Terms & Conditions

The Kent County Council (KCC) Trading Standards Checked scheme is open to membership for those genuine, reputable businesses who provide services or products to consumers.

The purpose of the “Trading Standards Checked” (TSC) accreditation scheme is to provide consumers, particularly the vulnerable, with a choice of businesses who can be relied upon to act fairly, lawfully and legitimately.

The aim is to prevent consumers becoming victims of crime. This could be by limiting access to the market for ‘rogue traders’, by carrying out checks to prevent criminals joining the scheme and by providing consumers with a list of vetted traders.

The scheme operator is KCC.

A legally binding contract (the "agreement") based on these terms and conditions is formed between you and us when we confirm your membership of the TSC scheme to you in writing and you have paid your annual membership fees.

Definitions:

In these terms and conditions:

“Data Protection Legislation” means all applicable data protection and privacy legislation in force from time to time in the UK including the UK GDPR; the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) (and regulations made thereunder); the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/2426) as amended.

“member” or “membership” means a member of or membership to the scheme.

“membership fee” – means the amount to be paid by you to us for becoming a member of the scheme. This is refundable if your application is not successful.

“scheme” or “TSC scheme” means the Trading Standards Checked accreditation scheme.

“us” or “we” or “KCC” means KCC.

“vetting check fee” – means a non-refundable fee for the vetting checks carried out by Trading Standards.

“you” or “business” means a member of the TSC scheme.

Annual membership is available to the following types of businesses:

• Sole traders

• Partnerships

• Private companies limited by shares (Ltd/Limited)

• Public limited companies (PLC)

• Companies limited by guarantee

• Limited liability partnerships (LLP)

• Community interest companies

• Societies registered with the Financial Conduct Authority

If the legal status of your business changes we may need to review your membership to the TSC scheme. It is your responsibility to notify us of any changes to your business, contact details and services as soon as you are notified or are deemed to have become aware of the changes.

Failure to do so may result in your membership being reviewed, suspended or terminated.

KCC reserves the absolute right in its sole discretion to refuse membership to any business or individual which it feels does not satisfy the criteria laid down in these terms and conditions. KCC may, as an alternative to refusal, impose certain conditions that need to be satisfied prior to confirmation of your membership and will require the applicant to comply at all times with those additional requirements in addition to the standard conditions.

We are likely to decline applications from businesses where:

• The goods or services being offered cannot be lawfully supplied in the UK.

• Services are of a broadly financial or investment nature (including unregulated or alternative investments), that rely on the future value of goods or land, speculation on commodity, shares or other products, unless the products, business and sales representatives are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority or such similar regulator for which the goods and/or services are required to be regulated in accordance with the rules and regulations in place from time to time.

• The goods or services being offered are such that KCC, Its partners or other business members of the scheme would or could potentially incur a risk to their reputation by association.

• The goods or services being offered are of a religious, spiritual or personal belief nature such that membership might be construed as endorsing that religion or belief.

Regional and National Businesses

If you operate regionally or nationally, with a significant number of branches or provide services over a very large geographic area, we will discuss with you how best to manage your application and support your membership. Each case will be assessed individually and our decision will be final.

The application form asks for information about you, your business, the owners (including persons of significant control and beneficial owners) and employees/staff. All applications are made online at www.kent.gov.uk/tschecked.

You must submit your completed application form to KCC along with all supporting documents and the vetting check fee to enable KCC to perform background checks and vet your business. The results of these checks are used to assess the suitability of your business to join the scheme as per the vetting criteria (clause 4 below).

As part of the application process we will require a headshot photo to identify the business owner/director(s) and two other forms of identification, one of which must be photographic identification such as a current passport or UK driving licence and the other must constitute proof or residence such as a council tax or utility bill (but excluding a mobile telephone contract). The photographic identity picture must be a different image to that of the headshot photo.

