1. Introduction

a. Dr Pitchford Professional Services is an agent for the introduction of one or more tutors to the Client. Dr Pitchford Professional Services does not provide tutoring services. We are a tutoring agency and we are a party to this contract.
b. You are referred to in this contract as ‘the Client’, and you are the other party to this contract. You agree to the purchase of tutoring services on behalf of ‘the Student’. ‘The Student’ may be yourself or another person. The Student is the person who receives the tutoring service through sessions of tutoring.
c. The Client agrees to these terms and conditions, which relate to Dr Pitchford Professional Services’ introduction of a tutor to you.
d. The tutoring services are provided by the Tutor under a separate agreement between the Client and the Tutor. See below on this page for this agreement.
e. The Termination or Conclusion of the Agreement occurs when all of the obligations under this contract are complete or discharged, excluding the ongoing undertakings in paragraph 5c and 5d of this contract. Conclusion of the Agreement will typically occur at the end of the final lesson but may occur at another time in accordance with Section 6 of this contract.

2. General

a. The Client acknowledges that these terms govern the legal rights and obligations between the Client and Dr Pitchford Professional Services. Dr Pitchford Professional Services reserves the right to alter these terms and conditions.
b. No variation or alteration of these terms by the Client shall be valid unless expressly approved in writing by Dr Pitchford Professional Services.
c. This agreement is governed by the laws of England and Wales and the parties submit to the jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales.

3. Contractual Relationship

a. Dr Pitchford Professional Services provides introductions of Tutors to Clients and vice versa; Dr Pitchford Professional Services is an agent for the Tutor. It also collects fees from the Client on behalf of the Tutor together with its own fee. The hourly rate for tuition includes the tutor’s fees and Dr Pitchford Professional Services’ own fee. VAT is applied where appropriate.

4. Agreement with the Tutor for the provision of tutoring services

a. A Tutor will be deemed to have been introduced to the Client by Dr Pitchford Professional Services in the event that either the name of the Tutor is provided to the Client by Dr Pitchford Professional Services following the request for a Tutor by the Client, or Dr Pitchford Professional Services arranges for a Tutor to contact the Client following such request for a Tutor provided by the client to Dr Pitchford Professional Services.
b. By booking a Session with the Tutor, the Client agrees to be bound by these Terms and Conditions and by the terms and conditions which govern their relationship with the Tutor.
c. The Tutor is self-employed and engaged by the Client to provide tuition to the Student. Clients should be aware that the Tutor does not have power to bind Dr Pitchford Professional Services in any way.
d. The Tutor can, with prior agreement with the Client, charge for the provision of feedback beyond a summative mark, on completed work that the Student has agreed to submit to the Tutor. This fee cannot exceed the Tutor’s hourly rate for that particular sessions, and must be charged pro-rata, rounded down to the nearest 15 minutes.

5. Prohibition of other Arrangements

a. The Client will not agree any alternative fees with the Tutor and agrees not to render any direct payments to the Tutor.
b. The Client is not permitted to enter into any private arrangements with any Tutor introduced by Dr Pitchford Professional Services. The Client undertakes to make all bookings with Tutors introduced by Dr Pitchford Professional Services exclusively through Dr Pitchford Professional Services.
c. A breach of these terms will render the Client liable to account to Dr Pitchford Professional Services for all sums received by the Tutor direct from the Client or from a new Client without deduction and Dr Pitchford Professional Services shall be entitled to seek injunctions against the Client to prevent further breaches. These obligations continue beyond the termination or conclusion of this agreement.
d. Should you wish to recommend one of Dr Pitchford Professional Services’ Tutors to any other Potential or Actual Client, that Client must contact Dr Pitchford Professional Services to make a booking through the agency.

6. Replacements and Termination

a. If the Tutor is unable to complete the Course of Tuition, or the Client requests a replacement Tutor because they are not satisfied with the original Tutor assigned to them, Dr Pitchford Professional Services will endeavour to find a suitable replacement Tutors with regard to the level and subject for which tuition is required.
b. If the replacement Tutors meet Dr Pitchford Professional Services’ criteria for suitability for the job in terms of subject and level knowledge and is available at the same time or another time convenient for the Client, then Dr Pitchford Professional Services has fulfilled its obligations.

7. Payment

a. The Client pays by bank transfer at any bank for the first lessons as a deposit if requested by Dr Pitchford Professional Services.
b. The Client will pay on a monthly basis in arrears. The Client will be invoiced during the
first week of the month after the tuition commences.
c. Exceptionally we may allow some clients to pay on a weekly payment basis. Invoices will still be issued monthly but will have weekly payment dates.
d. If the invoice is not paid within 30 days, Dr Pitchford Professional Services reserves the right to cancel future lessons.
f. The invoice Dr Pitchford Professional Services send to the Client will include the gross hourly rate, costs of feedback agreed beforehand (see 4.d), and any educational material purchased by the Tutor for the student with the Client’s consent (see 9.a).

