Terms & Conditions
Everything you need to know about the ins and outs and small print of all our products and services.
Publications
Training courses
Event bookings
Funding website
Specific requirements
Privacy Policy/Data Protection
Publications
Publication dates and prices
We will do our very best to publish books to the original date provided on our website, however these dates may be subject to change. We will dispatch all advance orders as soon as the book is published. We reserve the right to amend prices where necessary.
Overseas orders
If you are making an order from an EU country please contact our CS team on [email protected].
If you are outside the UK, you can place your order online, by phone or by post. Orders must be paid for at the time of ordering by card. If you are unable to pay for your order by card, please contact Customer Services and we will arrange for a Pro Forma invoice to be emailed to you. Books will be dispatched as soon as payment is received and processed. Purchases over £100 have to be processed through our Customer Service team.
Delivery times for overseas orders depend on your final destination. Generally delivery to Europe will average at 4-7 days, and 5-9 days for the rest of the world.
Postage and Packing
For orders of more than £100 we offer a free delivery service. For all other orders our delivery charges are as follows:
| Order value | UK p&p rate | Europe | Zone 1 + 2 |
| Up to £9.99 | £1.75 | £12 | £15 |
| £10 to £19.99 | £2.75 | £17 | £25 |
| £20 to £29.99 £ | £3.75 | £18 | £27 |
| £30 to £49.99 | £5.50 | £20 | £30 |
| £50 to £99.99 | £6.75 | £22 | £32 |
| Over £100 | FREE | N/A | N/A |
Where orders are not delivered owing to a fulfilment error on our part, we will aim to rectify the problem and redeliver as soon as possible after notification by the customer.
We charge for redeliveries where orders have not reached their destination owing to incomplete or inaccurate delivery information, if the address is changed by the customer after their order has been despatched, or if the customer is unavailable at their address and the order has been returned to the distributor. Charges for re-delivery will be made in line with our postage and packing scale or for orders over £100 at cost price.
Overseas delivery
Delivery times for overseas orders depend on your final destination. Generally delivery to Europe will average at 4-7 days, and 5-9 days for the rest of the world. Purchases over £100 have to be processed through our Customer Service team.
Downloadable books
Downloadable book titles must be purchased via the DSC website and payment can be made by credit or debit card only.
Paid for downloads are for the express use of the purchaser only unless you are buying multiple copies for your organisation. You, or members of your organisation for whom copies have been purchased, must not:
* Make electronic copies of the document(s) except for storage/personal use
* The document can be accessed any number of times from ‘My digital publications’ within your account area on the DSC website
* Print or distribute copies of the document(s)
* Forward the document(s) to others
* Make the document(s) available for others to download if not covered by the number of copies you have ordered
* Amend or edit the document(s) with the exception of word-processing templates designed for this purpose. Those titles will be clearly flagged on the product pages
* Extract sections of the document(s) for use elsewhere
Copyright of the documents resides with Directory of Social Change.
Refunds and exchanges
We may be able to change or cancel your order before it is dispatched if you inform us immediately. Call us on 020 4526 5995 to speak to a member of Customer Services.
However, if you have received an invoice by email this means that your order has already been dispatched and you’ll need to follow our (Returns Procedure) in the event of any unwanted products.
Returns procedure – Books
We want you to be happy with your purchase. If you are not completely satisfied with your order for any reason, or change your mind after you have received it, return it to us in saleable condition (unused and undamaged) with the completed returns form (after it has been emailed to and authorised by DSC with a photograph of the purchase in pristine condition) within 14 working days, and we will exchange, refund you or credit your account with the full cost of the publications.
Refunds will be made to the person who originally placed and paid for the order. Refunds for orders not paid for by card will be made by cheque.
We hope that you will understand that since we are a charity it is our policy not to refund return postage in these circumstances.
If we have made a mistake with your order, or if you have received a damaged book, simply return it to us (with the completed (returns form) and we will replace it and refund the cost of your return postage.
Returns procedure – Downloadable books
If you are not completely satisfied with your download for any reason, or change your mind after you have received it, please contact Customer Services within 14 working days of making your order. We will then refund the debit/credit card from which payment was taken.
