ProACT Partnership Group Standard Terms of Business
Our Aim
We aim to offer our clients quality advice with a personal service. These terms set out the basis upon which we accept your initial instruction and any further instructions.
We will take your client instructions, make initial proposals to you, prepare and submit documents and reports as well as organise and coordinate your affairs with agreed third parties.
If you request further services they can be done by a signed letter of client instruction under these same standard terms of business.
Please remember that we rely on you to ensure that you provide us with all relevant information that we need. You should let us know immediately of any change in circumstances which might affect the service and advice we provide to you.
These terms of business are of essence to any client instruction signed or agreed by you and formed the basis of our confidential working relationship together
Our Commitment to You
We will:
Represent your interests and keep your business confidential.
Treat your personal data with great care. We will not exchange information with any other person or organisation unless we have your written agreement.
Keep you regularly informed of progress and when you are likely to be next hear from us.
Try to avoid using technical language when writing to you.
Deal with your correspondence and queries promptly; for example, we will aim to acknowledge your emails and telephone calls on the same day, respond to enquiries within 72 hours and answer enquiries within 5 working days.
We will always notify you of what we do, normally by email, or as agreed by message or by phone call or post and include a time on which we will then further update you.
We have a Daily Pursuit of Excellence in Everything we do.
We accept that sometimes things go wrong. Help us by bringing these concerns to our attention and we will handle such nudges to bring our work together up to date.
We will acknowledge your concern on the same day, respond to enquiries with 72 hours and answer enquiries within 5 working days.
If there is a delay in completing our work together we always offer a Free Review to assess your case and agree next steps.
Instructions
You have signed a letter of client instruction to us and we have accepted this instruction on the basis we will carry out your instructions under these terms of business.
Any revisions to the original instructions or additional or new instructions should also be confirmed in writing including email.
People Responsible for your Work
The ProACT Partnership office is run by Sam Orgill as director and we work with the ProACT team of independent Consultants who are responsible for the completion of your instructions.
At the commencement of work on your behalf you will be given the contact name of an administrator in the ProACT Team who will be responsible for carrying out your instructions and this is the person you should contact for any matters arising while we carry out your instructions.
Fees & Charges
When we refer to Fees we mean for our work and time for advice, reports and returns including the preparation submission of documents and applications, including external meetings or administration of your instructions.
When we quote a Fee or expense without a sales tax or VAT this will be added when relevant and is added to any invoice when due for services.
We will give you the best information possible about our likely Fees and expenses charges at the commencement of any instruction you give us.
When we agree to a fixed fee for the work to be done on your behalf we are quoting for specific actions. There may be additional expenses, 3rd party costs, duties, taxes that we will try to estimate at the onset of our work together.
If we work on a Time Fee basis our standard hourly charge for work done by ProACT Partnership under your instruction is £360 inclusive or €360 plus sales tax per hour or part thereof.
If any unforeseen and or additional Fee or Expenses or Taxes arise we will notify you and obtain your agreement to proceed and request additional payment.
Any ProACT Partnership receive any fees from third parties we usually retained to cover the costs of work done.
Our standard hourly charge for work done by ProACT Partnership under your instruction is £360 inclusive or €360 plus sales taxes.
Expenses & Disbursements
When we refer to Expenses we mean payments made out on your behalf to carry out your instructions.
It may be necessary to incur various Expenses and disbursements on your behalf directly linked to carrying out your instructions and you will be informed as appropriate and as they arise and be asked to pay these expenses as they arise.
Payment Arrangements
Our practice is to request payment on account at the commencement of work on your behalf and payment on ongoing as time and expense fees are incurred
For ongoing work we will send you a regular client statement of costs and fees incurred and may ask you for additional payments on account.
As soon as we complete our work on your instructions we will deliver an invoice to you for payment when we have completed time spent on agreed work. This invoice will be settled from your payment on account where payment has been received if this is not the case our terms of payment are one month from delivery of our bill.
We provide an ongoing service to all clients and will follow through with any instruction to completion with you.
If payment becomes overdue we will charge a late payment fee of 15% of the initial fee for each part month that payment is delayed.
We charge VAT sales taxes where appropriate and charge all client expenses and disbursements directly to clients.
