Definitions
Account - The account created with Your login information by You, through which You access features of the NOVATUTORS Website that require registration.
Benefactor - The individual that pays for the tuition and who owns the Account from which payment is collected.
Client - This is a person who is registered to use the NOVATUTORS Website with a view to directly engaging with the Tutor for the provision of Tutoring Services on the Tutoring Terms, whether that be the Student and/ or (if under eighteen (18)), the Student’s Benefactor.
Lesson - The digital interaction between a Student and a Tutor during which the tuition takes place.
Mandate - The approval given by the Client to NOVATUTORS that gives NOVATUTORS the authority to bill the Client whenever a booked Lesson is twenty four (24) hours away from starting.
NOVATUTORS - The company operating under the name NOVATUTORS LIMITED that owns and manages the NOVATUTORS brand, Website, and all other assets.
Student - The individual receiving the tuition.
Tutor - The individual providing the tuition.
Our Site - The website in which these terms and conditions are provided, and which has the address www.novatutors.co.uk.
Website - The website in which these terms and conditions are provided, and which has the address www.novatutors.co.uk.
Copyright, intellectual property, and registered trademarks
All content, including but not limited to text, images, and logos is owned by or has been licensed for use by NOVATUTORS, and is protected by applicable United Kingdom and international intellectual property laws and treaties. Access and use of the Website is permissible in a web browser, and it is permissible to download the website for caching or personal use. Any content downloaded from the Website must remain unaltered. Commercial use of the Website or any of its contents is only permitted with a licence obtained directly from NOVATUTORS, and NOVATUTORS’s ownership must be clearly acknowledged. This does not prevent normal access, viewing, and use of Our Site for general information purposes by business users or consumers.
Nothing in these Terms and Conditions limits or excludes the provisions of Chapter III of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, ‘Acts Permitted in Relation to Copyright Works’, which provides exceptions allowing certain uses of copyright material including (but not limited to) non-commercial research and private study; text and data mining for non-commercial research; criticism, review, and reporting current events; teaching; accessibility; time-shifting; and parody, caricature, and pastiche. Further information is available from the UK Intellectual Property Office.
Liability
Nothing in these Terms and Conditions excludes or restricts NOVATUTORS’s liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, for death or personal injury resulting from negligence, or for any other forms of liability which cannot be lawfully excluded or restricted.
NOVATUTORS accepts no liability for commercial use of the Website that leads directly or indirectly to damages or loss, including but not limited to loss of revenue, profits, opportunity, reputation, or goodwill. If You are a business user, NOVATUTORS excludes all implied conditions, warranties, representations or other terms that may apply to the Website or any content on it.
Communication
By using the Website and creating an account with NOVATUTORS, or by sending NOVATUTORS emails or other data, information or communication, You agree and understand that You are communicating with NOVATUTORS through electronic records and You consent to receive communications via electronic records from NOVATUTORS periodically and as and when required. NOVATUTORS may communicate with you by email or by such other modes of communication, electronic or otherwise. Email or other electronic communication with the purpose of marketing shall not be sent to You by NOVATUTORS without explicit consent.
Security
NOVATUTORS exercises reasonable skill and care to ensure that the Website is secure and free from viruses and malware; however, NOVATUTORS does not guarantee that this is the case. You are responsible for protecting Your hardware, software, data, and other material from viruses, malware, and other internet security risks. You must not deliberately introduce viruses or other malware, or any other material which is malicious or technologically harmful either to or via the Website. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the Website, the server on which the Website is stored, or any other server, computer, or database connected to the Website. You must not attack the Website by means of a denial of service attack, a distributed denial of service attack, or by any other means. By breaching the provisions of this section, You may be committing a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. Any and all such breaches will be reported to the relevant law enforcement authorities and NOVATUTORS will cooperate fully with those authorities by disclosing Your identity to them. Your right to use the Website will cease immediately in the event of such a breach.
Disclaimers
The content on the Website is provided for general information only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which You should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on the Website.
Although NOVATUTORS makes reasonable efforts to update the information on the Website, NOVATUTORS makes no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, that the content on the Website is accurate, complete or up to date.
The agreement
By using this website You agree in full to the terms and conditions outlined on this page. If You have any objects to our terms of service then do not use the website. NOVATUTORS reserves the right to update these terms and conditions at any time, though You will be informed of incoming changes. If you agree with the updated terms and conditions then You are free to continue tutoring through the NOVATUTORS platform, but if You no longer accept the terms of the service agreement outlined here then You are expected to terminate your Account and inform NOVATUTORS immediately. NOVATUTORS reserves the right to terminate Your Account if You are found to be in breach of the terms and conditions outlined on this page.