It is your responsibility to ensure that all information provided in the application form is true and accurate in all respects. If it is found that any information provided is false or untrue for any reason, your application for membership of the scheme could be declined with immediate effect or later terminated as per clause 14.

To ensure your business is live on the scheme as quickly as possible, you will need to supply the required documentation at the time of application, or no later than one calendar month from the date of submitting your application. If you haven’t submitted your documents within one calendar month, your application will ‘time out’ and will be cancelled. Your vetting check fee will not be refunded.

If you have more than one business that you would like to have on the scheme, you will need to complete a separate application and pay fees for each individual business.

KCC carries out background checks on businesses and individuals who wish to be part of the TSC scheme. In carrying out these checks, KCC may rely on its own records and on intelligence received from partners and other law enforcement agencies that has been shared for the purpose of preventing and detecting crime.

We will vet the previous trading history of the business as well as the directors, owners or other persons with significant control or influence over the business, including ultimate beneficial owners. If either the business or any of the responsible persons fail our vetting checks, membership may be declined or terminated at KCC's sole discretion and without recourse.

If you are a director or owner of any other businesses, you must declare this at the time of your application as we reserve the right to carry out background and suitability checks on any other businesses you are or may be deemed to be connected to.

If you do not pass our vetting checks, we may not be able to tell you all the reasons why, due to the databases we use to carry out the checks.

Checks will include:

• Identity verification.

• Financial checks on the company to ensure its financial health.

• Checks on your individual finances, including any County Court Judgements (CCJ’s)

• Review of consumer complaints made against the business or individuals working for the business.

• Checks with other local authorities, partner agencies and enforcement agencies.

• Checks of mandatory accreditation and qualifications required to carry out advertised services. E.g. Gas Safe, NICEIC.

• A skilled review of information online that is freely available to the public.

You will need to provide consent on the application form for KCC to conduct these checks.

Every business is treated individually and reviewed against the same scheme criteria to ensure that our approach to applications to the scheme is consistent, fair and proportionate. KCC conducts a range of due diligence checks and may refuse, suspend or terminate membership where there is reliable information that suggests you or your business are not suitable for the scheme.

You may be deemed unsuitable if there is intelligence to suggest:

• There is any unlawful activity or criminal behaviour (including tax evasion).

• Aggressive behaviour/character (not restricted to trading practices only), including any aggression or verbal abuse shown towards consumers or KCC staff.

• Poor customer care.

• Failure to be transparent and honest with information provided to KCC, our partners, or consumers.

• Direct or indirect discrimination/targeting of particular groups.

• Repeated/ongoing failure to rectify issue(s) or legislative breach(es) raised by Trading Standards or other regulatory authorities.

• Lack of compliance with legislation, regulation or good industry practice.

• Any complaints that constitute a serious breach or repeated minor breaches of the scheme’s Code of Conduct (see below).

• Unreasonable* number of complaints made against the business in the preceding 3 years.

*Unreasonable is quantified as a percentage of complaints against the company’s trading activity. In order to assess this, you may be asked to provide evidence of your company’s trading activity so that a percentage can be ascertained, failure to do so may result in your membership being suspended or terminated.

• Less than 5% is considered reasonable.

• 5-10% would result in random sampling taking place to ascertain whether the complaints are justified.

• Over 10% would suggest that the company is not suitable for the scheme and that they are not projecting trust to their customers.

Where there is intelligence suggesting any of the above, KCC will conduct reasonable enquiries to corroborate the information and KCC will exercise absolute discretion in forming any conclusions or findings.

To ensure a robust scheme we reserve the right to carry out these checks throughout the term of your membership.

Examples of minor breaches are a failure to:

• Let your customer know straight away if you can’t do the work.

• Keep appointments and arrive on time (calling in advance if you need to reschedule).

• Be realistic about when you can start work and how long it will take.

• Be courteous. Treat your customer, their property and belongings with respect.

• Keep customers in the picture about all aspects of the work.

• Return phone messages promptly.

