Terms and Conditions

These terms and conditions govern your use of our services, excluding those of Oxbridge Applications and Jon Tabbert Associates who have separate terms and conditions. These can be viewed: here for Oxbridge Applications and here for Jon Tabbert Associates. By using our services, you accept these terms and conditions in full. If you disagree with these terms and conditions or any part of these terms and conditions, you must not use our services.

Definitions

1.    “Dukes Education Group Ltd” Dukes Education is registered in England and Wales. The company registration number is 09345899.

2.    “Client” The person or persons who  request, arrange and pay for the private tuition. This is assumed to be the person who  makes initial contact with Dukes Education for the purposes of sourcing a tutor.

3.    “Student” This is the person receiving private tuition from a Dukes Education Tutor.

4.    “Tutor” This is the person providing tuition, who  is represented by (but not employed by) Dukes

Education as the Tutor’s disclosed agent. The tutor is the recipient of the tuition fee, minus commission.

5.    “Consultant” is any professional introduced to the Client by Dukes Education, who  will provide professional consultation on any area of education as required by the Client.

6.    “Tuition” is the provision of lessons to the Students, charged at an hourly rate and billed through Dukes

Education as agent for the Tutor.

7.    “Consultancy” is the provision of education advice or consultation, charged at an hourly rate and billed through Dukes Education as an agent for the Consultant.

8.    “School holidays” is any period of non-term time, inclusive of all school dates within the UK.

9.    “Tutorcruncher” is an online system used by tutors to log lessons and by Dukes Education for administrative and invoicing purposes.

Clients

1.    Fees and Payment

The billing process will be under the control of Dukes Education who  shall send an invoice to the Client fortnightly for tutor services and on an ad hoc  basis for consultancy services. Payments must be made to Dukes Education within 14 days of the date of the invoice. Interest will be charged on any payment which is outstanding for more than 14 days. Interest will accrue at a rate of 4% per month on all outstanding sums from due date until payment is received by Dukes Education.

The fees for tuition will be agreed in advance by the Client and Dukes Education Group Ltd. Dukes Education reserves the right to change our  rates at any time, provided Dukes Education gives the Client prior written notice of any changes. Payments must be made directly to Dukes Education.

Once the Tutor has been placed with a Client and the Client is happy to go ahead with that Tutor for the duration of the placement, a one-off placement fee of £60 will be charged to the Client.

2.    Non-solicitation

The Client or Student is not permitted to make private arrangements for  tuition with any Tutor or Consultant introduced  by  Dukes Education.  Should  a Client or  Student breach this  obligation,  they will be liable  to account to Dukes Education for  all sums  paid to the Tutor or  Consultant without deduction and Dukes Education shall be entitled to obtain an injunction against a Client to prevent further breaches. This obligation shall continue notwithstanding termination of this agreement.

3.    Expenses

All expenses for the Tutor will be covered in your agreed fee with Dukes Education.

4.    Liability

Dukes Education accepts no liability for any claims by the Client arising out of or related to the carrying out of the tutoring or consultancy by a Tutor or Consultant introduced by Dukes Education.

Any report provided as part of consultation services is for advisory purposes only and should not be relied upon. Reports will be a true and accurate view of the subject matter as at the date of issue of the report only.

5.    Cancellation Policy

It is the responsibility of the  Client to notify the Tutor/Consultant in advance of any changes to the tuition timetable that may  arise, including but not limited to holiday, illness, and adverse weather conditions that prevent access. If the  Client cancels  a Tutor/Consultant  session by  giving  less  than 24  hou rs’ notice, unless there are mitigating circumstances, the fee for  the session remains payable in  full and  the  Client shall be invoiced in accordance with the above payment terms.

6.    Half term and  school holidays

Half terms and school holidays are Dukes Education’s busiest time of year. The cancellation policy is therefore increased during this period to 48 hours’ notice.

Half terms and holidays may  vary from school to school. This provision is inclusive of all school dates.

7.    Block Bookings

Where a tutor is booked for a blocked period i.e. on a weekly basis or several times a week during half term or school holidays, the cancellation policy is 48 hours before the lesson is scheduled to take place (as above). However where there is a cancellation of one or more of the block bookings within the 48 hour cancellation time frame, Dukes Education may  charge the Client up to 3 tutoring sessions in full. This is due to the fact that block bookings have been made in advance, and other Dukes Education clients have therefore been unable to secure that block booking  (i.e. a series of regular bookings with a particular tutor) and have usually made alternative arrangements.