Intellectual Property
Any content published by You for the purpose of hosting Lessons through the Website will grant NOVATUTORS a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright licence to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute said content.
3.1 Student and Client safety
When interacting with clients and students through the Website You must follow the guidance set out in the ‘Safeguarding Guide’.
3.2 Your safety
Do not give away details relating to Your address, or any other sensitive information, to Clients or Students. You shouldn’t reveal your phone number, email address, or other contact information. You use this Website at your own risk, and must use your judgement during interactions with Clients and Students. It is also important to contact NOVATUTORS in situations where You have been made to feel uncomfortable by an interaction with the Client or the Student.
3.3 Protecting Your account
You are responsible for any and all activities and communications carried out by the Account connected to Your email address and password. You must keep Your login details secure and must not reveal this information to anyone. If you become aware of potentially fraudulent activity on Your Account and/or believe You login information to have been compromised, then You must inform NOVATUTORS immediately.
3.4 Remaining up to date with website terms and conditions
NOVATUTORS may change or update these terms and conditions at any time. When notified of changes made to the terms and conditions You are responsible for ensuring that You read and understand the updated sections.
3.5 Keeping accurate and up-to-date information
You are required to make any necessary alterations to your profile information whenever that information changes. Current account details should always be kept correct.
3.6 Tutoring
You must only host lessons in subjects that You have been verified to tutor by NOVATUTORS. The tuition You offer must be at a level that You can competently achieve. If an occasion arises where You are no longer able to attend a lesson that has been booked with a Client, you must notify the Client at the earliest opportunity. You must plan and prepare Your own resources for lessons whenever necessary, and whenever NOVATUTORS is unable to provide these for You (such as if no official NOVATUTORS resources exist for a certain topic or text). You must notify the Client as soon as possible if you decide that You will no longer be able to continue with the tuition permanently. You are required to offer a fifteen (15) minute free introductory sessions with Clients before they make a decision on whether or not they wish to go ahead with tuition.
3.7 Receiving payment
If You believe there to be an error regarding the compensation you have received for your hours worked, you must inform NOVATUTORS at the earliest opportunity so that the issue can be resolved promptly.
3.8 Carrying out lessons on our platform
You must carry out lessons in our virtual classroom on the novatutors.co.uk website. After being contacted by a Client on the novatutors.co.uk website you agree to contact the Client only via the novatutors.co.uk website, through the messaging app on the novatutors.co.uk website or through the novatutors virtual classroom. Communicating with a Client outside of the novatutors.co.uk website is considered a violation of these terms and conditions and in particular presents a serious safeguarding risk. If You attempt to engage the Client to do lesssons outside of the NOVATUTORS platform, you agree to compensate NOVATUTORS for all loses incurred, including, but not limited to, all payment processing fees and payment dispute fees that arise from the Client requesting refunds of their payments with NOVATUTORS or from the Client attempting to raise chargebacks for previous payments made on our website for membership credits, lessons or wallet credits that were originally purchased in order to carry out lessons with You on our platform.
4.1 Offering of services
NOVATUTORS will provide You and the Client with the necessary services required for the provision of tuition through the Website, in so far as that is not inhibited by unexpected Website downtime that is caused by technical issues or emergency maintenance. NOVATUTORS will always provide notice when such situations occur, and will return the Website to a state fit for operation in as timely a manner as possible.
Fees and payments
5.1 Employment status
As a Tutor with NOVATUTORS You are self-employed and are therefore personally responsible for complying with HMRC rules regarding income tax and national insurance. NOVATUTORS is indemnified against any and all liability, employment-related claims, and all possible claims relating to your worker status with NOVATUTORS.
5.2 Compensation
NOVATUTORS will act on your behalf for the collection of payment from the Client. You are agreeing to NOVATUTORS to act as your agent. NOVATUTORS uses third party payment processor(s) (e.g. stripe) in order to carry out the transfer of payment for completed lessons. In order to fully comply with the tax responsibilities referenced in section 5.1 You should maintain an accurate and complete record of all lessons and corresponding fees that you have earned.