In order to receive your refund, you must:
Recover and remove all copies of the download(s)
Dispose of any printed copies of the download(s)
Make no further attempt to access the specific download(s) from your account.
The document can be accessed any number of times from ‘My digital publications’ section within ‘My Account’ on the DSC website. However, DSC reserves the right to remove aging titles from the DSC website particularly where they may be superseded by new editions or where the rights have reverted to the author. We will email all purchasers in advance so that copies of documents can be downloaded for personal storage.
Training courses (see separate Events section for Conferences)
How to book
Click here to find out how to book your training course.
Payment
Payment must be made in full within 14 days of receiving the invoice. We reserve the right to reallocate the course place to another delegate if fees are not paid in time.
Promotional and Discount Codes
Please ensure that any promotional and discount codes are applied to your purchase before finalising your payment option. These codes cannot be added to your purchase at a later date.
Confirmation of your booking
Your place is confirmed when we receive your booking, at which stage our (terms and conditions) will apply and you are liable for payment of the fees.
If you book your training course online you will receive an automatic confirmation email. Please check the details of the booking are correct and if you would like to make any amendments to your booking please contact Customer Services on 020 4526 5995 or [email protected]
If you do not receive a confirmation email please check your Junk mailbox first and contact Customer Services to check the status of your order.
When we have processed your booking we will send you an invoice or receipt, and a delegate confirmation by email. This usually takes up to 24 hours.
Attendance
Attendees are expected to attend a course in its entirety, joining a course part way through the day will only be allowed in exceptional circumstances, at the decision of DSC management. If an attendee leaves a course, another person cannot take the place and under these circumstances there will be no transfer to the next date.
Course dates, venues and postponement
DSC reserves the right to change or cancel course dates, times or venue without liability. Every effort will be made to give as much advance notice as possible, and attendees will be contacted via the email address given at the time of booking. If the attendee cannot make the altered dates or venue the fee will be credited to their account to use against a future course, or if requested a refund of those fees made.
DSC recommends that attendees do not book travel or any other arrangements until 14 days before a course start date.
Any travel or other costs incurred for arrangements made before 14 days are entirely the attendee’s responsibility and DSC does not accept any liability for reimbursement of any costs incurred by attendees.
We cannot offer refunds for cancellations due to circumstances outside our control; including adverse weather conditions, transportation issues, major incidents or industrial action. We will not be liable for any other consequential damages or costs incurred.
DSC is not liable for any training courses that have to be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances so it is advised that travel arrangements from overseas should not be booked until closer to the time as these costs will not be reimbursed.
Course outlines
In order to ensure the course content is of the most relevance and latest best practice, DSC reserves the right to change course content and/or trainer at any time.
Language skills
To ensure our attendees are not placed at a disadvantage they should have a good command of written and spoken English. If you are in doubt about the standard of your spoken and written English as a guide, you will need to have an International English Language Testing Service (IELTS) level 6.0 score or, Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) score of 550 or equivalent.
Other terms
DSC does not accept responsibility for attendees’ personal belongings or valuables, for example laptops or communications devices, brought to courses. These remain the responsibility of the individual attendees.
DSC reserves the right to remove any attendee from their course should their behaviour be deemed inappropriate. In such event, no refund of course fees or other costs will be made.
Change or cancel your booking
If within 24 hours of making your booking you find that you need to cancel or amend the place, please write to [email protected] to request an amendment/cancellation.
Substituting your place for another colleague/person
At any stage after the booking is made, if you wish to transfer a place on a course to another delegate the first change is free and thereafter there will be a 10% administration charge. Please email your request to [email protected] and once we have received your request, we will send a new confirmation email to the new delegate, whilst sending the invoice to the appropriate person.
Transferring courses
Please email your request to [email protected] and we will contact you to advise on your transfer. There will be a 10% admin charge when requesting a transfer to the same course at a later date.
Cancelling courses
If you are not able to attend your course or you wish to cancel and you do not wish to transfer an alternative date in the future, the following charges will apply:
21+ working days prior to the event – 10%
1-20 working days prior to the event – 100%
Non-attendance on the day – 100%
Please email your full booking details to [email protected] and a member of the Customer Service team will contact you.
