Terms and conditions for business advice

  1. Chargeable business advice is managed and administered by Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards Service (BSTSS) and payment made to Surrey County Council (SCC).
  2. When seeking advice on trading standards matters from BSTSS, you and your business undertake to complete the attached registration form and return it to us before any advice can be given. You bear full responsibility for ensuring that all information provided to us is complete, accurate and up to date.
  3. Upon receipt of your registration form, a named officer will be nominated as your point of contact. If your nominated officer is not available when you require advice, we will provide you with an appropriately qualified and experienced officer to assist with your request.
  4. Where any advice is expected to take more than 30 minutes, we will provide you with an estimate of the charge for the requested advice. In the event that the fulfilment of the request takes less time than the estimate, you will be charged for the lower amount. No advice will be provided until you have agreed to the estimate and completed the registration form.
  5. We will respond to your enquiry as soon as possible and aim to provide business advice within 10 working days. If this is not possible due to complexity or external consultation required, we will inform you. If your enquiry is urgent or has a specific timescale requirement, please let us know and we will try and accommodate this.
  6. We are not generally able to assist a business who is in the process of having legal action taken against it or which wishes to take someone else to Court. In such a situation, you are advised to seek independent legal advice.
  7. The free half hour of advice is valid for six months from registration and is available to all businesses based within Buckinghamshire or Surrey. Where your business is not located within these areas, your advice is chargeable at all times. Requests for advice from a third party acting on behalf of your business (regardless of their location), for example discussions with lawyers or consultants, are also chargeable.
  8. In asking for business advice, you or your business agree to pay any charges for officer time incurred by BSTSS within twenty eight (28) days of receiving an itemised invoice from us for the services provided. Our current charges are shown on our website Fees timescales and payment for business advice. All prices are reviewed annually. Unused hours will not roll over or be refundable. The minimum charge for chargeable advice is a half hour, regardless of whether the full half hour is used, we then charge in quarter hour units. Invoicing is on a monthly basis.
  9. In the event that you do not pay SCC the outstanding amount within the prescribed time then SCC may institute civil proceedings against you and/or your business to recover the cost and future services under Business Advice will cease to be provided until the outstanding amount is settled in full.
  10. Businesses should be aware that BSTSS and SCC are subject to legal duties which may require the release of information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 or any other applicable legislation or codes that govern access to information and that BSTSS and SCC may be under an obligation to provide such information on request. Such information may include matters relating to, or arising out of this Business Advice.
  11. As a general rule, BSTSS and SCC will not keep information longer than is necessary and, whilst in our possession, BSTSS and SCC will safeguard your personal information. Any processing will be performed in line with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation. Further details about how we process personal data can be found in our privacy notice.
  12. Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards Service is empowered to enforce a variety of civil and criminal statutes. BSTSS has a duty to investigate any allegations of breaches of such legislation and the provision of Business Advice does not affect this duty in any way whatsoever.
  13. The use of the services under Business Advice does not entitle you or your business to use any of BSTSS, SCC or either's logo or claim any affiliation with Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards Service in anyway whatsoever.
  14. If you or your business have any complaints or are not satisfied with the quality of the services provided under Business Advice or the timeliness of the information provided to you or your business, then please refer to our website as to how to make a complaint to BSTSS and follow the SCC complaints procedure.
  15. These Terms and Conditions will be subject to review from time to time.

For further help or information please contact Business Advice:

Business advice line Monday - Friday from 9am to 5pm

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