5.3 Refunds
Should the Client cancel a lesson before the twenty four (24) hour cancellation window prior to the start of a Lesson, the Client shall be exempt from paying for the Lesson and the Tutor will not receive payment for the cancelled lesson. If the cancellation takes place less than twenty four (24) hours prior to the start of the Lesson then the Client will have already been charged and it is up to the Tutor to decide whether to issue a refund. NOVATUTORS’s recommended policy is that You should only issue a refund where there are exceptional circumstances, such as sudden health or family issues for the Client and/or Student. If You decide to issue a refund then you must contact NOVATUTORS for this to be arranged. The Tutor or Client may contact NOVATUTORS via email (hello@novatutors.co.uk) in order to request a refund. Any refunds issued will not include fees that were required for the transference of the payment.
The agreement
By using this website You agree in full to the terms and conditions outlined on this page. If You have any objects to our terms of service then do not use the website. NOVATUTORS reserves the right to update these terms and conditions at any time, though You will be informed of incoming changes. If you agree with the updated terms and conditions then You are free to continue tutoring through the NOVATUTORS platform, but if You no longer accept the terms of the service agreement outlined here then You are expected to terminate your Account and inform NOVATUTORS immediately.
Who should make the account?
If You are a benefactor with a Student looking for tuition who is under the age of eighteen (18) You are required to be the holder of the Account through which lessons are booked. It must be Your details (e.g. email address) used for the registration process, and Your bank details used for payments. If You are a student over the age of eighteen (18) then You are able to register an Account using Your own details.
3.1 Account owner responsibilities
The owner of the Client Account is responsible for paying tutor fees, receiving email and responding when necessary, and requesting refunds.
3.2 Your safety
Do not give away details relating to Your address, or any other sensitive information, to Tutors. You shouldn’t reveal your phone number, email address, or other contact information as communication. You use this Website at your own risk, and must use your judgement during interactions with Tutors. You should contact NOVATUTORS if You are ever made to feel uncomfortable during an interaction with a Tutor.
3.3 Protecting Your Account
You are responsible for any and all activities and communications carried out by the Account connected to Your email address and password. You must keep Your login details secure and must not reveal this information to anyone. If you become aware of potentially fraudulent activity on Your Account and/or believe You login information to have been compromised, then You must inform NOVATUTORS immediately.
3.4 Remaining up to date with website terms and conditions
When notified of changes made to the terms and conditions You are responsible for ensuring that You read and understand the updated sections (which will be highlighted in the correspondence notifying you of the changes).
3.5 Keeping accurate and up-to-date information
You are required to make any necessary alterations to your profile information whenever that information changes. Payment Account details should always be kept correct.
4.1 Offering of services
NOVATUTORS will provide You and the Tutor with the necessary services required for the provision of tuition through the Website, in so far as that is not inhibited by unexpected Website downtime that is caused by technical issues or emergency maintenance. NOVATUTORS will return the Website to a state fit for operation in as timely a manner as possible. If such downtime occurs during a Lesson that You have booked with a Tutor, and the downtime makes it impossible for the Lesson to go ahead or to continue, then NOVATUTORS will reimburse You for any lost lesson time.
4.2 Your safety
NOVATUTORS is committed to creating an environment which is safe and productive for the Student, with particular focus on protecting those Students under the age of eighteen (18). In order to achieve this NOVATUTORS restricts communication between Clients and Tutors, and Students and Tutors, to those communications that occur via the Website. NOVATUTORS is able to access messages that have been sent, and can therefore deal with any issues that You raise regarding the in-built chat function of the Website.
5.1 Introductory Lessons
All NOVATUTORS Tutors offer a free fifteen (15) minute introductory Lesson if you have not previously had any Lessons with them.
5.2 Billing policy
In order to book a Lesson with a Tutor (unless this Lesson is a free fifteen (15) minute introductory Lesson) You must input payment details to your Account. NOVATUTORS has partnered with Stripe (https://stripe.com/) to facilitate payments. NOVATUTORS will collect a Mandate from You before You give Your payment details to Stripe, and this Mandate will authorise NOVATUTORS to charge Your Payment Account when You have an upcoming Lesson. To reduce the number of transactions that may occur with cancellations, NOVATUTORS will only charge Your Payment Account twenty four (24) hours before the scheduled start of Your upcoming Lesson. If the attempted charge to Your Payment Account is unsuccessful, then the Tutor will be notified and will not proceed with the Lesson until the payment issue has been rectified.