In exceptional circumstances these fees may be reduced or waived at the discretion of the Customer Services Manager. In these circumstances, email [email protected] giving full details of why you were unable to attend enclosing any supporting documentation, eg a doctor’s note.
Payment and fee bands
We operate a fee band system so that we can make sure our training accessible to smaller voluntary groups and charities. When booking you will be asked to confirm which fee band your organisation falls under.
The fee bands are as follows:
Band A – Voluntary and community organisations with an annual turnover of up to £500,000.
Band B – Voluntary and community organisations with an annual turnover of over £500,000.
Band C – Statutory and commercial organisations
Event bookings
These terms and condition apply to all DSC Events such as conferences and fairs (but not training courses – please refer to the Training Courses section above).
How to book
Click here to find out how to book your event.
Payment
Payment must be made in full, within 14 days of receiving the invoice. We reserve the right to reallocate the event place to another delegate if fees are not paid in time.
Promotional and Discount Codes
Please ensure that any promotional and discount codes are applied to your purchase before finalising your payment option. These codes cannot be added to your purchase at a later date.
Confirmation of your booking
Your place is confirmed when we receive your booking, at which stage our terms and conditions will apply and you are liable for payment of the fees.
If you book your event online you will receive an acknowledgement email. Please check the details of the booking are correct and if you would like to make any amendments to your booking please contact Customer Services.
If you do not receive an acknowledgement email, please check your Junk mailbox first and if nothing is found, please contact Customer Services to check the status of your order.
When we have processed your booking we will send you an invoice, and a delegate confirmation by email. This usually takes up to 24 hours. However, bookings made over the weekend and Bank Holidays will take longer.
Substituting your place for another colleague/person
At any stage after the booking is made, if you wish to transfer your place on the event to another delegate the first change is free and thereafter there will be a 10% administration charge. Please email your request to [email protected] and once we have received your request, we will send a confirmation to the new delegate. The invoice will be sent to the appropriate person.
You may have the option to swap workshops but this is dependent on availability and at the discretion of the Customer Services Manager.
Event dates, venues and postponement
DSC reserves the right to change or cancel event dates, times or venue without liability. Every effort will be made to give as much advance notice as possible, and attendees will be contacted via the email address given at the time of booking. If the attendee cannot make the altered dates or venue the fee will be credited to their account to use against a future event or course, or if requested a refund of those fees made.
DSC recommends that attendees do not book travel or any other arrangements until 14 days before a course start date.
Any travel or other costs incurred for arrangements made before 14 days are entirely the attendee’s responsibility and DSC does not accept any liability for reimbursement of any costs incurred by attendees.
We cannot offer refunds for cancellations due to circumstances outside our control; including adverse weather conditions, transportation issues, major incidents or industrial action. We will not be liable for any other consequential damages or costs incurred.
Change or cancel your booking
If within 24 hours of making your booking online you find that you need to cancel your place, please write to [email protected] to request a cancellation.
Cancelling your place
The following fees apply to events where you have booked to attend workshops, one day or the full event.
If you are unable to attend the event or you wish to cancel, the following charges will apply:
21+ working days prior to the event – 10%
1-20 working days prior to the event – 100%
Non-attendance on the day – 100%
The following fees apply to events where you have booked to attend some workshops but not the whole day or the full event (Fairs and Conferences).
Bookings for Fair/Conference workshops are non-refundable and you are liable for payment when your booking is received. Only in exceptional circumstances these fees may be reduced at the discretion of the Customer Services Manager, in which case a 25% administration fee per session will be charged.
For all DSC events, verbal cancellations will not be accepted. Please email your full booking details to [email protected] and a member of the Customer Service team will contact you.
The option to cancel an event and transfer the same fees directly to a training course in the future may be offered at the discretion of the Customer Service Manager. This option can be used only once, after which any movement will be considered a cancellation and any outstanding invoices will remain due irrespective of the number of working days’ notice given for the cancellation.
Please note that DSC reserves the right to change these terms of cancellation for different events. Details of cancellation policies will be provided with the event information online.