• Deal with complaints promptly and professionally.

Examples of major breaches are a failure to:

• Be honest in all dealings.

• Tell customers about any call-out fees before confirming appointments.

• Create an additional contract for variations from the original agreement.

On application to the TSC scheme, the business owner(s) which includes those who ultimately control the business, must state if they have unspent criminal convictions.

They may be asked to provide further details – this may be via a telephone interview, or in the form of a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check. Upon receipt of this, KCC will make a balanced judgement, which will be deemed binding and final, taking into account:

• The nature of the offence.

• Its relevance to the post, position, trade or profession in question.

• How long ago the offence took place.

• Whether it was an isolated offence or part of a pattern of offending.

• What is known about your conduct and character before or since or that of the relevant individual.

If during the vetting of your application to the scheme, or at any other time during your membership, it is believed that you or any of your employees or staff may have unspent criminal convictions, you or your employee or member of staff may be required to provide a DBS check to us that is no more than 4 weeks old.

All DBS checks will be at your own cost, and failure to provide one when requested may result in your application either being refused or membership being suspended or terminated.

For more information on how you can request a copy of a DBS check please follow the link: https://www.gov.uk/request-copy-criminal-record

If any offences relate to murder/ manslaughter, theft, Robbery, Burglary, deceit, fraud, supply of controlled drugs, money laundering, violence or sexual offences or other serious or similar or analogous offences; the application will automatically be refused or any previously granted membership may be suspended or terminated at KCC's sole discretion.

If you fail to inform us about any criminal convictions you or any of your staff or employees receive whilst being a member of the scheme, your membership will be terminated.

KCC reserves the right to share information gathered on individuals and businesses in the course of administering the scheme, with other agencies and law enforcers where necessary and provision by KCC shall be deemed to be consent of the data subject to the same.

You are liable for the work and actions of your sub-contractors and you are responsible for ensuring that they are suitably qualified and experienced to carry out the work required. It is strongly recommended that you use subcontractors who you trust and they must be aware of and follow our Code of Conduct, as per clause 13.

Where subcontractors are used to provide services to a customer, you must make the customer aware that you will be engaging sub-contractors to carry out the work.

Failure of your sub-contractors to follow the scheme’s Code of Conduct could result in suspension or termination of your membership.

The annual price for Membership is stated on the Trading Standards Checked website, www.kent.gov.uk/tschecked.

The annual membership fee includes a non-refundable vetting check fee of £99, or such other amount as may be charged from time to time, plus VAT at the prevailing rate (currently £19.80). This is non-refundable whether membership is granted or not.

Our service offers peace of mind to consumers and as part of the process to join our scheme there is a rigorous system of vetting checks we carry out. These checks are unique to Trading Standards and are designed to provide consumers with confidence when trading with our Trading Standards Checked businesses.

When you apply to join the scheme, you will be required either to:

• Make your membership payment in full

• Spread the costs over 6 months with a recurring card payment

If you chose to opt for recurring card payments, you will pay the fee (currently £99 + Vat (£19.80)) at the time of application/renewal with the remainder of the fee spread over the next 5 months

Should your membership be terminated for any reason you will still be liable for the full cost of the outstanding balance.

If you opt for recurring card payments and we receive notification that a payment has been missed we will contact you and ask you to make the payment. . If payment is not made by an agreed date, we reserve the right to cancel your membership forthwith. If we cancel your membership for non-payment then we may instruct debt collection to recover the outstanding amount due from you.

In the event of any default by you, we reserve the absolute right to consider you unfit for membership of the scheme in the future. This would include any businesses which has directors, partners, members or owners (whether beneficial or otherwise) of those entities which had previously defaulted for any reason whatsoever

The cost of Membership includes:

• Checks carried out by KCC on the business and the business owners and /or directors.

• Listing in an exclusive ‘Trading Standards Checked’ online directory.

• Use of ‘Trading Standards Checked’ logo with unique ID to display on company vehicle, website and paperwork.

