PDC and Short Courses
Terms & Conditions, Complaints Procedure and Data Protection Policy

Acceptance on the Course
We reserve the right not to offer you a place on the course.

Cancellation by you
£25 of your fee is a non-refundable deposit. This covers our bank charges and administration. If you cancel more than 7 days before the course start date, we will refund you the remainder. If you withdraw from the course less than 7 days in advance you will be liable for the full fee and no refund will be made. You must cancel your place in writing by emailing bryher@shiftbristol.org.uk.

Termination by us
We reserve the right to terminate your place on the Course if we deem your behaviour as aggressive, abusive or disruptive or if we consider your behaviour is posing a threat to the health or safety of yourself, other students, tutors or the public.

Initially a verbal warning will be given; the second stage is a written warning. The final stage is termination of your place on the course. In extreme circumstances we reserve the right to terminate your place immediately.

Replacement course tutors

The tutors for each course listed on the Shift Bristol website are correct at the time but are subject to change if circumstances change. You will be informed of any changes as they are made. Tutor biographies on the Shift Bristol website do not form part of a contract.

Changes to the timetable of a teaching session
We reserve the right to change tutors, sessions, dates and venues are subject to change if absolutely necessary. We will do our best to minimise and communicate any such changes via email and/or text.

Physical Fitness
Some courses require participants to have a level of mobility and physical fitness. We will tell you about these activities in the course information before you book. Activities may include walking and activities in all terrains and all weather, using tools (with training) or other practical tasks. You will always have a choice about activities and will never be asked to do something you feel unable to do.

If you have concerns about your ability to participate in activities, then please contact us to discuss the suitability of the course to you and any support you may need before you book. We will do our best to make any reasonable adjustments to enable your participation and welcome applications from everyone. We reserve the right not to offer you a place if we are unable to keep you and/or others safe and provide you with value for money.

Complaints procedure

We aim to provide you with the most enjoyable and safe experience possible whilst you are studying with us. If you are dissatisfied in any way, please tell us immediately. We welcome the opportunity to remedy situations immediately if we can.

We will investigate every complaint we receive. We will do our best to put right any problems we find, and we will always tell you the result of our actions.

How to make a complaintStep 1: Directly discuss the matter with either Sarah Pugh, Bryher Bloor or Alex Reuer as soon as a problem arises. This can be either face to face, by telephone or by email.
Step 2: If the issue is not resolved or you would feel more comfortable talking to someone other than Sarah, Bryher or Alex, you can email or talk to a Director of Shift Bristol CIC.
Step 3: If you are not satisfied with the outcome of step 2, please request and complete a formal complaint form – from bryher@shiftbristol.org.uk. We will acknowledge your complaint within 10 working days. Your complaint will be discussed at a directors’ meeting and you will receive a written response, wherever possible, within 14 days.
Step 4: If necessary, we can arrange an independently mediated meeting.

Data Protection Policy

Statement of intent
When you supply any personal information to Shift Bristol CIC, we have legal obligations towards you in the way we deal with that data. Whenever you provide such personal information, we will keep it confidential and secure in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation 2018.

Use and storage of your personal information
Any information you provide to Shift Bristol, in relation to your contract to undertake a course with us, will only be used by Shift Bristol. It will never be supplied to anyone outside of Shift Bristol without first obtaining your explicit consent, unless we are obliged or permitted to disclose it by law.

What information will we hold?
When booking a place for a Shift Bristol event, you will be asked to submit personal information about yourself (name, email address, postal address, phone number, date of birth). From the point your place on the Course is confirmed with a deposit, we will hold your personal information including name, address, date of birth, email and phone number.

What additional information will be held during the Course?
On registration we will ask for information on any relevant health issues we may need to know about to ensure your health and safety on the Course. During the Course we will record information of accident or health issue information and details of any complaints or disciplinary measures taken.

How long will this information be held?
This information will be held in a secure database for as long as you study with us, and then in a secure archive for a subsequent 8 years. Data is archived for safeguarding and insurance reasons in line with our responsibilities as an education provider. After 8 years we will delete your data. We hold and handle your data on the legal basis of ‘legitimate interest’ in order to provide a service to you.

If your application is unsuccessful or deferred
If your application is unsuccessful, we will not retain your personal data after the Course applied for has started or if you request us to delete it sooner. If you defer your application, we will retain your data until the following year when we will ask for you to resubmit it.

Secure data
We will ensure that all personal information supplied is held securely and confidentially, in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and in accordance with best practice.

Access to your personal information
You have the right to request a copy of the personal information Shift Bristol holds about you at any time and to have any inaccuracies corrected. Please address requests to bryher@shifbristol.org.uk

Mailing List
We will not add you to any promotional or alumni mailing lists without your express consent. We will ask you if you would like to join our mailing list and provide our data protection policy on this separately. The data we hold for you as a student is in no way linked to our mailing list.

Mailing List Data Protection Policy

● No one will be added to the mailing list without their express consent. We will contact you to ask for your continued consent every 3 years.

● You will be informed on subscription and in every email how to delete yourself from the mailing list and ‘be forgotten’ at any time.

● Any requests to delete your data from the mailing list is met immediately.

● We comply with any request from you to fully disclose all data we hold about you.

● We never share data with anyone else, unless we are required to do so by law.

● We only communicate with you about our courses, events or projects or any job or volunteering opportunities.

● We aim to contact you no more than quarterly but may be in touch with important information on other occasions.

● We keep all our mailing list data in a secure database managed by Mailchimp which is fully compliant with GDPR. Their privacy policy is here.