Pricing and ways to pay
Your DSC Event will either be priced according to our fee band system, or your event may be priced per session or per day.
To find out the prices for each event please check the event information on our website.
When placing your booking, you can request an invoice, or pay using a credit or debit card.
Please make cheques payable to ‘Directory of Social Change’.
Payment must be made in full no later than 14 working days prior to the start of the event. Where a booking is made fewer than 14 days before the start date of the event, payment must be made within 14 days of the invoice date.
Please note that if your order is for less than £50.00 you will not be able to request an invoice and payment should be made at the time of booking.
Funds Online funding website
Please find the full terms and conditions for subscriptions to Funds Online at:
How to subscribe
It’s quick and easy to subscribe online
Simply go to the website and click on ‘Subscribe’ on the toolbar at the top of the homepage.
When you have chosen the data set relevant to you, you will be asked to complete your contact details and choose a method of payment. You can request an invoice, but the fastest way to get access to the site is to pay with a credit or debit card when you subscribe. You will receive an email with your log-in details when payment has been received.
You can also subscribe by phone or email by contacting the Customer Services Team.
Prices and licenses
We provide two price levels for our website subscriptions. Prices listed below are for one subscription package only. See packages here.
Registered charities rate
We offer a discounted rate to charities registered with the Charity Commission (in England and Wales), or the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (with the exception of Universities and other exempted charities, Schools, Social enterprises, Local Authorities or private companies).
If you have any queries about your eligibility for the discounted, charity rate, please call us on 020 4526 5995.
Standard rate
This rate is for all Universities, Schools, Social enterprises, Local Authorities and other exempted charities, private companies and commercial businesses.
Annual 12 month subscription for a registered charity/ standard price
1 User License £450 + VAT (£540)/ £595 + VAT (£714)
2-5 User License £535 + VAT (£642)/ £755 + VAT (£906)
6-10 User License £680 + VAT (£816)/ £970 + VAT (£1,164)
11-15 User License £910 + VAT (£1,092)/ £1,280 + VAT (£1,536)
Weekly subscriptions for a registered charity/ standard price
1 User License £150 + VAT (£180)/ £210 + VAT (£252)
2-5 User License £190 + VAT (£228)/ £260 + VAT (£312)
6-10 User License £230 + VAT (£276)/ £320 + VAT (£384)
11-15 User License £280 + VAT (£336)/ £390 + VAT (£468)
We offer a number of different license options.
Funds Online will be accessible by password and can be used on any device with internet access. A licence is needed for each individual user.
An organisation with only one individual using the site will require one licence, regardless of whether they have access to the site at home and various offices.
An organisation with 2 individuals using the site will require a 2-5 user license.
If you have a special promo code you will be asked to enter it along with your full details when you place your subscription. Please ensure that any promotional and discount codes are applied to your purchase before finalising your payment option. These codes cannot be added to your purchase at a later date.
Licenses for large groups
If you require a licence for more than 15 users and above, please contact DSC directly on 020 4526 5995 or email your enquiry to [email protected]
We will be pleased to discuss your requirements and the fees for larger and tailored licenses.
VAT
VAT is charged on Funds Online at the current rate.
If you are subscribing from a non-EU country you are not required to pay VAT on DSC Funds Online. Please contact Customer Services if you would like to purchase a Funds Online subscription to request an invoice and pay the non-VAT rate.
Payment
By card online
For the fastest way to get access, select ‘Buy online’ when subscribing online.
Payment by this method is completely secure, and DSC uses Worldpay to administrate your payment. You will receive confirmation by email when your payment is accepted, and you will be able to logon to the site immediately.
By card over the telephone
Call our customer service team on 020 4526 5995.
Have your payment card ready and once payment is accepted your account will be activated there once processed that day.
Our lines are open from 08.45 – 17.30 Monday to Friday. We are closed weekends, Bank Holidays and the Seasonal period.
We accept all major credit and debit cards, including Visa Electron and Maestro. We are sorry that we do not accept payment by American Express.
Request an invoice
Select ‘Request invoice’ when subscribing online.