• Dedicated member webpage on www.kent.gov.uk/tschecked.

• Access to a personal trader account.

• Access to free Trading Standards compliant paperwork.

• Regular member newsletter and networking events (Advice, updates, offers etc.).

• Relevant Business Alerts.

• Customer call back requests sent directly to the trader (trader can choose to switch this function off).

• Customer review function.

• Business listed in a printed directory for no extra cost.

Membership of the scheme must be renewed on an annual basis. We will contact you one calendar month before your renewal is due to find out if you would like to renew.

The annual membership fee, which includes the vetting check fee, must be paid in full or via recurring card payments set up before the vetting checks are carried out.

If renewed membership is declined for any reason, other than due to a breach of clause 14, a refund of the annual membership fee will be issued within 7 days.

Please note; this refund does NOT include the vetting check fee (£99 plus VAT) which is non-refundable.

You will:

• Comply with the scheme’s Code of Conduct, please see clause 13.

• Ensure that any sub-contractors comply with the Code of Conduct.

• Agree to engage in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) if a complaint cannot be resolved and your customer wishes to use an ADR service.

• Comply with reasonable guidance as provided by KCC’s Trading Standards.

We will:

• Provide (but not guarantee) membership to businesses who comply with the law, trade honestly and fairly.

• Provide business paperwork templates for you to use including quotes and cancellation paperwork written by a qualified Trading Standards Officer.

• Support your business by issuing guidance on changes to laws that may affect your particular type of business (but you must always seek independent legal advice before relying on such guidance).

• Suspend or remove any trader who breaches the scheme’s Terms and Conditions and/or Code of Conduct.

• Remain impartial at all times.

• Provide a scheme that benefits legitimate businesses, and that provides consumers with a range of checked traders to choose from.

• Provide an online platform for you to promote your business and allow consumers to find out about your business.

• Treat each business individually and with respect.

• Provide our service with reasonable care and skill and within reasonable timescales but time shall not be of essence for our performance under this agreement.

The scheme offers a range of additional membership benefits.

Any additional membership benefits are discretionary, are offered as a courtesy to our members and do not form part of the membership fees.

As such the additional membership benefits may be changed, withdrawn or added to at any time.

Please see www.kent.gov.uk/tschecked for current additional member benefits.

The Trading Standards Checked (TSC) logo is an important part of the scheme, and we need to control how it is used. The intellectual property rights in the TSC logo belong solely to KCC and KCC reserves its rights to the fullest extent permitted by law. Members of the scheme are granted a royalty free, non-exclusive, revocable licence to use the TSC logo in accordance with these terms and conditions and any breach of these terms and conditions or the Code of Conduct shall entitle KCC to terminate or suspend the licence to use the TSC logo with immediate effect.

Once your membership is approved you will be sent a logo electronically. Your logo will be specific to your business as it will include a unique Trader ID number. This is to help protect your business against other traders falsely claiming to be Trading Standards Checked.

As a member of the scheme you may use the TSC logo to publicise your membership and promote your Trading Standards Checked business.

It is important that all members follow the Conditions of Use to:

• Ensure that members of the scheme are easy to identify.

• Ensure the scheme is presented as smart, professional and reliable.

• Increase awareness of the scheme.

• Reassure consumers.

• Set your business apart from others by being KCC Trading Standards Checked.

The logo that is sent to you is the only TSC logo you can display. It must never appear without the Trader ID number. The logo can only be used as follows:

• On your business vehicle(s) once they are registered with Trading Standards Checked.

• On your business website, including social media platforms.

• On your business stationery (check the free templates in the online members area)

• On your business trading premises.

• On adverts placed in magazines and newspapers.

You must not:

• Display the logo on any item of clothing.

• Use the KCC logo on its own. You do not have permission to do this.

• Display or use the logo in any way that could be misleading, including for any other business not covered by the registration.

• Add any additional wording or statements to the logo.

