Terms for clients

1. About these terms

1.1These terms are the agreement between your business (“you”) and GUARDPOST CONNECTIONS LTD, a company registered in England and Wales with company number 17454609, whose registered office is at 21 Lockington Crescent, Dunstable, LU5 4ST (“GuardPost”, “we”, “us”). You can contact us at support@guardpost.uk.

1.2You agree to them by ticking the box when you sign up, or by pressing “I agree” in the app. The person who does so confirms they are authorised to agree them for the business. We record which version was agreed and when, and email a copy.

1.3Each booking also has a booking agreement, which you agree when you accept a handler. It sets out that booking’s dates, rate, amounts and payment dates. If it conflicts with these terms, the booking agreement applies to that booking.

2. Who can use GuardPost

2.1GuardPost is for businesses only. We check your business on Companies House before you can post a job.

2.2If you need security for your own home or another private property, GuardPost cannot book it. You can send a request to K9 Securex, a separate security company, through guardpost.uk/request-cover.

3. What GuardPost does

3.1GuardPost acts as an employment agency. We check handlers, show them your jobs, introduce them to you, and give you and them tools for the work: job sheets, booking on and off, check-ins, incident logs, shift reports, and a process for concerns.

3.2GuardPost does not supply security services, does not employ the handlers, and does not direct their work. We do not promise that a handler will be available for any job.

4. What we check about handlers

4.1Before a handler can apply for or be booked on work, we check that they hold an SIA licence, the right to work in the UK, public liability insurance of at least £2 million, and photographs matched to their photo ID. K9 handlers must also hold NASDU or BIPDT dog certification, a microchip registered to them and suitable dog transport. Anything else your job requires — such as a CSCS card, an enhanced DBS check or BS 7858 screening — is checked when you ask for it on the job.

4.2A document stops counting on its expiry date, automatically. We check SIA licences against the public register about every 30 days, so a licence suspended between checks is caught at the next check, not the same day. The register is public: you can check a handler’s licence at the gate yourself.

4.3Our checks are of documents, registers and photographs. They do not guarantee how a handler will behave.

5. Posting a job

5.1The law requires us to get certain information from you before we introduce a handler, and you must give it accurately and keep it up to date: who your business is, the work and its duties, where and when it is, how long it lasts, the risks to health and safety on the site and what you do about them, and the experience, qualifications and authorisations the work requires.

5.2You set the rate, and the handler receives all of it. A rate below the minimum shown for the type of work cannot be posted.

5.3Until you book a handler, your listing shows the town and an approximate area only. The full address, access details and site contact are released to the handler you book.

6. Your agreement with the handler

6.1When you accept a handler, the contract for the work is between you and the handler. The handler is self-employed and is not GuardPost’s employee or worker.

6.2You direct the work on site. You are responsible for the site: a safe place of work, a site induction, welfare facilities, and telling the handler about the hazards and any changes. Handlers carry their own public liability insurance.

6.3Never ask a handler to do work they are not licensed or qualified for, or to work unsafely.

7. Paying the handler

7.1You pay the handler directly, for the shifts they worked, on the invoice raised in their name. GuardPost is not authorised to receive a handler’s pay and will not accept it.

7.2The amounts and dates are in your booking agreement. Cancelled shifts, and shifts not worked, are not charged.

8. GuardPost’s fee

8.1Our fee is a percentage of what you pay the handler for the shifts they work, and it is shown before you book. Once you have 10 completed shifts with the same handler, it is 5%. Once you have 4, it is 8%. Otherwise it is 15% for a job marked urgent, 8% for a booking of 5 or more shifts, and 12% for anything else.

8.2We invoice our fee separately from the handler’s invoice. It is not charged for cancelled shifts or shifts not worked. If GuardPost becomes registered for VAT, VAT will be added to the fee and shown on the invoice.

9. Sign-off, billing and late payment

9.1When a handler submits a shift report, you have 24 hours to sign it off or raise a problem. If you do neither, the shift clears and is billed.

9.2Shifts are billed by the week, Monday to Sunday, on the dates in your booking agreement.

9.3Late payment of a business debt carries statutory interest, fixed compensation and reasonable recovery costs under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. While a GuardPost fee is unpaid, you cannot post or accept work.

10. Cancelling and no-shows

10.1You can stand a handler down from a shift in the app. You are not charged for that shift, and the handler is not penalised. Standing somebody down after they have set off for the site counts against your client record, which handlers can see.

10.2If nobody has booked on 60 minutes after a shift starts, you can record a no-show. It is the heaviest mark on a handler’s record, so if they arrived late or left early, say so instead.

11. Concerns and sites left unattended

11.1You can raise a concern about a shift for up to 7 days afterwards. The handler has 7 days to respond, then GuardPost decides and gives both of you the reasons. The outcome affects the handler’s record. GuardPost does not handle money between you and the handler, so any dispute about the handler’s invoice is between you and them.

11.2If a site is left unattended, you can report it from the shift report for up to 7 days after the shift. The handler cannot take new work while GuardPost looks into it.

12. Information about handlers

12.1You receive personal information about the handlers you book, such as their name, mobile number, photographs and licence details. You and GuardPost are each separately responsible for the personal information you hold under UK data protection law.

12.2Use it only for the booking it was given for and to meet your legal duties, keep it secure, and do not share it with anybody who does not need it.

13. Records and evidence

13.1Each shift is recorded in a log that cannot be changed afterwards without it showing. You can open the reports for your shifts, and we keep them for 6 years.

13.2A check-in shows that the handler pressed a button within 250 metres of your site pin at that moment. It is evidence of that, not of continuous presence, and nobody at GuardPost monitors shifts as they happen.

14. Suspension and ending

14.1You can close your account at any time by emailing support@guardpost.uk. Anything you owe for work already done stays payable.

14.2We can suspend your account straight away while a GuardPost fee is unpaid. We can end these terms by giving you 14 days’ notice by email, or straight away if you seriously break them or the law requires it.

15. Liability

15.1GuardPost is not responsible for the work a handler does, for anything a handler does or fails to do, or for what happens on your site, including loss, theft, damage or injury.

15.2We are not liable for loss of profit, revenue, business or goodwill, or for any indirect or consequential loss. Our total liability to you in any 12 months is limited to the fees you paid GuardPost in the 12 months before the claim arose.

15.3Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law does not allow to be limited.

16. Changes to these terms

16.1We will email you at least 14 days before a change takes effect, and ask you to agree to it in the app. A change never alters a booking agreement you have already made.

17. General

17.1These terms and your booking agreements are the whole agreement between you and GuardPost.

17.2If a court decides that part of these terms cannot be enforced, the rest still applies. Nobody else has a right to enforce these terms under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.

17.3These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales can decide any dispute about them.