400. For a premium of £20,000 we would receive between £1,000 and £2,000.
3.6 Other examples include outsourcing arrangements, budget publications and web services.
4 Client monies
4.1 We do not hold clients’ money.
5 Fees
5.1 Our fees and terms of payment will be agreed in advance.
6 Retention of and access to records
6.1 During the course of our work we may collect information from you. We will return any original documents to you following the consultancy assignment.
6.2 We intend to destroy correspondence and other papers that we store which are more than seven years old, other than documents which we consider to be of continuing significance. If you require retention of any document you must notify us of that fact in writing.
7 Conflicts of interest and independence
7.1 We reserve the right during our engagement with you to deliver services to other clients whose interests might compete with yours or are or may be adverse to yours, subject to 8 below. We confirm that we will notify you immediately should we become aware of any conflict of interest involving us and affecting you.
7.2 If a conflict of interest should arise, either between two or more of our clients, or in the provision of multiple services to a single client, we will take such steps as are necessary to deal with the conflict. In resolving the conflict, we would be guided by the Code of Ethics of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales which can be viewed at www.icaew.com/membershandbook_section_3, subsection 220.
8 Confidentiality
8.1 We confirm that where you give us confidential information, we shall at all times keep it confidential, except as required by law or as provided for in regulatory, ethical or other professional statements relevant to our engagement.
9 Quality control
9.1 As part of our ongoing commitment to providing a quality service, our files are periodically subject to an internal regulatory or quality review.
10 Help us to give you the right service
10.1 If at any time you would like to discuss with us how our service to you could be improved, or if you are dissatisfied with the service you are receiving, please let us know, by telephoning Mike Sturgess or Richard Brown.
10.2 We undertake to look into any complaint carefully and promptly and to do all we can to explain the position to you. If you feel that we have given you a less than satisfactory service, we undertake to do everything reasonable to address your concerns. If you are still not satisfied, you may of course take up matters with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.
10.3 In order for us to provide you with a high quality service on an ongoing basis it is essential that you provide us with relevant records and information when requested, reply to correspondence in a timely manner and otherwise follow the terms of the agreement between us set out in this Standard Terms of Business and associated Engagement letters. We therefore reserve the right to cancel the engagement between us with immediate effect in the event of:
• your insolvency, bankruptcy or other arrangement being reached with creditors;
• failure to pay our fees by the due dates;
• either party being in breach of their obligations where this is not corrected within 30 days of being asked to do so.
10.4 In addition this agreement may be terminated for any reason if 90 days notice is given.
11 Applicable law
11.1 This engagement letter is governed by, and construed in accordance with, English law. The Courts of England will have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any claim, dispute or difference concerning this engagement letter and any matter arising from it. Each party irrevocably waives any right it may have to object to any action being brought in those courts, to claim that the action has been brought in an inappropriate forum, or to claim that those courts do not have jurisdiction.
11.2 If any provision in this Standard Terms of Business or any associated engagement letter, or its application, are found to be invalid, illegal or otherwise unenforceable in any respect, the validity, legality or enforceability of any other provisions shall not in any way be affected or impaired.
12 Internet communication
12.1 Internet communications are capable of data corruption and therefore we do not accept any responsibility for changes made to such communications after their despatch. It may therefore be inappropriate to rely on advice contained in an e-mail without obtaining written confirmation of it. We do not accept responsibility for any errors or problems that may arise through the use of internet communication and all risks connected with sending commercially sensitive information relating to your business are borne by you. If you do not agree to accept this risk, you should notify us in writing that e-mail is not an acceptable means of communication.
12.2 It is the responsibility of the recipient to carry out a virus check on any attachments received.
13 Data Protection Act 1998
13.1 We may obtain, use, process and disclose personal data about you in order that we may discharge the services agreed under this engagement letter, and for other related purposes including updating and enhancing client records, analysis for management purposes and statutory returns, crime prevention and legal and regulatory compliance. You have a right of access, under data protection legislation, to the personal data that we hold about you. We confirm that when processing data on your behalf we will comply with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998. For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998, the Data Controller in relation to personal data supplied about you is Vicki Banthorpe.
14 Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999
14.1 Persons who are not party to this agreement shall have no rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of this agreement. This clause does not affect any right or remedy of any person which exists or is available otherwise than pursuant to that Act.
14.2 The advice that we give to you is for your sole use and does not constitute advice to any third party to whom you may communicate it. We accept no responsibility to third parties for any aspect of our professional services or work that is made available to them.
15 The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Money Laundering Regulations 2007
15.1 In common with all accountancy and legal practices the firm is required by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 to: Maintain identification procedures for clients and beneficial owners of clients; Maintain records of identification evidence and the work undertaken for the client; and Report, in accordance with the relevant legislation and regulations.