• Display any other logo, branding or marketing material associated to the TSC scheme unless provided in the online members’ area.

• Create any new logo using elements of your TSC logo including the words ‘Kent County Council’ or ‘county council’ or the words ‘Trading Standards Checked’.

• Alter or modify the logo in any way and it must only be used in the locations and sizes detailed in these guidelines.

• Allow any other individuals or contractors to use the TSC logo.

• Sell your vehicle with the logo displayed on it, you must remove the logo first.

• Use the logo if your membership has expired, is revoked or has been suspended.

It is the responsibility of the scheme applicant to control the usage of their unique TSC logo and ID number.

You must comply with the following Design Specifications:

• Minimum printed size of the logo 22mm wide. E.g. for use on business cards or printed adverts in magazines.

• Maximum printed size of the logo 200mm wide. E.g. for use on vehicles, banners or exhibition displays.

• Minimum size of 60 x 60 pixels for use on websites and social media.

• The logo must be used in its original colours only – you must not change the colour to match your own branding.

Written Statements:

As well as using the logo, you may wish to publicise your membership of the scheme by making a written statement in your adverts etc. Once your business is a member of the scheme, permission is given for the following statements to be used in connection with your membership.

• A member of Kent County Councils’ Trading Standards Checked Scheme

• Trading Standards Checked scheme member

Other statements are not acceptable for use, some examples are listed below but they are not a definitive list:

• Recommended by Trading Standards / Kent County Council.

• Approved by Kent County Council / Trading Standards.

• Working with / in conjunction with / in association with Trading Standards / Kent County Council.

If you would like to use any other form of wording, please make sure you contact us first in order to obtain our written permission.

Any misuse of the logo or deviation from these guidelines will be an infringement of your terms of membership. Use of the logo by a non-member is a banned practice under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and is a criminal offence.

Action will be taken if any member or non-member is found to infringe these guidelines or misuse the logo. Regular checks are carried out to ensure compliance with these conditions of use.

Removal of Logo

If your membership of the TSC scheme ends, for whatever reason, you will no longer have permission to use the logo and you must remove it from display within 28 days of the end of your membership. Continued use of the logo is a criminal offence enforceable by Trading Standards. Checks will be carried out to ensure that the logo has been removed.

As a member of the ‘Trading Standards Checked’ scheme you agree to follow this Code of Conduct:

1. Be courteous, honest and respectful in all dealings as a trader.

2. Deal with all complaints received in a prompt and professional manner.

3. Work positively to resolve issues and agree to enter into Alternative Dispute Resolution should it be requested by the customer.

4. Always provide correct and relevant paperwork before commencing any work.

5. Never attempt to carry out any work for which you and your business are not suitably qualified to undertake.

6. Perform all work to a high standard and adhere to relevant industry standards and legislation.

7. Have adequate Public Liability Insurance and, if applicable, Employers Liability Insurance and professional indemnity insurance.

8. Comply with all relevant UK Legislation.

9. Take responsibility for any sub-contractors, sub-consultants, sub-advisers and sub-agents that they engage, and for any work completed on their behalf at your property.

10. Keep customers informed. This is especially important if you are late to an appointment or will not be able to make it, work is not going to be completed on time or there are necessary changes to the agreed schedule of works that may increase the cost.

11. Ensure only appropriate content is published on your profile, with no offensive language or discriminatory remarks.

12. Comply with the spirit and detail of civil and criminal laws relevant to your business.

13. Do not cold call to obtain business. This includes door knocking, cold call telephone calls etc.

14. Do not take advantage of vulnerable consumers. Try to provide additional support and assistance to vulnerable consumers.

15. Never demand that payments are made in cash.

16. Never take a customer to a bank or cash point for them to withdraw cash to pay for work.

17. Never be verbally or physically abusive or threatening to customers.

You must also ensure appropriate content is published on your profile and that it is in clear, unambiguous English. There must not be any: profanity; racist; or religious remarks. KCC reserves the right to remove any content submitted that is deemed to be inappropriate, we will notify you if any changes are made. Inappropriate content may result in a review of your membership, which could lead to its suspension or termination.

