Work enquiries can be made by phone or email, but please submit your full request by email to emma@universal-paservices.co.uk.

Email submissions will be acknowledged within one hour, during business hours: Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. 

Documents can be received by your preferred method, post, email, WeTransfer or Dropbox, for instance.

Any work received after 5pm will be scheduled for the following day, unless out of hours rates have been agreed.

Completion of larger tasks will be confirmed at the time of initial discussions, and you will receive regular reports on progress.

All job submissions should include the full details required to complete the task, such as deadline requirements, templates, passwords, and any instructions.

For urgent, out-of-hours jobs where an additional fee is charged, the job will be scheduled immediately and you will be provided with a completion time.

Work can be returned to you by similar methods, depending on the work involved.  Post or courier will incur an extra charge at cost.

All payments are due within 7 days of receipt of invoice, reminders will be sent at 14 days and any late payments will incur an 8% 'statutory interest' late payment charge, + the current Bank of England base rate.

Any additional office expenses incurred will be charged at cost and invoiced, such as stationery, Skype credit, telephone calls, postage, couriers, travel, bulk or specialist printing.

• A retainer package is adapted between the VA and the client once time and tasks have been agreed
• An agreement will be signed by both parties
• Example discounted packages are listed here on our prices page and are based on our current hourly rate of £25 (reviewed annually in April).  Further packages can be discussed to suit your individual needs and are not limited to the examples
• Retainer packages are paid in advance - you are booking our time for the coming month. 
  1, 2, 3 or 4 unused hours can be rolled over to the following month, depending on the package agreed, but it is not possible to carry over more than 4. Any hours worked above those already agreed will be included in your monthly invoice, at the same discounted rate
• Payment for retained packages is due within 7 days of the date of invoice, when a reminder will be sent - we reserve the right to charge statutory interest of 8% + the current Bank of England base rate on late payments (per the advice from www.gov.uk), from 7 days late and weekly thereafter
• Any additional office expenses incurred will be charged at cost and invoiced.  Such expenses might be stationery, telephone calls, postage, couriers, travel, bulk or specialist printing.

Absolutely no data will be shared with a third party unless part of the booking.   All data is backed up off-site every day.

Please be reassured that we are always highly confidential, we are registered under the 1998 Data Protection Act with the Information Commissioners Office.

Invoicing and Payments Policy

• An invoice will be emailed to you at the beginning of each month
• Please set up a monthly standing order for the amount agreed once this agreement has been signed
• Time worked will be tracked by the minute
• Up to 4 unused hours can be rolled over to the following month, but it is not possible to carry over more than 4. Any hours worked above those already agreed will included in your monthly invoice, at the same discounted rate
• Payments for retained packages are due within 14 days of the date of invoice, a reminder invoice will be sent at 14 days.  Payment for ad-hoc work will be invoiced weekly, or at the end of the project
• We reserve the right to charge statutory interest of 8% + the current Bank of England base rate on late payments (per the advice from www.gov.uk), from 21 days and weekly thereafter,
• We accept payments by BACS. Bank details can be found on your invoice.  Paypal is also a possibility
• Initial phone or personal meetings discussions/consultations will be free
• Any tasks requested out of normal office hours (9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday) will be charged at our out of hours rate of £35 per hour

The Work

1. Work enquiries can be made by phone or email, but your actual request needs to be submitted by email to emma@universal-paservices.co.uk. All emailed job submissions should please include the full details required to complete the task, such as documents, templates, passwords and any particular instructions; please ensure the best possible sound recording that you have access to; let me have any styles and templates you wish me to use; spell out names and technical terms and data.  Please state clearly in your email a preferred deadline for the work.
2. Your email will be acknowledged as soon as possible during business hours, Monday-Friday 9am-5.00pm. If you do not receive an acknowledgement, it would be advisable to call us on 01258 450557 or 07824 703741 to check that your email has been received
3. Work can be received by post, email, Evernote, WeTransfer, Dropbox, or your preferred method
4. Any work received after 5.00pm will be scheduled for the following day unless out of hours rates have already been agreed, in which case the job will be scheduled immediately and you will be provided with a completion time
5. An estimate of completion of larger tasks can be confirmed at the time of initial discussions and you will receive regular reports on progress
6. We will draw your attention to any problems with the work and/or our ability to complete the same as soon as we become aware of any difficulties. If the problem identified is one of your making you agree to use your reasonable endeavours to deal with the problem and, if necessary, re-send the work with fresh completion times and date.  If the problem is of our making we will, at your option, return the work to you or agree a means of dealing with the problem and agree a new timescale for completion of the work with you.  Any inaccuracies in the work will be corrected by UPAS free of charge provided they are clearly communicated to us in writing within 7 days of us returning the work to you
7. Work can be returned to you by email, WeTransfer, Dropbox etc, or another preferred method, depending on the work involved. Post or courier will incur an extra charge at cost.  Personal collection and delivery is also an option which can be discussed, travel will be charged £0.45p per mile
8. Any additional expenses incurred will be charged at cost and invoiced. Such expenses might be specialist stationery, international telephone calls, postage, couriers, travel, bulk or specialist printing
9. An arrangement can be made to attend your place of work on a regular basis if required, travel time charged at .45p per mile

Confidentiality

UPAS acknowledge that we will have access to certain confidential information, whether tangible or intangible, which shall be your sole and exclusive property.  All such materials authored, made, conceived or developed by us or made available to us (or any copies or extracts thereof) in the course of our services for you, will be held by us in trust solely for your benefit.  We will use such materials only as required in the course of our contracted services for you or as otherwise authorised in writing by you.

Data Protection

UPAS is registered with the ICO Information Commissioners Office under the Data Protection Act and holds all personal data securely in accordance with the recommendations.

Release Policy

Agreed that services may be cancelled by each party giving one month’s notice.

Disclaimer

We will not be held responsible for any loss, damage or theft of documents, equipment or any items relating to tasks during transit to and from your premises.

We will not be liable for any losses you might sustain arising directly or indirectly from our work except when it is directly due to our negligence.