TEO Academy Ltd, referred to in these Terms as TEO Academy, we, us or our, provides an online education platform and related learning services.

These Terms and Conditions govern your access to and use of the TEO Academy website, platform, accounts, live lessons, programmes, digital content, downloads, communications and related services, together referred to as the Service.

In these Terms, a person purchasing or receiving education is referred to as a Student or Learner. An independent educator offering lessons through the platform is referred to as a Tutor.

TEO Academy is primarily designed for adult learners and specialist adult education.

TEO Academy operates a platform that helps Students find and book independent Tutors. Unless expressly stated otherwise for a particular programme or service, Tutors are independent contractors and are not employees, workers, agents or partners of TEO Academy.

Tutors control their own teaching methods, subject to these Terms, platform policies, professional standards and applicable law.

Nothing in this clause excludes any responsibility that TEO Academy has under applicable law.

Organisations purchasing access for employees, members, delegates or other authorised learners are responsible for:

Where a separate written agreement exists, that agreement will take priority to the extent of any direct conflict with these Terms.

6.1 Standard lessons

Lesson duration, price, subject and availability are displayed before booking. Students are responsible for checking these details before confirming payment.

All bookings, payments and lesson-related transactions arising from introductions made through TEO Academy must be processed through the platform unless TEO Academy expressly agrees otherwise in writing.

6.2 Paid trial lessons

A trial lesson is a paid introductory teaching session booked with an independent Tutor through TEO Academy. It allows the Student and Tutor to discuss the Student's goals, explore the Tutor's teaching approach and decide whether they would like to book further lessons together.

Trial lessons are booked and paid for through TEO Academy in the same way as other Tutor lessons. The cancellation, rescheduling and refund provisions in clause 11 also apply.

6.3 Free TEO Academy consultations

A free consultation offered directly by TEO Academy for a specialist programme or service is separate from a Tutor trial lesson. A consultation is not an English lesson, does not count towards the discounted trial limit and may be subject to separate booking information or service terms.

6.4 Appropriate use

Students must not create multiple accounts or otherwise attempt to obtain repeated introductory discounts. TEO Academy may refuse, reverse or restrict promotional access where there is reasonable evidence of misuse.

This clause applies to purchases such as the Clinical Communication Programme, Self-Directed Courses, recorded learning materials, downloads, digital workbooks, assessments, live programme sessions, coaching, feedback and other programme components.

7.1 Different programme elements

A programme may contain:

7.2 General 14-day cancellation period

Where you purchase as a consumer online, you will normally have a statutory right to cancel within 14 days beginning on the day after the contract is made, subject to the rules and exceptions described in this clause.

7.3 Immediate digital access

Where digital content is to be supplied before the end of the 14-day cancellation period, TEO Academy will ask you to:

7.4 Services beginning during the cancellation period

Where live teaching, coaching, feedback, assessment or another service is due to begin during the 14-day cancellation period, TEO Academy may ask you to expressly request early performance.

If you cancel after the service has begun but before it has been fully performed, you may be required to pay a reasonable and proportionate amount for the service supplied up to the time you communicated cancellation.

You will lose the statutory right to cancel a service that has been fully performed during the cancellation period only where the required request and acknowledgement have been obtained.

7.5 Mixed programmes

Where a programme contains both digital content and services, cancellation rights may apply differently to each component. Loss of the right to cancel digital content does not automatically remove any cancellation right that continues to apply to an unperformed service component.

7.6 Confirmation and records

Relevant consent, acknowledgements and purchase information may be recorded and confirmed by email or another durable format that the customer can save.

7.7 Faulty or misdescribed content

Tutors agree to:

Tutors remain responsible for their own taxation, insurance, registrations, licences and professional obligations.

Students agree to:

10.1 Student payments

10.2 Tutor commission

The applicable commission rate will be communicated to Tutors. Commission applies to paid trial lessons and standard lessons and does not increase because a Tutor teaches fewer lessons or has used the platform for a shorter period.

10.3 Tutor wallet and payout timing

Tutor earnings become available in accordance with the platform’s completion, clearance and dispute procedures. Processing times may vary according to the payment method, currency, location and payment provider.

10.4 Withdrawal and provider charges

The amount received by a Tutor may therefore be lower than the amount withdrawn from the Tutor wallet.

10.5 Taxes

Users are responsible for determining and meeting their own tax obligations. TEO Academy may provide or disclose information where required by law.

11.1 Student cancellations

Unless different terms are clearly displayed before booking, a Student should give at least 12 hours’ notice to cancel or reschedule a lesson without losing the lesson payment.

Where a Student cancels with less than the required notice, fails to attend or is too late for the lesson to be reasonably delivered, the lesson may be treated as completed and non-refundable, subject to applicable law and any exceptional circumstances accepted by TEO Academy.

11.2 Tutor cancellations

Where a Tutor cancels, the Student may be offered rescheduling, platform credit or a refund, depending on the circumstances and the Student’s preference.

11.3 Technical problems

11.4 Dissatisfaction and learning outcomes

A preference for a different teaching style does not automatically create a right to a refund for a lesson that was delivered as described. This does not affect statutory rights where a service was not provided with reasonable care and skill or was materially misdescribed.

11.5 Statutory rights

Discounts and promotional offers may be subject to specific eligibility, expiry, usage and availability conditions displayed at the time of the offer.

