Terms and Conditions for West Sussex County Council Learning and Professional Development Events and Resources

We are committed to delivering the highest standards of Continuing Professional Development in order to improve outcomes for our customers. We aim to provide you with a positive learning experience and in order to facilitate this there is an expectation of mutual accountability during training events between delegates, trainers and their managers.

We continually review our service and welcome any feedback and suggestions for improvement.

Access to the Learning & Development Gateway
Access is provided at the discretion of West Sussex County Council (WSCC), the status of your application is based upon the information you provide as well a variety of external data sources.

Your account is regularly reviewed and may be updated to reflect any change in circumstance.

1. If your application for an event is successful your place will be confirmed and we will provide you with relevant course information, primarily using the Learning & Development Gateway as well as by email or SMS.
   
   The delegate and their Line Manager are both able to logon to the Learning & Development Gateway and see the progress of course applications at any time and are positively encouraged to do so in order to avoid non-attendance and cancellation charges.
   
   
2. All users must keep their account details up to date. For example, if you change your email address or employer. WSCC cannot accept responsibility for information that is sent but fails to arrive. Line Managers must also inform the Gateway administrators when staff members leave, so that course bookings are cancelled. Failure to do so will result in non-attendance and cancellation charges.
   
   If your account is not up to date it will be suspended until the necessary corrections have been made.
   
   
3. It is assumed that course delegates and Line Managers have the authority to act on behalf of their employer in authorising applications and complying with these terms and conditions, by accepting them you are stating you are authorised to act on behalf of your employer and are liable for any costs and charges associated with bookings.
   
   Any fees and charges will be invoiced to your employer and will be governed by WSCC debt recovery process. You employer is responsible regardless of any change in line management.
   
   
4. Course delegates are responsible for downloading any attachments and, if applicable, bringing them to the course. You are also responsible for demonstrating that any prior learning or pre-requisites stated in the course description have been met. Your place will be cancelled if you do not meet the course pre-requisites and will be liable for any cancellation fees.
5. Course Delegates will be expected to make any arrangements necessary to attend the whole course as indicated in the event details or you will be asked to re-book for another event.
6. Events will start promptly at the advertised time. Delegates are advised to arrive at least 15 minutes before the course start time. It is at the trainer’s discretion to accept late entry up to 10 minutes after the start time; after this a non-attendance fee may be applied and the delegate may be asked to rebook. If the delegate is unavoidably delayed please contact Learning & Development.
   
   You must sign the attendance register as soon as you can on arrival – if this is not done there is no evidence that you attended, which will trigger a non-attendance invoice and you will not be issued with a certificate of attendance.
   
   
7. We will provide you with the opportunity to evaluate your learning via an online course evaluation. Your certificate of attendance will be available for download once the evaluation is completed if you have attended the full course.
8. All managers need to know about issues that affect service delivery so they can deal with the situation, act upon it, and facilitate changes and improvement. If a trainer or a delegate has concerns that arise during a learning event;
   
   a. Trainers have the authority to act on any issue/practice/situation/concern either about, or raised by, a delegate in a training context. Initially they will try and resolve this with the individual concerned. If this is not possible then the issue will be taken, via the Learning and Development Manager, to the delegate’s manager.
   
   b. Any such matters will be dealt with in a timely, factual way with the delegate being informed of the course of action to be taken.
   
   c. If inappropriate behaviour is demonstrated or is contrary to the agreed ground rules the delegate could be asked to leave the event, return to the workplace and their manager will be informed.
   
   d. If delegates have concerns about any issues they experience during the learning event they should discuss this with the trainer in the first instance. If not appropriate or unresolved then they should talk to their line manager who will contact the learning and development manager. We welcome feedback as part of monitoring the quality of our learning and development activity.
   
   
9. We have a sliding scale of charges that are continually reviewed. Our aim is to support West Sussex and to make the best use of public funding. Different charges apply to different sectors and Gateway users will be assigned a pricing band when their account is created. Discounts of up to 100% apply to partners and those organisations with which we have a Service Level Agreement.
   
   Any charges that apply will be displayed on the relevant course details page. Some events have additional payment terms and conditions which will also be displayed on the course details page.
   
   
10. It is important to note that even though a course may not have an up-front booking or attendance fee, cancellation and non-attendance charges do apply.
    
    Confirmed places that are cancelled 10 working days (i.e. Monday-Friday) or less before the course takes place will be charged at the standard rate. This is currently £35 for a half day event, £70 for each whole day (i.e. £140 for a two day event). The same charge will also be made for non-attendance on the day without any notice, or late arrival. The charge is levied in order to recoup a proportion of the overheads incurred. The rates and notice period indicated are subject to continual review.
    
    
11. Should the original delegate not be able to take up their place on a course we can accommodate a substitute from your service, but this should be done prior to the start of the course. This can easily be requested directly through the Learning and & Development Gateway, or by contacting the Learning and Development.
    
    Please bear in mind that the cancellation policy still applies if the substituted delegate subsequently cancels within 10 working days or fails to attend.
    
    
12. Accounts will be irretrievably removed after 6 years of inactivity, for more information about how we handle your data please see our Privacy Policy.

All the Learning & Development team wish you a positive learning experience.