15.2 We have a duty under section 330 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to report to the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) if we know, or have reasonable cause to suspect, that another person is involved in money laundering. Failure on our part to make a report where we have knowledge or reasonable grounds for suspicion would constitute a criminal offence.
15.3 The offence of money laundering is defined by section 340(11) of the Proceeds of Crime Act and includes concealing, converting, using or possessing the benefits of any activity that constitutes a criminal offence in the UK. It also includes involvement in any arrangement that facilitates the acquisition, retention, use or control of such a benefit.
15.4 We are obliged by law to report any instances of money laundering to SOCA without your knowledge or consent. In consequence, neither the firms' principals nor staff may enter into any correspondence or discussions with you regarding such matters.
15.5 We are not required to undertake work for the sole purpose of identifying suspicions of money laundering. We shall fulfil our obligations under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 in accordance with the guidance published by the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies.
16 Limitation of liability
16.1 We will provide our professional services with reasonable care and skill. However, we will not be held responsible for any losses arising from the supply by you or others of incorrect or incomplete information, or your or others’ failure to supply any appropriate information or your failure to act on our advice or respond promptly to communications from us or other relevant authorities.
16.2 You agree to hold harmless and indemnify us against any misrepresentation, whether intentional or unintentional, supplied to us orally or in writing in connection with this agreement. You have agreed that you will not bring any claim in connection with services provided to you by the firm against any of our employees on a personal basis.
Manuals
Our policy is to despatch orders within fifteen working days of receipt of a customer-approved order. Our experience is that over 90% of our orders are shipped within five days, and the remainder are shipped within fifteen working days.
Manuals are despatched by post or parcel post. You can request next day courier delivery, but will be charged the additional cost.
All SWAT UK manuals can be returned for a full refund within 14 days of receipt of despatch, provided it is returned in a re-saleable state and the security seal has not been broken.
You can purchase new publications only. These come in the form of manuals rather than textbooks. SWAT UK's own manuals are photocopied using high quality copying and are not printed. Any disks/CDs issued alongside a manual will be in Word 2000 format. It may be possible to provide other formats if requested in advance. If you would like a different format, please state your preference and we will confirm whether or not we are able to supply a suitable version.
All of SWAT UK's manuals are written by SWAT UK employees, who have a wealth of experience in the full range of accountancy services. This ensures that these are highly practical publications.
Terms and Conditions of Sale - Technical Publications
No part of our publications may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without prior written permission, except for permitted fair dealing under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or in accordance with the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency in respect of photocopying and/or reprographic reproduction.
Application for permission to reproduce extracts in other published works shall be made to the publishers. Full acknowledgement to author, publisher and source must be given. Copyright is waived in respect of the specimen documentation when used within the office of the purchasing firm under terms specified. The waiver is restricted to use solely within purchasing firms (not groups of firms) and not outside of this.
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, the author and publisher can accept no responsibility for any errors contained in this publication. Nor can they accept responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of any material in this publication. Throughout this publication the male pronoun has been used to cover both the male and female
Electronic Documents
Electronic documents without supporting paper-based manuals or attachments will be sent by e-mail within ten working days of receipt of the order. Please let us know if you would prefer the document to be posted by disk/CD instead.
Electronic documents cannot be cancelled once e-mailed or despatched. Neither can they be returned for a refund.
Normally electronic documents will be sent by e-mail in PDF or Microsoft Word format. In the case of large files, the files will be zipped to improve the speed of sending and downloading. Please specify if you require a format other than PDF or Microsoft Word, and we will confirm whether or not we are able to supply a suitable version. Please also state if you do not have the facilities to unzip the file, in which case they may be sent as self-extracting zip files or if you would prefer, the document can be posted by disk.
Electronic documents are written by SWAT UK employees, who have a wealth of experience in the full range of accountancy services. This ensures that these are highly practical publications.
Notice Periods
In the case of hot file reviews we request that wherever possible the firm gives SWAT UK two weeks’ notice of the review being required.
In the case of all reviews, if a confirmed visit is cancelled with less than two working days’ notice the full cost of the review will be chargeable or any time allocation for members will be lost.
If we are unable to fulfil your order as normal
In the event that we are unable to fulfil your order at the time it is submitted, we will notify you within five working days. You will be given the option of accepting an alternative order, accepting a delayed completion or cancelling the order.
Any course cancellations will be notified at least five days prior to the date of the course, except in exceptional circumstances such as the illness of the lecturer.
Payment Terms
Member firms are only charged for manuals and CD-ROM products, conferences and any software products, and often at a discounted rate.
