Terms and conditions

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1 Placing a booking

1.1 If you wish to book a place on one of Essex Skills Centre courses, you may do so either via the website, by phone or in person. Provided that there is an available place on the course, we will email an invoice and the course confirmation letter to you as confirmation of your booking (or, if you do not provide an email address, send it to you by post). This will contain information regarding the course booked, start dates, payment information, balance information if applicable and venue. Please read it carefully.

1.2 If Essex Skills Centre declines to enrol you/the student for any reason or if, after accepting your/the student’s enrolment Essex Skills Centre subsequently discovers information which gives it reasonable grounds to believe that the course is not appropriate for you/the student for any reason, Essex Skills Centre may cancel the booking and will notify you accordingly. Where this happens, unless the reason for the cancellation was your non-compliance with the terms (including, where you are booking on behalf of someone else, your failure to ensure that the Student complies with the obligations applicable to him/her) Essex Skills Centre will give you a full refund of any sums you have already paid.

1.3 Whilst Essex Skills Centre will take all reasonable steps to make courses as inclusive as possible, it is essential that you are aware of the following:

· 1.4.1 all courses are delivered in English;

· 1.4.2 workshops and assessments require a reasonable level of physical fitness and health; and

· 1.4.3 the trades that our courses cover, if not properly performed, can be potentially dangerous, and therefore Essex Skills Centre courses are designed for (and only suitable for) individuals intending to use the skills developed in the course of their trade.

1.5 By placing a booking you confirm that you/the student can understand spoken English and write and read proficiently in English, has a reasonable level of physical fitness and health and is either already working in their chosen industry or is intending to enter the chosen industry. If you have any doubt as to whether you/the student meets these requirements you should discuss any issues with the Essex Skills Centre before placing the booking (and, in the case of any issues with fitness or health, seek a professional opinion from a qualified medical expert).

1.6 Essex Skills Centre accepts no liability for any adverse consequences arising from you/the student’s participation in a course which arose as a result of you/the student not meeting the eligibility requirements described in term 1.5.

2 Payment of Fees

2.1 All course fees are to be paid as per the invoiced instructions

2.2 All short courses are to be paid in full at the time of booking. Deposits will be required for ACS Assessment and Managed Learning Programme (MLP) courses. Payments can be made by cash, credit/debit card or BACS transfer, over the phone or in person.

2.3 Essex Skills Centre may, in its entire discretion, accept payment in instalments (whether weekly or otherwise), although reserves the right to demand payment in full of any outstanding balance due at any time.

2.4 If paying by weekly instalments, payment must be made on the first day of each of your training blocks

2.5 ACS Assessment & Managed Learning Programme (MLP) course balances will be due in full 7 days before your course start date

2.6 All amounts are expressed inclusive of VAT unless otherwise stated.

2.7 All Deposit amounts are stated within the course information section. These are to be paid at the time of booking and are non-refundable should you cancel your course 

3 Non-payment of fees

Failure to pay course fees as detailed by the provided invoice may, in Essex Skills Centre sole discretion, result in you/the student being unable to sit the course and any associated exam/s.

4 Course Changes

4.1 Should you wish to make any date changes to courses or any course package modules, you will be charged the full balance of the course in order to do so. All course change requests must be made in writing. Course moves will be made at the discretion of Essex Skills Centre and can only be made once.

4.2 Course moves can only be made if there are more than 21 days before the course start date. Less than 21 days’ notice before the course commences may be too late to make course changes due to class and tutor allocation which will have taken place. In order to change your course date, you will need to pay in full the remaining balance of your course. 

4.3 The City & Guilds 2396 course, once booked, cannot be moved (whatever the reason), due to the City & Guilds enrolment and scheduling procedures which take place a number of weeks prior to the examination date (as once the final registration and exam scheduling has taken place you/the student will not be able to be moved from the course and examination list). The only option will be to re-book for the next course and repay the fees as appropriate.

4.4 It is your responsibility to provide the right details about you/the student at the time of enrolment. Should you need to amend a name or date of birth after the enrolment has been undertaken, you may incur an administration charge of £50. You will also need to provide proof of this in the form of some formal identification (passport / driving licence / birth certificate).

5 Cancellations

5.1 If you wish to cancel under Essex Skills Centre cooling off period arrangement, you must cancel within 14 days from the date on which you placed your booking

5.2 If you cancel during the 14-day cooling off period, you will receive a full refund.

5.3 If you cancel after your cooling off period has expired, you will not be entitled to any refund of your deposit or course fees.

6 Home Study Courses

6.1 If you wish to cancel under Essex Skills Centre cooling off period arrangement, you must cancel within 14 days from the date on which you placed your booking however, as the home study pack will already have been posted and SmartScreen access provided, you will need to return the pack and associated book to Essex Skills Centre at your own expense. Only if the pack is re-saleable, will we then provide a refund less £150.00 administration fee. 

6.2 If you cancel after the 14-day cooling off period has expired, you will not be entitled to any refund of your deposit. 

6.3 If you book and then cancel any of the course attendance weeks associated with your Home Study, if the payment made for this is over 14 days, you will not receive a refund. If it is less than 14 days, we will refund less £25 administration fee. 

6.4 If you book and then need to move a Home Study week, we will only do this without charge if we are able to fill the space vacated. If we are unable to do this, you will be required to pay for that allocated week/s again

7 Absences

7.1 Once a course has commenced, you/the student must attend all sessions necessary to complete the course (once a course has been started, it cannot be completed at a later date). You will not be entitled to any refund for any absence.

7.2 In the event of extreme weather conditions, Essex Skills Centre will ensure it is able to provide a full service by using a number of contingencies. You/the student must ensure he/she is able to attend and, subject to term 7.3, Essex Skills Centre will not be responsible (nor required to issue any refund or offer any alternative course dates) as a result of you/the student not attending due to extreme weather conditions such as heavy snow, strong winds, flooding or public transport disruptions / cancellations.

7.3 Essex Skills Centre will review each absence and any reasons given for that absence. If the reason why you/the student was unable to attend was due to exceptional circumstances then Essex Skills Centre may, in its discretion, offer a new date. Whether or not circumstances shall be deemed “exceptional” shall be at the sole discretion of Essex Skills Centre. You may be asked for supporting documents to prove the exceptional circumstances alleged. Please note that a new date cannot be offered, in any circumstances whatsoever, for C&G 2396 courses, for the reasons sent out at term 6.4 above.

8 Liability – Please Read Carefully

8.1 Subject to term 8.3 below:

8.1.1 Essex Skills Centre total aggregate liability in respect of all causes of action arising out of or in connection with your booking and/or the student’s participation in the course (whether for breach of contract, strict liability, tort (including negligence), misrepresentation or otherwise) shall not exceed the fee paid by you for the course;

8.1.2 Essex Skills Centre shall not be liable for any claim to the extent that it relates to loss of profits, goodwill, business opportunity or anticipated savings, injury to reputation, wasted management time or indirect, consequential or special loss or damage regardless of the form of action, whether in contract, tort (including, but not limited to, negligence) or strict liability or otherwise howsoever arising and regardless of whether Essex Skills Centre knew or had reason to know of the possibility of the loss or damage in question; and

8.1.3 if you are booking on behalf of another person (you are not the student yourself), you acknowledge and agree that any claim that is brought against Essex Skills Centre for its failure or default must be brought by you, not the student, and that if, despite this, the student brings a claim against Essex Skills Centre (whether in contract, tort (including, but not limited to, negligence) or strict liability or otherwise) you will indemnify Essex Skills Centre against all losses, damages, claims, costs and expenses (including legal expenses) that it suffers or incurs as a result of that claim, including any amount that may be awarded to the student.

8.2 The express terms of this agreement are in lieu of all warranties, conditions, terms, undertakings and obligations implied by statute, common law, custom, trade usage, course of dealing or otherwise, all of which are hereby excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.

8.3 Nothing in this agreement shall limit or exclude Essex Skills Centre liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, and/or for any other loss or damage the exclusion or limitation of which is prohibited by English law.

9 Disclaimer Regarding Advice Given

9.1 All advice given regarding career paths, abilities to join registration bodies, qualification advice or other career opportunities is correct at the point of enquiry. This may be subject to change and is beyond the control of Essex Skills Centre. Essex Skills Centre cannot be held responsible for changes to other organisations’ joining requirements or qualification pre-requisites. No refunds will be issued in the event of changes mentioned above.

9.2 Any opinions expressed by the course tutor represent his/her own views and not necessarily those of Essex Skills Centre and Essex Skills Centre shall have no responsibility for them.

10 No Guarantee of Success

Completion of the course does not guarantee you/the student’s competence to perform work or ability to gain employment in the relevant field and Essex Skills Centre makes no representation, warranty or guarantee as to such competence or ability. In undertaking any work, you/the student must take care to ensure that the work is within his/her competence and seek further instruction or supervision, if necessary. Any statement made to you by Essex Skills Centre or its staff regarding the likelihood of obtaining employment and/or you/the students' potential earnings shall be treated as a matter of opinion and not a representation and shall be non-binding.

11 General Booking Note

11.1 Essex Skills Centre reserves the right to alter booking arrangements if necessary and has the right to refuse any booking application, at its sole discretion.

11.2 The course qualification route booked is the correct route at the time of booking. Qualification routes are subject to change. Should any changes be made by the awarding bodies to qualifications, Essex Skills Centre will endeavour to change the qualification route; however, Essex Skills Centre will not be liable to you in any way as a result of such changes. Changes of this nature may affect the duration and cost of the course, which you accept by placing your booking.

 11.3 Essex Skills Centre cannot be held responsible for any accommodation that is booked by the attending engineer. If for any reason the course has to be cancelled due to reasons out of our control Essex Skills Centre will not be held responsible for any payments made in regard to accommodation bookings

NB Essex Skills Centre is a registered company under No More Water Leaks Ltd 11730876