Business Guidances

This Business Guidelines section highlights the main points that you need to be aware of, and need to be in agreement with, when engaging with East London Cultures School CIC. We recommend that you review these Business Guidelines regularly as part of your Service Level Agreement with East London Cultures School CIC.

Introduction

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It’s really important that you read through our Business Guidelines and our various policies so that you understand how we work, and what you can expect of us.

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East London Cultures School CIC has been privileged to work with some amazing people. We believe that good business relationships start with good communication. Our team is focused on communication, and our systems are designed around communication. When we begin a business relationship with a client, we don’t ask you to sign a contract, and we don’t sign contracts issued by our clients. What we do ask, is that you spend a little time reading and acknowledging these Business Guidelines and understanding that they form part of your Service Level Agreement with East London Cultures School CIC.

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Working with East London Cultures School CIC

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When working with us, we expect all clients, associates, partners, volunteers and staff, to carry out their work in a manner which authenticates the aims and values of East London Cultures School CIC. In both word and action we expect that the conduct of everyone using East London Cultures School CIC premises, services and resources do not conflict in any way with our core values. In practice this means that when using East London Cultures School CIC premises, services and resources you should not undertake any activity that:

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• is illegal

• is abusive, profane, hateful, harassing, threatening, defamatory or libelous

• promotes bigotry, racism, or hatred against any group or individual

• is sexual, indecent, erotic, obscene or pornographic

• is spectral, ghoulish, macabre, or contains occult or demonic references

• involves gambling, exploitative raffles, sweepstakes, or pyramid schemes

• is false, misleading or constitutes a misrepresentation

• violates any patents, copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property rights

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Included in the above restrictions, is the display of any materials, images, adverts, visuals, signage, décor, exhibits and marketing materials. By using premises, services and resources of East London Cultures School CIC, clients, associates, partners, volunteers and staff, expressly agree not to undertake any activity that may bring the name of East London Cultures School CIC into disrepute.

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Agreeing costs and making payments

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It is always best at the start of a client relationship to identify what costs are involved and how billing takes place.

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Once we have received all the details about your organisation and the type of service you require, we often send an interim proposal with some indicative costs to help you plan. This is particularly helpful for clients who are applying for funding or have not currently got the budget in place to begin work. After discussion, and once we are happy with the completed specification, we will provide you with an idea of the costs in advance of providing the service. We may do this verbally or by email.

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Unless otherwise agreed, invoices should be paid in full in advance. Invoices not paid within 30 days may at our discretion incur charges to cover delayed payment. The interest we charge if a business is late paying for goods or a service is “statutory interest”. This is currently 8% plus the Bank of England base rate for business to business transactions. It is time consuming to chase payments, and therefore we reserve the right to pass on this cost to those clients who delay payment. We may from time to time, use a collection agent, for invoices that become significantly overdue.

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Some of our Support, Consultancy, or Hire services may be payable monthly in advance by Standing Order / BACS or Yearly in advance.

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Information for Suppliers

All suppliers of goods or services to East London Cultures School CIC should only accept a verbal or written order when a Purchase Order (PO) number (or PO reference) is provided. A Purchase Order number will be provided by a member of staff from East London Cultures School CIC in the form of a number or text reference (eg. Directors Name & Contact). East London Cultures School CIC will not accept ad-hoc or recurring charges that have not been previously agreed in writing by a Director. It is a requirement that a PO number, or PO text reference, is provided before the goods or services are supplied, and before any invoices are generated. Claims for payment or unsolicited invoices will be returned unpaid. Suppliers should be aware that East London Cultures School CIC reserves the right to charge suppliers for any management time taken in resolving administrative issues relating to supplier payments and claims.

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Providing you with services

If you have a particular deadline or business need that is critical to your work, please advise us of the significance of the deadline or need. We will always endeavor to provide services by an agreed date, but all dates are estimates and we cannot accept any liability for any failure to meet a certain date or need.

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We will always provide our service with the reasonable skill and care of a competent provider, but it is impracticable to provide a completely fault or error free service and we do not undertake to do so. We will however always use our best efforts to correct any errors as soon as reasonably possible.

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Occasionally we may change the specification of a service or suspend a service for operational reasons such as repair, maintenance or improvement of the service or because of an emergency.

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We reserve the right to refuse to carry out work, or provide a service for a client, if we feel that the work or service requested may be detrimental to other clients, to East London Cultures School CIC, or to other organizations that work closely with East London Cultures School CIC. We may also refuse to work with (or suspend work for) any client who is argumentative, abusive, rude, petulant or over demanding. We want to provide the best possible service to all our clients, but in doing so we will not tolerate hostile behavior.

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If we are unable to carry out work, or provide a service for a client, we will provide an explanation of why this is the case. Please be aware that in refusing to provide a service to a client, we are in no way discriminating against a client, or a clients values.

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Providing you with premises

Since 2020, the presence of coronavirus (COVID-19) within the general population, has made the use of community premises particularly complex. Multi-use community facilities support a wide range of local activity. However, their communal nature also makes them places that are vulnerable to the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). East London Cultures School CIC has the discretion over when we consider it safe to open for any activity (permitted by legislation) and we may decide to remain closed if we believe we are not able to safely follow the advice in the relevant guidance, to make our community spaces COVID-19 secure.