8. Client’s Responsibilities

a. The Client shall notify Dr Pitchford Professional Services immediately and without delay and in any event within 24 hours if the Tutor fails to attend work or notifies the Client that (s)he is unable to attend work for any reason.
b. The Client shall provide the tutor and/or Dr Pitchford Professional Services 24 hours’ notice for any scheduled lessons that the tutee cannot attend. See section 11 for further details.

9. Expenses

a. Provided the Client gives clear prior consent in writing, the Tutor may obtain educational resources such as textbooks on behalf of the Client/Student. As stated in Prohibition Of Other Arrangements, the Client agrees not to render any direct payments to the Tutor. Dr Pitchford Professional Services must be informed of any such arrangement to obtain educational resources, and will arrange reimbursement for the Tutor via invoice to the Client.

10. Liability

a. Dr Pitchford Professional Services does not accept any liability for any claims by the Client arising out of or related to the provision of tutoring services by the Tutor.
b. Dr Pitchford Professional Services does not exclude liability that is not permitted to be excluded by law, and in particular we do not exclude liability for death or personal injury arising from Dr Pitchford Professional Services’ own negligence.
c. Dr Pitchford Professional Services will not be liable to the Client or any third party for any act, omission or error (whether wilful, negligent or otherwise) of the Tutor.
d. Whilst every effort is made by Dr Pitchford Professional Services to give satisfaction to the Client by ensuring reasonable standards of skills, integrity and reliability from Tutors and further to provide them in accordance with the Client’s needs, Dr Pitchford Professional Services is not liable for any loss, expense, damage or delay arising from the negligence, dishonesty, misconduct, accidental or deliberate damage to property during the assignment or lack of skill of the Tutor.
e. The Client shall indemnify and keep indemnified Dr Pitchford Professional Services against any costs, claims or liabilities incurred by Dr Pitchford Professional Services arising out of any Assignment or as a result of any breach of these Terms by the Client.
f. Dr Pitchford Professional Services does not accept any liability for the consequences of tuition, including, but not limited to, exam results and dissertation scores.
g. Dr Pitchford Professional Services is not responsible for insurance arrangements in respect of the Tutor providing tutoring services and the Client should note that this is the case.

11. Scheduling and Cancellation

a. Clients should be aware that there can be considerable preparation involved before each Session of tuition, in addition to travel time and cost to the Tutor.
b. Notice of cancellation of a scheduled tutoring Session for any reason whatsoever must be given by the Client to Dr Pitchford Professional Services or the tutor more than twenty-four hours’ prior to the scheduled Session. If notice is given more than twenty-four hours prior to the scheduled Session, the Client will not be charged for the Session.
c. If notice of cancellation of a scheduled tutoring Session is given within twenty-four hours of the start of the Session, then the Client will be charged with the full payment for that tutoring session, whether it is one, two or more hours, unless the Tutor deems the cause of cancellation to be unavoidable and agrees not to accept payment for the Session.
d. Should the Tutor not be available on the day, the Client will be informed, and a re-arranged time may be offered by the Tutor.
e. If a tutorial falls on a Bank Holiday or other national or religious holiday that either the Tutor or the Client wishes to observe, then an alternative Session must be arranged and Dr Pitchford Professional Services must be informed of any new arrangements.
f. If the Student is late for a Session, the Tutor may choose to but is not obligated to work beyond the scheduled end time. If the Tutor stops work at the scheduled end time, the Session will be charged at the usual price. If the Tutor agrees to work beyond the scheduled end time at the Client’s request, the Tutor may choose to charge the Client for the additional time. If a Tutor is late for a Session, then it is the duty of the Tutor to arrange to make up the lost time.
g. If the Student or Client chooses to terminate a Session early (for example, after one hour of a two-hour session), the Session will be charged at the usual price.
h. Cancellations by the Client of more than 3 weeks in succession, or that which Dr Pitchford Professional Services perceive as unreasonable, regular cancellations, will be considered for immediate termination of contract, at Dr Pitchford Professional Services’ discretion.

12. Data Protection

a. The Client agrees that they will not disclose any confidential information concerning the Tutor or Dr Pitchford Professional Services to any person for the duration of this agreement and for a period of five years after termination of the agreement, save as required by law, court order or any governmental or regulatory authority. More detailed information is available in the Privacy and Data Collection Policy available on Dr Pitchford Professional Services’ Website.