Clients’ Funds
We may hold client funds on deposit by agreement.
We can receive funds as GBP or EURO
We will request client fund to pay for Third party Expenses on your behalf including taxes and duties
Confidentiality
We will treat all information relating to your matters as confidential. However, we may disclose such information if you ask us to do so, or it is within the scope of our instructions to do so, or we are permitted or required to do so by law.
We will exchange information and take advice from our associate companies in the ProACT Partnership Group of companies.
We will only exchange information and take advice from other professional advisers as agreed in and confirmed in a separate letter of authority from you.
We use email as an efficient method of communication. However, just as with the Royal Mail, there is a risk of interception as well as the additional possibility of hacking by other users on the Internet. This can put confidentiality at risk. If you do not wish us to utilise this medium in our business with you, please notify us as soon as possible.
We use email to communicate with all clients and correspondents with ProACT Partnership Group. We will add you to our weekly email information newsletters. These emails are only from ProACT and are sent through secure email servers. We will send confirmation to all people added to these email lists and offer the option to unsubscribe at anytime in all correspondence.
We use some third party data providers to provide additional security when exchanging information securely including protecting data with One Time Password verifications. If you prefer for information to be exchange by courier or post or in person only this is at a client third party expense.
Anti Money Laundering
All new clients and existing clients (as required for any new instructions or every 3 years) must complete or update client verification to comply with international anti money laundering regulation and common reporting standards laws. A completed and signed Client Verification is prepared by the responsible member of the ProACT staff working on a client case and kept on the client ID file alone with original hard copies of ID, proof of address and Tax TIC / UTR number.
Failure to verify a client’s identity is a criminal offence for the company and its employee or contractors and must therefore be completed before commencing any new client work together.
Non-Disclosure & Data Protection
The Data Protection (Charges and Information) Regulations require every business that processes personal information to register and pay a data protection fee to the ICO. We work to the highest UK, Cyprus, Europe and global standards of data protection for our clients. We expressly refuse the use or exchange or distribution outside the organisation of any data of any type belonging to any client or the company in the ProACT Partnership Group and including any other company within the ProACT Group in the UK or Cyprus. This includes, but not exclusively, proprietary software or documents and in any way, electronic or material.
Client confidence in our business is absolutely essential.
No client information is revealed to any person outside the company in any way without the client’s express written permission.
Storage of Papers & Deeds
After completion of the matter we will retain our file of papers for not less than six years unless you specifically ask us to send your papers to you on completion. After six years these papers may be destroyed without reference to you. We may ask you at any time to take away these papers, failing which we may destroy them after one month.
Force Majure
We have no responsibility or liability to you under these terms of business for any loss or damage caused by us or suffered by you as a consequence of our failure to perform our obligations as a result of any breakdown, failure or malfunction of any telecommunications or computer services or systems, or any other event not reasonably within our control.
Termination
You may terminate our instructions at any time.
In such circumstances we will charge you for the work that has been done for you on a Time and Fees basis at our standard hourly rate
We may decline to act for you further if:
you fail to provide us with adequate information to complete instructions;
you do not pay any bill or request for payment on account in accordance with these terms;
Any conflict of interest arises or other circumstances occur which we consider makes it inappropriate for us to continue to act for you.
In such circumstances we will charge you fees on a time and fees basis for the work that has been done for you.
Terms of Business
This Terms of Business shall apply to any written or verbal client instructions and agreed actions given by you to us.
Any future instructions should be confirmed in writing to us by email or signed instruction and will be conducted under these terms of business.
User of any ProACT website use them under additional terms of business that can be read at www.proactpartnership.com
For the avoidance of doubt we state that ProACT Partnership Group does not give legal or investment advice. We act as administrators and agents for consultants who give advice and offer services.
ProACT Partnership act as introducers to independent financial advisers who give investment advice.
ProACT Partnership Group provides services through ProACT Partnership Cyprus Limited, ProACT Partnership Limited, ProACT Expatriate Advice Limited, ProACT Partnership 2020 Limited and acts as agent for these legally independent businesses.
Your signing of any letter of instruction to us is accepted by us on the basis that the work will be completed under these terms of business.
For and on behalf of ProACT Partnership Group of Companies.