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Please read the latest COVID19 guidelines and how they affect your organisation,

business or group when using our premises

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East London Cultures School CIC is taking additional measures to mitigate the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), however, ensuring that events and activities are COVID-19 safe is the responsibility of the organisation, business or group using our premises. As an absolute minimum, consideration should be given to the following:

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• Ensure the numbers attending your events are restricted

• Ensure that those attending your events adhere to social distancing protocols

• Manage attendee arrival and departure times

• Manage attendee queuing

• Ensure that attendees can access multiple entry and exit points

• Provide appropriate PPE and sanitizer for your attendees

• Record and store ‘track and trace’ information for all your attendees for a period of 21 days

Users of a East London Cultures School CIC community facilities have responsibility for managing risks arising from their own activities when they have control of premises and should take account of any guidance relevant to their specific activity or sector. East London Cultures School CIC publishes regular coronavirus (COVID-19) updates relating to all the premises we manage via our social media channels.

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East London Cultures School CIC has access to a number of premises in the East London area. We seek to encourage appropriate organisations to use the premises for meetings and activities, where such meetings are complementary to East London Cultures School CIC regular activities.

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In short, East London Cultures School CIC cannot accept bookings that:

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• conflict with the aims and values of East London Cultures School CIC

• are not in the interests of the wider community

• prevent regular activities from functioning effectively

• reduce the opportunities for other organisations within a particular venue

• require significant storage facilities or equipment use

• cause undue wear and tear on venues

• are made at short notice

Premises under the management of East London Cultures School CIC are especially suited for community engagement activities, and as such are often occupied by multiple stakeholders. It is important that clients (especially regular users) are able to be flexible and accommodate occasional changes to venue access times and venue spaces when required to do so.

We may request references from a user group before agreeing a booking. It is extremely important that prior to booking, organisations ensure that they have in place the appropriate public liability insurance and risk assessments. When working specifically with children and vulnerable adults, organisations should also ensure that they have the appropriate safeguarding procedures in place. East London Cultures School CIC may from time to time request to see copies of policies, procedures and documents.

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Where any users of our premises cause East London Cultures School CIC additional costs to be incurred (or create any inconvenience, for example in relation to support services, cleaning services, security services, alarm call outs, fire service stand down requests or otherwise), then these will be charged in addition to any agreed hire charges.

When we work for free

We occasionally do pro bono work for small businesses, charities, churches and non-profit organizations. For such cases, all fees are waived. Our provision of pro bono work is done so at our discretion. We reserve the right to autonomously grant or refuse pro bono work for a new client and also to terminate provision of pro bono work for an existing client at our discretion.

Providing effective pro bono work for small businesses, charities, churches and non-profit organizations, can require a substantial investment of finance and resources on our part. Because we do not expect, or require, a return from such work, we reserve the right to re-use or allocate the same or similar resources, knowledge or solutions to other projects as may be necessary. All knowledge, communications and solutions provided during pro bono work remain the property of East London Cultures School CIC.

In the context of working with funded statutory bodies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), local charities, faith based institutions, elected members, and local constituted groups, East London Cultures School CIC makes the following important statement:

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The Board of Directors, and advisors of East London Cultures School CIC are all employed by third party businesses or organisations. The roles and work that they undertake on behalf of East London Cultures School CIC is completely voluntary. They receive no payment whatsoever, and take no expenses for their work. Their attendance at meetings, strategic gatherings or community events is entirely voluntary, and in many cases the contribution they make is funded entirely by themselves.

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East London Cultures School CIC reserves the right, should it become necessary, to retrospectively charge statutory bodies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for any management time taken to support work which is undertaken as part of its role with the community.

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Keeping you informed

We may publish notices to our clients via our website, and on social media channels; notices will be considered effective on the date of publication. A notice from us which is sent by e-mail to the customers e-mail address will be considered effective on the date it is sent.

By becoming a client of East London Cultures School CIC you grant us permission to send advertising and promotional material pertaining to other products and services and to third-party products and services selected by ourselves. You can opt out of receiving such information from us at anytime by notifying us.

The extent of our liability to you

As well as holding current Public Liability Insurance, regular Risk Assessments are carried out by East London Cultures School CIC, and these are for specific events and activities which our organisation is leading on. We have a range of professionals who advise us on our projects, services and activities, the risks concerned, and any additional insurances East London Cultures School CIC may need to take out. It’s really important that clients consider all the risks when commissioning projects, services and activities from East London Cultures School CIC, and that clients also carry out adequate risk assessments, ensuring that they hold appropriate insurances. For certain types of project, service or activity, East London Cultures School CIC may require sight of a clients risk assessment and insurance certificate. We are not liable for direct or indirect loss of profits, business or anticipated savings, nor for any indirect or consequential loss or damage or for any destruction of property. Our liability to you is limited entirely to the amount paid by you for our service.

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By engaging in any Project, Service or Activity with East London Cultures School CIC you indicate your acceptance of this policy.

East London Cultures School CIC will review this policy every 5 years.

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