Non-member firms may be invoiced, but only if an established credit customer. It will be clear from the payment options on the website whether this facility is available to you.
The normal payment terms for non-member firms are payment with credit card at the time of despatch. Alternatively you can send a cheque prior to the fulfilment of the order, although the goods will not normally be despatched until the cheque is received.
Customer Support
Customer support and other services can be obtained at our Plymouth office.
For service and other information, contact one of our administration staff at our Plymouth office between 9:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. (Mon to Thurs) or 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Fri). You can also write or email us at the given address.
Dealing with Problems
If you wish to file a claim or have questions or complaints about any of our services or products, you can call one of our administration staff on 01752 725700 or 0845 450 5555 (for a local rate call) between 9:00a.m.and 5:30p.m. (Mon to Thurs) or 9:00a.m. to 5:00p.m. (Fri).
You can also write to us at:
SWAT UK LTD
Tor View House
3 Darklake View
Estover
Plymouth
PL6 7TL
or email us info@swat.co.uk
Resolution of Complaints
In the first instance any complaints relating to the accuracy, completeness, and distribution of private customer information will be dealt with through our normal complaints procedures.
We undertake to look into any complaint carefully and promptly and to contact you if we require any additional information. Our client care policy is to meet our client's expectations, and to exceed them wherever possible. We will endeavour to fulfil this policy when handling complaints.
If any initial response does not resolve the issue then it will be referred to a director who was not involved in the activity or region for review and resolution.
SWAT UK’s Privacy Practices
We maintain private information about our client firms and their staff, and about prospective clients. This helps us provide an efficient service and ensure that any marketing is targeted at those who might be interested in those services.
Most of the information maintained is provided by the firms themselves, through the purchase of services, registering on the web site, letters, faxes, e-mails, telephone calls and their own web sites.
Details of Data SWAT UK Holds
Data on firms includes:
- Name, address, telephone, fax, e-mail address and web site address.
- Certain selection criteria, such as the type of membership (e.g. full member), type of business (e.g. accountancy practice), whether the firm is currently enquiring about any of SWATUK’s products and services and the usage of any entitlements under its membership.
- Information about the authorisation of the firm, such as registered auditor, authorised for investment business and the principal or other individual responsible for that area.
- Information about the firm’s systems and procedures (such as what software they use) to allow us to identify any specialist needs for training or consultancy visits.
- Details of a firm's areas of interests, such as training, consultancy services, publications, recruitment etc., and where relevant, a contact name for each of these interests.
Additional data on client firms includes:
- Data on services provided.
- Details of staff within the firm, to help plan course attendance etc.
- Normal accounting information.
- Direct Debit information if a signed direct debit mandate has been completed .
For individuals we retain:
- Details of courses attended, so that we can provide firms with an annual training summary.
- Details of any letters, emails, telephone or other contacts between the individual and SWATUK to ensure that we can provide a consistent service.
- Qualifications, date joining or leaving the firm.
- Personal e-mail address, direct dial number, mobile etc.
Non-Distribution of Private Data
SWAT UK does not provide any information to third parties, other than contact details of those firms who are SWAT UK members, and then only to those preferred suppliers with whom we have negotiated membership discounts or group schemes.
Customer Options
We need certain information to process orders, with customer options being shown on the shop. Whilst we usually need details of your credit card for on-line orders, SWAT UK does not retain any of these credit card details on our computer systems. Instead, they are dealt with through a secure payment gateway. Payment will not be taken from the nominated card until your order has been confirmed and despatched. If you do not want to provide us with credit card details, you can always pay by cheque, although your order may not be processed until we have received and cleared the cheque.
Reviewing your Personal Data
You can request a copy of any personal data by sending an email to info@swat.co.uk, or writing to us at SWAT UK Ltd, Tor View House, 3 Darklake View, Estover, Plymouth, PL6 7TL. We will then send you a copy of your record via the postal service. You can then make any needed changes and return it to us to be processed.
SWAT UK’s Cookies Policy
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Member Firms
Member firms subscribe to a high level of support services from SWAT UK, and pay for these by monthly direct debit, based on the number of partners and technical staff within the firm.
The following are included within the membership subscription:
· Attendance at any SWAT UK public course (excluding the Professional Skills Development Programme courses) including CPD, staff training, technician or refresher courses, IT workshops or student courses
· On-site visits for quality control file reviews, practice reviews or other services
· Subscription to Wolters Kluwer (UK) (Formerly CCH) 3 volume Practitioner's Audit Service
· Free audit and reporting technical queries for up to 15 minutes (unless opting for the reduced level service)
· Membership discounts on certain publication and other services
· Membership discounts on tax and VAT consultancy
· Access to the SWAT UK professional indemnity insurance scheme
· Regular technical newsletter.