Terms & Conditions

Cancellation Policy

The Education Policy and Research Service operates a rolling subscription policy. Subscriptions will renew automatically if they are not cancelled at least two weeks before their annual renewal date. Subscribers can see the annual renewal date by logging into their online account. The annual renewal date is normally the anniversary of the initial subscription date. We will email subscribers 60 days prior to the renewal date each year to remind them of the date that payment is due and to remind them of the cancellation policy.

If you cancel your subscription in the year you will continue to receive monthly summaries until your renewal date. We do not provide in year refunds.

Subscription payments via Direct Debit

The Education Policy and Research Service uses GoCardless to take direct debit payments for annual subscription fees. Please note GoCardless is a separate legal entity to the University of Bristol. They have been selected by the University of Bristol to facilitate direct debit payments for the Education Policy and Research Service after a rigorous procurement process. Your direct debit payment plan is set up with GoCardless and not the University of Bristol. You will have full control of your payment plan under the Direct Debit Guarantee.

Refund policy

Refunds are only processed in exceptional circumstances. It is the subscriber's responsibility to ensure that they cancel their policy prior to its annual renewal date.

Personal and Student Subscriptions

Personal and Student subscriptions are offered on the basis that the reports may not be shared or disseminated. If any abuse of this is found, then the University of Bristol reserves the right to cancel the subscription with immediate effect without a refund.

Copyright restrictions

Many Education Policy and Research Service subscribers have subscription arrangements permitting the onward distribution/circulation of EPRS summaries to their own staff (and/or students) within an institution or to groups of institutions, for example, schools within a subscribing Local Authority and their staff and governors. This will take the form of forwarding on the monthly email or sharing the unique access code which allows access to the online database of summaries.

In this context, it is essential to remind all those who have access to the EPRS reports (according to the specific subscription agreement under which they are received) that they must adhere strictly to the copyright restrictions and not pass copies on to others or share the access code with anyone outside the subscription agreement. We reserve the right to terminate a subscription if we become aware of breaches of the subscription agreement.

The exception to this is sharing a single copy of one summary to an individual or institution with the aim of publicising the Service. The Service and its subscriber base have grown significantly since it was first established in 1989 entirely through personal recommendations of this kind. We are extremely proud of this, and very grateful to those who have contributed to the continuation of the Service and the very high regard in which it is held by spreading the word in this way.

Please note it is up to the subscriber to provide us with the correct information for their subscription. This includes how many individuals you are licenced for. There will be periodic reviews of the subscriptions and if it is found that use is higher than the licence, e.g., there are excessive unique IP addresses then you may be asked to pay an additional amount. If this amount is not paid, then we reserve the right to cancel the policy prior to renewal without a refund.

The viability of the Service is totally dependent on sustaining and increasing its subscriber base, and therefore on subscribers observing copyright and onward distribution restrictions. We thank you most sincerely for helping us to maintain the Service by respecting the conditions of subscription agreements in this respect.

Disclaimer

The University requires that the Education Policy and Research Service subscription agreement includes a 'disclaimer' regarding the information provided – 'whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the summaries, it is always possible that an error will occur'. As you will appreciate, every effort is made to ensure that such errors do not occur at any stage in the following process:

• each document is read, reviewed and digested;
• a record is made of the main points, which are then sorted into an appropriate order;
• any ambiguities and lack of clarity in the original document are checked with the 'relevant body';
• a first draft is written;
• a decision is taken as to how much detail can/should be included;
• a summary is then re-drafted (often several times) to produce the final 'easy read' version.

In this process, it is obviously possible that we may unknowingly misinterpret information or that errors may occur in the typing of re-drafts. It is also true that any summary loses some detail, and so subscribers should refer to the original document when necessary. However, since 1989 no major errors have been made. On the one or two occasions that minor errors have crept in, a helpful subscriber has always alerted us, and a corrected version has been issued immediately.

Promotions Disclaimer

All offers are not valid on prior purchases. The University of Bristol have the right to end or modify any promotion at any time. Where exclusive offers are made qualification will be validated, subscriptions that do not qualify will not be given. Offer may not be combined with any other promotions. Void if altered, copied, transferred, auctioned, or sold. Other restrictions may apply.