We will not accept applications where it is found or becomes apparent that the business, owners, employees or associates publish, or are connected to or associated with any extremist views or organisations of any type.

To provide additional support to our members and ensure your profile is presented in line with the website aesthetic and in the best way possible to advertise your business, we may view and amend your profile page. This is in addition to providing guidance and recommendations on how to set up your profile in the Members Area. You will be notified if we make any amendments

We also encourage you to try to provide additional support and assistance to vulnerable consumers. A local KCC Community Warden may be able to help you with this or contact the TSC Scheme Manager.

If you are found to be in breach of this Code of Conduct, your membership will be reviewed and could be either suspended or terminated. KCC reserves the right to temporarily remove members from the scheme pending investigations.

Your right to terminate:

You may terminate your membership at any time by logging into your account at www.kent.gov.uk/tschecked and closing your account.

When you do this your business will be removed from the website immediately, you will also need to remove the logo within 28 days of cancellation from all of your business paperwork, literature, marketing materials, website and social media channels. When terminating your membership, you must desist from claiming you are a member of the scheme and ensure potential customers are made aware to the extent applicable

KCC’s right to terminate:

KCC may terminate the TSC scheme and therefore your membership for any reason at any time by giving you written notice of not less than 3 months.

Your membership will be terminated with immediate effect if KCC finds that you:

• Breach these terms and conditions.

• Breach the Code of Conduct.

• Fail to pay the membership fees.

• Generate complaints from your customers that are considered to be severe or numerous.

• Make untrue claims or supply information that is false.

• Fail to advise KCC of any information relating to a change of your circumstances or those of a member of your staff which would entitle KCC to terminate your membership of the TSC scheme.

• Engage in conduct or activities which, in the sole opinion of KCC, potentially risk bringing the TSC scheme and/or KCC into disrepute, including a breach of the Data Protection Legislation.

• There is a change of control of your business which would entitle KCC to terminate your membership in KCC’s and the wider public interests.

• You or your business becomes insolvent.

• You or a director, owner, shareholder, person of significant control, ultimate beneficial owner or connected party is convicted of a criminal offence other than a minor motoring offence for which a statutory penalty notice is issued.

KCC reserves the right to review continuation of your membership, at any time, if any concerns, complaints, information or intelligence is received about you or your business in relation to your actions, behaviour and trading practice. For details of our vetting criteria, please see clause 4 of these terms and conditions.

Please note: There is no cooling off period, and we do not offer refunds if you cancel your membership or if your membership is terminated.

We will review the operation of the scheme from time to time with the aim of maintaining and improving the benefits offered to both consumers and businesses. KCC may amend these terms and conditions from time to time without reference to you and shall notify you within three (3) working days of making any changes to these terms and conditions. A copy of the amended terms and conditions will be made available at www.kent.gov.uk/tschecked

It is a mandatory requirement of being a member of the scheme that you consent to consumers and the broader public having the right to publish reviews about your business/services/work output/conduct etc in a public forum.  By applying to become a member, your consent is deemed to have been expressly given.   

KCC has an arrangement with a third party provider which is entitled to collect and publish consumer reviews for both KCC and other authorities in the UK from those consumers who wish to give reviews.  These reviews are published online.  The current provider is Referenceline Ltd and that organisation, not KCC, is responsible for policing the content and using reasonable means to validate the authenticity of the person posting a review.  The provider may change from time to time. 

You expressly acknowledge and accept that KCC is not responsible for the content of any reviews or opinions which may be published by or for and on behalf of consumers by them or any third party.    