Your request will be sent to our Customer Service team who will send you an invoice within 24 hours. Alternatively, call us on 020 4526 5995 to request an invoice which we will send to you promptly.
Payment can be made by BACS, credit card or cheque. Cheques should be made payable to Directory of Social Change and posted to ‘Subscriptions, Directory of Social Change, First floor, 10 Queen Street Place, London, EC4R 1BE.’.
You will receive log in details by email when your payment has been received.
How to log in
If you subscribed online and paid with a card you will receive an email confirming your log-in details. If you paid by invoice or with a card over the phone you will receive an email when payment has been processed (usually within 24 hours of receipt of payment). Please note that you might need to check your Junk mailbox if this hasn’t arrived after you pay.
To log in, go to Funds Online and use your email address and password to log in. You’re ready to go!
To log in to a multi-license account to set up new users, go to Funds Online. Log in to ‘Multi-user account maintenance’ at the bottom of the website homepage. From here you can set up your users on the site, who will then receive their own log-in details by email.
Change or cancel your subscription
Cancellations can be made within one working day (24 hours). Send an email to [email protected] to notify us of your cancellation request and we will cancel your invoice or refund any payments you have made.
Unfortunately cancellations after this time will only be permitted in the most exceptional circumstances and in writing. We shall have the discretion as to whether or not a credit note or refund can be made available.
Problems logging in
You will find the answers to many Frequently Asked Questions and the User Manual on the Help section of the website.
Our Customer Services team are always pleased to assist you. Please contact them by email [email protected] or phone 020 4526 5995.
If you are in the EU
At this time we are unable to supply you with publications or online training if you are based in the EU. If you have any questions please contact our Customer Services team at [email protected].
Specific requirements
Email [email protected] or call 020 4526 5995 to tell us about any specific requirements you may have for your training course or event, so that we can ensure your needs are provided for on the day and that our staff will know to be on hand.
If you are visually impaired or have a particular requirement that would help you access our publications, we would be very happy to discuss your needs. We are committed to providing as many as possible of DSC’s own titled books in a downloadable format to those with visual impairment or a specific access need.
In some cases for some of our larger books, this may not be possible but please contact Customer Services to discuss your requirements. We’ll do our very best to help you get the information you need, in a way that is suitable for you.
In order to receive a downloadable version of a DSC book, you must purchase the publication at the current sale price, or provide proof of purchase of any current edition bought online or in our bookshop.
Data protection and Privacy Policy
GDPR
DSC is fully GDPR compliant.
How we are complying is laid out in particular sections in the text below, and you can also read our full GDPR compliance information here.
If you purchase products or services from us, we will process your data on a contractual basis. If we choose to contact you about related products and services that we think may be helpful to you, it will be on a legitimate interest basis.
You will be able to unsubscribe from marketing emails immediately via the unsubscribe link at the top of each email. If you receive a postal mailing, there will be clear instructions on the envelope.
Or, if you wish you can simply email us on [email protected] to be removed from all communications.
Services and Communications from us
The Directory of Social Change (DSC) provides access to products, courses, and training through specialist staff, conferences, events, seminars and publications. DSC will communicate with you by telephone, letter, e-mail, electronic or other reasonable means. If you do not wish to receive further correspondence from us please let us know. You may opt out of email communication by choosing the unsubscribe option within the marketing email you receive, or just email [email protected].
DSC and your privacy
DSC has a policy in place to protect the privacy of your business and its employees. This privacy policy describes how DSC utilises data that it gathers from your use of the DSC website.
Please note that the DSC website contains links to other websites for which DSC is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those websites or of their operators. If you have any questions or need further information about DSC’s Privacy Policy, please contact Customer Services, by phone on 020 4526 5995, or e-mail [email protected]
The data we collect
When you access our website we will collect data from you in the following ways:
- when you first access the DSC website;
- by our use of “Cookies” (see section D below);
- during the course of your use of DSC website and services, and those of third party sites available through the DSC website, and;
- when we request further information from you from time to time following your first or subsequent uses of the DSC website
Much of this data comprises business information. Some of it may comprise personal data about individuals, to which UK data protection laws apply and DSC fulfils its obligations under those data protection laws.