8.    Termination of Tuition

The Client can  terminate tuition with a Tutor with 48 hours’ notice. A Tutor can  terminate tuition with a Client with 2 weeks’ notice. This period is in place to allow Dukes Education to find a replacement tutor, if required. Dukes Education has the right to waive the 2 week notice period if it is felt that this would be in the best interest of both the Tutor and the Client.

Tutors

The following arrangements are understood and agreed by both parties:

1. General

Once a tutoring position has been confirmed, you are entering into a contract between you (the Tutor) and the Client. Dukes Education acts as agent on behalf of the Tutor and the Client and is only responsible for sourcing Clients and appropriate Tutors for the specific subject, and is not responsible for the content of tutorial/consultancy sessions and the teaching methods.

2. Tutoring

i) Dukes Education is not obliged to offer opportunities to any given  tutor; tutoring opportunities are subject to demand and there is no guarantee that they will be offered. The Tutor is not obliged to accept any given tutoring opportunity. If the Tutor accepts an opportunity, they are automatically agreeing to these terms and conditions.

ii) When a Tutor accepts a tutoring opportunity, Dukes Education will give that tutor the contact details of the Client. The Client will also be given  the contact details of the tutor. The Tutor should then make contact with the Client as soon as possible to discuss their requirements and, if appropriate, arrange the first session. The Tutor should then call or email Dukes Education to confirm that they have contacted the Client and inform us of any arrangements that have been made.

iii) Tutors and Consultants are expected to provide a high  standard of tuition or consultancy, meeting the requirements of the Client, Student and Dukes Education. Tutors are expected to be fully prepared for every session, be punctual and well-presented, and to respect the ethos and values of Dukes Education at all times.

iv) Tutors are expected to regularly access their email and phone, and to respond to offers of tutoring opportunities and other communications, both from Clients and from Dukes Education.

v) Tutors are expected to keep Dukes Education informed of changes to their tuition pre ferences, availability, or contact details.

3. Private Arrangements

The Tutor is not permitted to make any private arrangement for tuition with any Client or student introduced by Dukes Education. Should you breach this obligation, you will be liable to account to Dukes Education for all sums received by you from the Client/new Client without deduction and Dukes Education shall be entitled to obtain an injunction against you to prevent further breaches. This obligation shall continue notwithstanding termination of this Agreement.

Any work  referred to a Tutor by a Client of Dukes Education must be logged on to Tutorcruncher and billed through Dukes Education on your behalf.

4. Interview procedure and  DBS certificate

All Tutors must have an interview carried out by Dukes Education. Tutors may  be required to submit a full CV, photo ID, references and evidence of qualifications. Tutors must provide a copy  of a valid DBS certificate (previously CRB), issued within the last year, before Dukes Education will introduce you to potential clients or tutoring opportunities.

5. Tutor Profiles

Tutors must keep their profiles up to date using Tutorcruncher. Dukes Education allocates jobs  to Tutors according to uploaded profile details, so it is imperative that you keep these current and accurate.

6. Environment

You and the Client are responsible for finding and agreeing on a suitable environment in which tuition can take place.

7. Payment

i) Dukes Education will agree the fee structure with the Client and this must not be changed without written authority of Dukes Education.  Dukes Education will invoice clients on behalf of the tutor, based on tutorials logged on Tutorcruncher.  You must log your tutorials on Tutorcruncher within 24 hours of any tuition session.

ii)   Dukes Education will invoice Clients fortnightly based on the information provided by Tutors on Tutorcruncher. If you are late entering information or there is incorrect information recorded, payment may  be delayed. Payments will only be made to Tutors once the invoices have been paid by the Client.

iii)  The tutor or Consultant will not accept any payment direct from the Client. Should you do this, you will be removed from the list of approved Tutors for Dukes Education and no longer referred to Clients under this agreement. All sums received by you directly will be immediately payable to Dukes Educatin and shall be actionable through the Courts without further notice to you.

iv)  The Tutor or Consultant must register themselves as self-employed with HMRC. At no point is the Tutor or Consultant employed by Dukes Education.

v)   The Tutor or Consultant is responsible for declaring their income for tax purposes and for their own National insurance Contributions. You further agree to indemnify Dukes Education in respect of all and any income tax and national insurance contributions which may  be found due from Dukes Education on any payments made to you under this agreement together with any interest, penalties or gross-up thereon. For the purposes of record keeping, you will account for the full fees due from the Client as income and the commission as expenditure.