By entering this agreement, you further acknowledge and accept that any and all reviews posted by consumers or on their behalf, do not constitute or represent the thoughts, opinions or views of KCC, its members or any of its staff, they have neither been procured by nor solicited by or on behalf of the same and that any and all reviews published are solely the personal opinions of those consumers or those acting on their behalf who posted the reviews on a third party site which is neither controlled by nor policed by KCC. 

You expressly acknowledge and accept that KCC disclaims all responsibility and accepts no liability whatsoever for any adverse comments made about you or your employees or staff by third parties and you expressly acknowledge and accept that in the event adverse and/or untrue comments are posted, you have no legal recourse whatsoever against KCC or its members or staff.

If a customer complains about your business/work to the Citizens Advice Consumer Service, they will advise the consumer to contact you in the first instance and follow your complaints procedure.

Should the customer’s complaint not be resolved, or you reach a deadlock situation then as per the terms of the scheme under clause 9, you agree to participate in an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process should your customer wish to use ADR.

If you and your customer decide to use an ADR service, the final decision shall be binding on you to the maximum extent permitted by Law, including any decision as to payments to be made to the customer.

KCC reserves the right to review your membership at any time, if an ADR decision is ignored.

The decision to use ADR is for your customers to make, the business cannot initiate ADR.

You acknowledge that a copy of the final decision will be provided to KCC by the ADR scheme. Under the membership terms you do not have a right to appeal an ADR decision (to the maximum extent legally permitted).

If the ADR or other circumstances identify a criminal offence being committed, appropriate steps will be taken which may include suspending your membership, terminating your membership, referring the matter to the Police or commencing a Trading Standards investigation.

All investigations undertaken will be done so fairly, as quickly as possible and by appropriate, qualified and experienced members of staff.

We want to hear about your experience of being a member of our scheme; complaints and compliments can help us improve the service we provide to members.

We will investigate any complaints about the scheme we receive according to KCC’s complaint policy and respond as quickly as possible. Complaints and compliments can be made online at www.kent.gov.uk.

Controller, processor, data subject, personal data, personal data breach, processing and appropriate technical and organisational measures:  as set out in the Data Protection Legislation

You must comply at all times with all the obligations imposed on a controller under the Data Protection Legislation, including the following:

• to ensure that you have all necessary registrations, notices and consents and lawful bases in place to enable lawful transfer of the consumers’ personal data to you;

• to collect and process the personal data only for the purposes permitted pursuant to the contract between you and the consumer or for your legitimate business purposes directly associated with membership of the scheme;

• not to sell or market consumer data; and

• to ensure that you have in place appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect against unauthorised or unlawful processing of any of the personal data, against any personal data breach and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, any of the personal data you collect.

KCC is registered with the ICO.  For the purposes of this agreement KCC is a data controller and you will also be a data controller. 

You expressly consent to KCC collecting and processing personal data submitted in connection with the scheme, including to the extent necessary any data collected or otherwise acquired pursuant to any vetting process in accordance with its policies in place from time to time. 

A copy of the current KCC privacy policy in place from time to time and applicable to this agreement is available athttps://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council/about-the-website/privacy-statement

Third Party Rights

No one other than a party to this agreement shall have any right to enforce any of its terms.

Variation

No variation of this agreement shall be effective unless it is in writing and signed by us.

Waiver

No failure or delay by us to exercise any right or remedy provided under the agreement or by law shall constitute a waiver of that or any other right or remedy, nor shall it prevent or restrict the further exercise of that or any other right or remedy. No single or partial exercise of such right or remedy shall prevent or restrict the further exercise of that or any other right or remedy.

Severance

If any provision or part-provision of this agreement is or becomes invalid, illegal or unenforceable, it shall be deemed modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid, legal and enforceable. If such modification is not possible, the relevant provision or part-provision shall be deemed deleted. Any modification to or deletion of a provision or part-provision under this clause shall not affect the validity and enforceability of the rest of the agreement.

These terms and conditions shall be governed by English law. Disputes arising in connection with these terms and conditions, including their formation and whether contractual or non-contractual shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts