These Terms and Conditions are effective as of 1st November 2024.
The following Terms and Conditions apply when you, the user, view or use the Services of the website https://www.sarahswinburnva.co.uk. Please ensure you read our Terms of Conditions fully.
For the purposes of this agreement “Site” refers to the website https://www.sarahswinburnva.co.uk. “Services” refers to Sarah Swinburn Virtual Assistant services accessed via the Site, where users can hire the services of Sarah Swinburn Virtual Assistant. Where the terms “we”, “us”, “my” and “our” are used they refer to Sarah Swinburn Virtual Assistant. “You” and “client” refer to you, the user of the Site.
We reserve the right to update these Terms and Conditions from time to time.
1. Booking Details
1.1 Once a Discovery Call has taken place and service requirements have been discussed and agreed a Booking Form will be sent to you, the Client. The Booking Form will outline the agreed services.
1.2 The hourly fee is £30.
1.3 Work between Sarah Swinburn Virtual Assistant and the Client will commence once all signed paperwork has been received and the Client has transferred a deposit payment.
1.4 An initial deposit of 3 hours (£90) is due before any work commences for ad-hoc work. Any time not used will be refunded to the Client.
2. Hours of Work
2.1 Sarah Swinburn Virtual Assistant is available to provide work between the hours of 9:30 am to 5:00 pm Monday to Friday excluding Bank Holidays, Easter and Christmas.
2.2 The out of hours work rate for work required outside the normal hours is £35 per hour.
2.3 The urgent work rate for work given at less than 24 hours notice is £35 per hour.
2.4 Where an Ad-Hoc basis is agreed the Services carried out by us will be monitored and timed using a time-tracking application. The time report will be sent to the Client to show the hours worked per month.
2.5 Where a Retainer package has been agreed, guaranteed hours and availability will be agreed between Sarah Swinburn Virtual Assistant and the Client and confirmed in writing.
2.6 There is a minimum period of one hour per month.
3. Invoicing
3.1 A time report will be issued and sent with my invoice after the month of work is completed. These will be emailed on the 1st of each month or the first working day of each month if the date falls on a weekend.
3.2 My invoice will either be rounded up or rounded down to the nearest 15 minutes.
4. Payment Terms
4.1 All payments are to be made by BACS or bank transfer within 7 days of the date of the invoice.
4.2 Bank details are provided on the invoice. Please ensure the invoice number is included when sending a payment.
4.3 If payment is not received within 7 days we reserve the right to cease work until payment has been received. A late payment interest rate will be applied to the invoice of 8% plus the Bank of England base rate.
4.4 Retainer packages are to be paid for in advance. Work will not commence until payment has been received.
5. Ad-Hoc and Retainer Packages
5.1 Ad-Hoc work will be carried out a month at a time and will be time-tracked.
5.2 At the end of the month a time report will be produced and sent to the Client along with an invoice. As per 3.2 above, my invoice will be rounded up or rounded down to the nearest 15 minutes.
5.3 Retainer packages commence on the first working day of the month. However, if a Retainer package begins part way through a month the hours will be calculated for work carried out for that period. The rate for a full month will begin after the initial period worked.
5.4 Unused hours will not be carried forward to the following month and there will be no monetary refund.
5.5 If the agreed allocation of time is almost used before the end of the month we will notify the Client. Options between both parties will be discussed and subject to our availability work will reconvene.
5.6 We or the Client may give one month’s written notice if either party wishes to terminate the contract. We will invoice the Client for work carried out within the notice period which has not been paid for in advance.
5.7 The Client may change from a Retainer package to an Ad-Hoc basis if they wish to. Written notification must be provided to us whereby a new Booking Form will be issued outlining the new agreement terms to the Client for signing.
6. Confidentiality and Data Protection
6.1 We and the Client agree that all information will be treated as strictly confidential in line with current GDPR https://www.gov.uk/data-protection The Data Protection Act 2018.
6.2 We are registered with the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office). The Data regulator contact details are available at https://www.ico.org.uk and our registered number is ZB654173.
6.3 Please refer to our Privacy Policy which explains how information is collected and used.
6.4 Please refer to 1.8 of our Privacy Policy to see how long we hold personal data.
7. Responsibilities
7.1 The Client is responsible for providing correct data and information to us for the purposes of carrying out services such as Data Entry, Audio Transcription, Copy Typing, payment details.
7.2 Where we carry out Proofreading or Editing services the final responsibility of said proofreading or editing rests with the Client.
7.3 We are not responsible for the end use of any document produced or edited for the Client.
7.4 We will not assume any responsibility for any plagiarised data, information or documents provided by the Client and reserve the right to return any such material to the Client.
8. Intellectual Property
8.1 Written content, which includes text on the Site and any blog posts are not to be copied or plagiarised.
8.2 Images created and added to the Site are original images or have been accessed via image provider websites and have been attributed.
8.3 Users of the Site are not permitted to copy and use content, photographs, images, social media or blogs as their own work.
8.4 We retain ownership of all intellectual property related to any applicable copyrights or proprietary rights. Other product and company names that maybe mentioned on the Site, blogs or social media may be trademarks of their respective owners.
9. Insurance
9.1 We are insured for Professional Indemnity insurance and will provide details upon written request.