8. Expenses

All expenses, including materials and travel, must be agreed with Dukes Education prior to the commencement of tuition. Any expenses incurred by you without prior agreement with Dukes Education will not be reimbursed to you.

9. Cancellation policy

It is the responsibility of the Tutor or Consultant to notify the Client in advance of any changes to the tuition timetable  that may   arise  as a result  of  (including  but not limited  to)  holiday,  illness,  adverse weather conditions that prevent travel.

The Client may  cancel a lesson with 24 hours’ notice. If the  Client cancels a lesson with less than 24 hours’ notice, the Tutor may  charge for the first  hour of the cancelled session. In this case, the Tutor should record the hour on Tutorcruncher with a note to say that the lesson was cancelled.

The Tutor has the right to forgo payment for  a lesson cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice, if the Tutor believes there is a justifiable reason for the late cancellation and wishes to maintain a good relationship with the Client.

10. Damages

Dukes Education accepts no liability for any claims by the Client arising out of or related to the carrying out of the tutoring by you and you agree to indemnify Dukes Education without limit in respect of any such claims.

11. Confidentiality

You undertake that you shall not at any time during this agreement, and for a period of five years after termination of this agreement, disclose to any person any confidential information concerning the business, affairs, customers, clients or suppliers of Dukes Education, except that you may  disclose Dukes Education's confidential information as may  be required by law, court order or any governmental or regulatory authority. You shall not use Dukes Education's confidential information for any purpose other than to perform your obligations under this agreement.

12. Data Protection Act

Dukes Education uses Tutor data for the purposes of the services that it provides, in accordance with the 1998  Data Protection Act. Tutor information will be stored solely for the purposes of offering tuition services to Clients and to enable us to verify information and make all necessary checks, enquiries about a Tutor, and for billing payment.

General

Dukes Education reserves the right to alter these terms and conditions. Dukes Education will, however, notify you in writing of any changes. Unless otherwise agreed in writing by a Director of Dukes Education, these Terms and Conditions shall prevail over any other terms of business or conditions put forward by you. No variation or alteration of these Terms and Conditions shall be valid unless approved in writing by a Director of Dukes Education.

These terms and conditions the Agreement between us for the supply of tuition services and Education Consultancy to the client and are deemed to be accepted by Tutors by virtue of signing these Terms and Conditions, or accepting a tuition placement.

This Agreement and (any documents referred to in it) constitutes the entire agreement between the parties and supersedes and extinguishes all previous drafts, arrangements, understandings or agreements between them, whether written or oral, relating to the subject matter of this Agreement.

If any provision of this Agreement is, or becomes, to any extent illegal, invalid  or unenforceable, then it is the intention of the parties that this Agreement shall be deemed amended in a reasonable manner to the extent necessary to render it enforceable without losing its intent, or at the discretion of the parties or the determination of the Court, such provisions shall, to the extent of the unenforceability, be deemed not to form part of the Agreement. In either case, such provisions will not affect the legality, validity or enforceability of any other provision of this Agreement, which shall continue in full force and effect.

This Agreement may  be executed and delivered in any number of counterparts, each of which is an original and which,  together, have the same effect as if each party had signed the same document.

The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999  is excluded from applying to this Agreement and nothing herein confers or purports to confer on any third party any benefit or any right to enforce any term of this agreement.

Each party acknowledges that, in entering into this Agreement and the documents referred to in it, it does not rely on, and shall have no remedies in respect of, any representation or warranty (whether made innocently or negligently) that is not set out in this Agreement or those documents. Each party agrees that its only liability in respect of those representations and warranties that are set out in this Agreement or those documents (whether made innocently or negligently) shall be for breach of contract. Nothing in this Clause shall limit or exclude any liability for fraud.

This agreement and any dispute, claim, payment or obligation (whether contractual or non-contractual) arising out of or in connection with it, its subject matter or formation shall be governed by English  Law and the parties hereby submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English  Courts for the purposes of resolving any such matters.