You may obtain a copy of your data held by DSC by contacting us and requesting a copy but as you will appreciate we do require at least 14 days notice to enable us to comply with your request.
Once you have accessed the DSC website you will no longer be anonymous to us, you will have your own user name and password and will be able to navigate our site as you wish. If you contact us we may also keep a record of that correspondence and we may, from time to time, ask you to complete a customer satisfaction survey to assist us in improving our service to you.
“Cookies”
A cookie is a packet of information sent by the DSC web server to your web browser software. This enables the DSC web server to collect information from your web browser. DSC uses cookies to identify users when they visit the DSC website.
Cookies also enable DSC to build up a personalised profile of the users of the DSC website and to develop personalised versions of our website. Information generated by the use of cookies is only disclosed to third parties in aggregate form so that no individual can be identified as in E (iii) below.
Our use of your data
DSC will use the data that we collect from you only in accordance with the following guidelines:
(i)Contract basis: the processing of data is necessary to enable DSC to provide goods or services to you. We will use your data to provide and improve our web accessible services to you, to enable our help desk to deal with any queries you may have about our service, to notify you of any changes to our service, and to process payments. We will need to provide data about you to delivery companies and others who are involved in providing our service to you.
(ii) To include user data in anonymous statistics. DSC may provide anonymous statistics about its website users, sales patterns and related usage information, to reputable third parties, but these statistics will not enable any third party to identify individuals or individual businesses or organisations.
(iii) Sharing with 3rd parties. DSC will not disclose information that identifies any individual user to 3rd party companies or entities (unless it’s required to fulfil our contractual obligations i.e delegate lists given to trainers for In-House courses, delegate lists given to exhibitors at our conferences). We do not sell our data lists to other companies or organisations.
(iv) If DSC enters into administration. If DSC enters into administration, receivership or any similar or equivalent event occurs, those acting on behalf of DSC at that time may sell the organisation or parts of it to a third party, in fulfilment of legal requirements. In these circumstances, we shall use reasonable endeavours to contact you in advance of disclosing your data to that third party, but you acknowledge that this might not be technically or commercially feasible in all the circumstances.
(v) DSC reserves the right to contact any customers or subscribers, on the basis of legitimate interest, with information of any DSC services, and carefully screened third party services, which DSC deem to be relevant. Customers may opt out of receiving any such correspondence at any time by emailing [email protected], or unsubscribing (or managing your communication preferences) from all future email correspondence via the unsubscribe option in the top header of any marketing emails received.
(vi) Partnership events – For conferences, training courses and fairs operated in partnership with other organisations, you will be a customer of both DSC and the partner organisation. Both organisations in both instances will process your information – DSC on a Contractual Basis and then may be used under Legitimate Interest in accordance with our GDPR policy. Any partner’s policies will be made clear and available at the time of booking.
Legal requirements
While it is not considered likely, DSC may be required to disclose your data by a court order or to comply with other legal requirements. We will use reasonable endeavours to notify you before we do so, unless we are legally restricted from doing so.
DSC may also be required to disclose your data if it is acting in good faith with the belief that such action is necessary to protect its interests or those of authorised bodies.
Data Protection Act
DSC complies with the Data Protection Act 1998 in the collection and processing of personal information.
Consent to our use
By using the DSC website you acknowledge that you have read the terms of this Privacy Policy and that you consent to the use of your business information and data for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.
If you do not wish to provide the information on the basis set out in this Privacy Policy you should not complete the business details or data in the spaces provided in the DSC website. However, in that case, we regret that you will not be able to make any further use of some of the services offered by the DSC website.
Right to erasure
An individual has the right to erasure and DSC will erase data under the following specific circumstances
- where personal data is no longer necessary in relation to the purpose for which it was originally collected/processed
- where an individual withdraws consent
- when the individual objects to the processing and there is no overriding legitimate interest for continuing processing
- the personal data was unlawfully processed
- the personal data has to be erased to comply with a legal obligation
- the personal data is processed in relation to the offer of information society services to a child.
To cease all communications from DSC please email us at [email protected].