Terms of Service
We are here to help you. Our terms of service set out who we are, what we expect from you and what we can and can’t do for you.
Who we are
- We are independent and separate from UAL but we often work together
- Arts SU are a charity set up to support UAL students (Charity Number 1143161)
- Arts SU Advice is a free and confidential advice service
- Our service is free
- Our service is voluntary; you are under no obligation to seek advice from us
What we need from you
- You need to tell us as much information as you feel comfortable
- You need to be respectful to our staff at all times
- You need to tell us if you are seeking advice elsewhere
- You agree to receiving advice in line with our handbook which is available in print at the SU office in Holborn and online
What we will do for you
- We will empower you with the right information to take the next steps
- We are here to explain your options and advise on processes
- We will be honest with you, even if it's not always good news
- We can read over documents you receive and help you make sense of them
- We will empower you with the right information to take the next steps
- We will help you to prepare for meetings with UAL
- We can accompany you to meetings with the university where we have capacity to do so
- Where we don’t have the expertise to help, we will refer you to a service that can
- We can help you draft content for forms and emails
- We will aim to respond within 5 days to correspondence
What we won't/don't do
- We don’t act on your behalf
- We can’t type up emails, forms or letters for you
- We don’t submit forms for you
- If we attend a meeting with you, we won’t speak on your behalf
- We don’t offer ongoing welfare or counselling support, but we will link you with services that can if you need
- We don’t advise you on complaints about the SU as this is a conflict of interest
- We don’t advise you if you’re getting advice on the same matter from another 3rd party
- We won’t speak to parents, guardians or 3rd parties about your case without your written consent
If you access advice from our service, you agree to our terms of service and associated policies
It is very important that you understand the ‘What we need from you’ section of this document.
If you breach any of these expectations we may have to limit or withdraw the service from you.
Privacy Notice
Please note that when you contact us for advice we will open a confidential case file for you and record your personal information, details of your enquiry and any advice given.
The details shared with Arts SU, will be held in compliance with the Data Protection Act (DPA) and with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018, along with the University and Arts SU data protection policies.
Information collected will be held for a maximum of 5 years and used for statistical purposes only and will not identify you when compiling reports.
The Union’s Data Protection Statement and Policy is reviewed annually to ensure compliance and is available on request or by visiting: https://www.arts-su.com/yourunion/governingdocs/dataprotection/
For further information on how we use your data, you can also read our Advice Service Handbook.
Accessibility
We will look at ways of removing barriers that restrict access to our services for disabled people. We ascribe to the social model of disability so you won’t be asked to produce any evidence to access reasonable adjustments.
When you first access our service you should let us know if you have any reasonable adjustments that you think we should know about so that we can give you the best service.
If you're coming to a UAL building and would find it useful to know about the physical accessibility of the site you can find out more information here.
Withdrawal of Service
We reserve the right to withdraw our advice service from students. We rarely have to do this but when we do we take it in line with the 'Withdrawal and Limiting of Service' section of the Arts SU Advice Handbook.
Parents/Guardians
Ideally, we'd prefer to speak directly to you about your case but we know that this isn't always possible. We can give general advice / signposting but we won’t speak to parents, guardians or 3rd parties about your case without your written consent.
Conflict of Interest
Any student at UAL can access our service. Sometimes students on both sides of an issue come to us for help. When this happens we ensure that you'll be seen by different advisers and our advisers won't discuss your case.
Sometimes there is a conflict of interest with Arts SU, for example, if you were bringing a complaint against the SU. If this happened we wouldn't be able to advise you and, where possible, would direct you to help elsewhere.
Your Data
We take your privacy and rights to data protection very seriously. To ensure our advice is consistent and of a high standard, we keep a record of each interaction you have with our service. We won’t share your information without your consent unless we need to in line with our confidentiality policy. You can read how we store and process your data and how we keep your information confidential by reading our Advice Handbook.
Disclaimer
We aim to keep the advice on our website as up to date as possible but they should be used as a reference and not a substitute for advice. If you have an issue, please contact us