5.3 Refunds
NOVATUTORS’s policy to not charge for a Lesson until twenty four (24) hours before the scheduled start time of the Lesson. Therefore, any Lessons cancelled prior to this time will not be billed for. If the Lesson cancellation happens within twenty four (24) hours before the scheduled start time of the Lesson, then in most cases a refund will not be issued. NOVATUTORS leaves the final decision to the Tutor. If the Tutor believes that there is a sufficiently good reason for the cancellation, and that the cancellation has not impacted their schedule in such a way as to result in financial issues, then they can contact NOVATUTORS to arrange for a refund to be issued. In the event a refund is issued, NOVATUTORS reserves the right to withhold the payment processing fees that were incurred in performing the initial payment and in carrying out the refund. It is at the sole discretion of NOVATUTORS to decide whether to subtract these processing fees from the amount refunded to the Client.
5.4 Learning Memberships and the purchase of Membership Credits
NOVATUTORS facilitates contracts between Users and Tutors on our platform. These are referenced as ‘Learning Memberships’. By subscribing to a Learning Membership, a User is entitled to a number of lesson credits each month. The number of credits will depend on the plan chosen by the User.
5.4.1 Tutor contracts are concluded between a User and a Tutor in accordance with the relevant provisions of these T&Cs.
5.4.2. Users can conclude a tutor contract with a Tutor by purchasing credits for video lessons via the Website. The processing of the credit payment to the Tutor is administered by NOVATUTORS. Credits for lessons are purchased as part of a monthly subscription. The number of Credits that are purchased each month will depend on the chosen subscription plan. Credit for hours that are still open can also be waived if the entire package is not used up within a certain period of time.
5.4.3. The recharge date corresponds to the calendar day on which the contract was concluded (e.g. if a contract was concluded on 20.03.2021, the recharge date is the 20th day of each month of the contract period). Credited sessions can be freely used for booking in lessons until the next recharge date; they cannot be carried beyond the next recharge date.
5.4.4. When the User first makes a booking for a full lesson with a Tutor (any lesson with a Tutor with whom the User has previously requested a free introductory session), they make a binding offer to the (previously selected) Tutor to conclude a tutor contract as well as to purchase the credit balance required for this and thus an offer to conclude a contract for a fee. NOVATUTORS sends a confirmation message to the User (on behalf of and in the name of the respective Tutor) to accept this offer.
5.4.5 The User is offered a seven (7) day free trial of the Learning Membership which begins when they first subscribe to the Learning Membership. At any time before the conclusion of the seven day free trial the User may cancel the Learning Membership. Requesting a full lesson with a Tutor will immediately end the free trial period and the User will immediately be charged for the first month of their Learning Membership.
5.4.6 Subscribers to Learning Memberships on the NOVATUTORS platform may access additional learning tools and group lessons. Group lessons may either be provided to the User free of charge or the User may be required to pay to access them. NOVATUTORS will seek to provide additional learning tools such as A.I. (artificial intelligence) chat bot tutors. However, these additional learning tools/services are not required to be provided by NOVATUTORS and access to the learning tools may be revoked at any time.
5.4.7 Refunds. Refunds for the monthly Learning Membership may be given at the sole discretion of NOVATUTORS. Users do not have a right to a refund of Learning Membership charges/fees.
5.4.8 Cancellation of the Learning Membership. It is the responsibility of the User to cancel the learning membership. The User can do this via the ‘My Dashboard’ page of the platform by clicking on the ‘Manage Billing’ button.
5.4.9 Unused Credits. Any membership Credits that remain unused (i.e. were not used to pay for a lesson with a Tutor) by the end of the current payment period will expire and will NOT be able to be used in any subsequent payment period. Refunds for these expired credits will not be granted. It is the responsibility of the User to ensure that they use all of their purchased credits in the allotted time.
Data Information
1.1 Lesson recordings are able to be reviewed by NOVATUTORS staff for the purposes of dispute resolution between Clients and Tutors and to ensure safeguarding.
By using this website You agree in full to the terms and conditions outlined on this page. If You have any objects to our terms of service then do not use the website. NOVATUTORS reserves the right to update these terms and conditions at any time, though You will be informed of incoming changes. If you agree with the updated terms and conditions then You are free to continue tutoring through the NOVATUTORS platform, but if You no longer accept the terms of the service agreement outlined here then You are expected to terminate your Account and inform NOVATUTORS immediately.