TEO Academy may withdraw or correct a promotion where there is a genuine error, misuse, fraud or clear breach of the published offer conditions, while acting fairly and in accordance with applicable law.

All users must behave professionally, respectfully and lawfully.

TEO Academy may take proportionate action, including restricting communication, cancelling bookings, preserving relevant records, suspending accounts or reporting matters to appropriate authorities where reasonably necessary.

14.1 TEO Academy and intellectual property ownership

TEO Academy Ltd operates as an independent registered business and is responsible for providing the TEO Academy Service, entering into contracts with its users, processing customer payments and administering Tutor payments.

Intellectual property used in connection with TEO Academy may be owned by TEO Academy, The Hour Group, another business within or associated with The Hour Group, or a third-party licensor.

This intellectual property may include names, trading names, brands, trade marks, logos, visual identities, graphics, website designs, interfaces, software, source code, databases, business systems, methodologies, frameworks, programme structures, teaching approaches, course materials, videos, assessments, templates, downloads and other original content.

TEO Academy is authorised to use intellectual property made available to it by the relevant rights holder. Other businesses within or associated with The Hour Group may also be authorised to use shared intellectual property.

14.2 Limited permission to use the Service

Subject to payment of any applicable fees and compliance with these Terms, TEO Academy grants the authorised user a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable and revocable permission to access and use the Service and relevant materials solely for their intended educational purpose.

Purchased learning content is licensed for the personal use of the authorised learner or for the limited internal use expressly permitted under a written corporate or organisational agreement.

This permission does not include any right to commercially exploit, reproduce, distribute, publicly display, resell, sublicense or create competing products from the Service or its content.

14.3 Prohibited copying and use

Except where expressly permitted by law or authorised in writing by TEO Academy or the relevant rights holder, you must not:

14.4 Reverse engineering and technical restrictions

Except to the limited extent that a restriction cannot lawfully be enforced, you must not:

14.5 Scraping, automated extraction and artificial intelligence

You must not use a bot, crawler, scraper, data-mining system, artificial intelligence system or other automated or systematic process to access, extract, download, index, analyse, reproduce or collect material from the Service without our prior written permission.

Ordinary use of assistive technology, search engines acting in accordance with our technical permissions, and tools expressly enabled by TEO Academy is not prohibited by this clause.

14.6 Proprietary frameworks and programme materials

Any proprietary framework, methodology, terminology, teaching structure, exercise, assessment method, programme system or supporting resource identified as belonging to TEO Academy, The Hour Group or another relevant rights holder is protected intellectual property.

This includes the PEARLS Clinical English Communication Framework and its associated methodology, structure, terminology, teaching approach, exercises and supporting resources, except to the extent that a particular element is identified as third-party material or is otherwise agreed in writing.

Such materials may not be copied, reproduced, adapted, commercialised, taught as a competing proprietary system or used to develop a competing educational product without prior written permission from the relevant rights holder.

14.7 Tutor and third-party materials

Tutors retain ownership of original materials they independently create, unless a separate written agreement, commission, employment arrangement, assignment, licence or partnership agreement states otherwise.

Where a Tutor uploads or supplies material through the Service, the Tutor grants TEO Academy a non-exclusive permission to host, display, reproduce, transmit and use that material to the extent reasonably necessary to provide, administer, promote and support the relevant lessons or services.

Tutors must ensure that they own or have permission to use all materials they upload, display, distribute or teach through the Service. Tutors must not use material that infringes another person’s copyright, trade mark, confidentiality, privacy or other rights.

14.8 Group licensing, restructuring and business transfers

Intellectual property may be owned, licensed, assigned or transferred between TEO Academy, The Hour Group, another associated business or a third-party rights holder.

Intellectual property and related licences may also be retained, transferred, assigned, sublicensed or reorganised in connection with an investment, acquisition, disposal, merger, restructuring, joint venture, partnership, business sale, asset sale or similar commercial transaction.

14.9 Partnerships and jointly developed materials

Where content, programmes, frameworks or other intellectual property are developed with a partner, collaborator or external organisation, ownership and permitted use will be determined by the applicable written agreement.

Unless a written agreement expressly provides otherwise, participation in discussions, testing, promotion, delivery or collaboration does not by itself transfer ownership of TEO Academy’s or another party’s pre-existing intellectual property.

14.10 Enforcement

TEO Academy may investigate suspected infringement or misuse and may take proportionate steps to protect the Service and relevant rights holders.

Those steps may include restricting access, preserving records, removing content, suspending or terminating accounts, issuing legal notices, contacting hosting, payment or technology providers, and taking legal action where appropriate.

We reserve all intellectual-property rights that are not expressly granted under these Terms.

Personal data is handled in accordance with TEO Academy’s Privacy Policy and applicable data-protection law.

Optional marketing communications can be managed through the available account, email or unsubscribe settings.

A user may stop using the Service and may request account closure, subject to outstanding bookings, payments, disputes and legal record-retention requirements.

TEO Academy may restrict, suspend or terminate access where it reasonably believes that a user has:

Where appropriate, TEO Academy will consider the seriousness of the issue, available evidence, previous conduct and whether a warning or less restrictive response is suitable.

Immediate action may be taken where reasonably necessary to protect users, evidence, funds, the platform or the public.

TEO Academy aims to provide a reliable Service but cannot guarantee uninterrupted or error-free availability. Maintenance, security issues, internet failures, third-party services and events outside reasonable control may affect access.

To the extent permitted by law, TEO Academy is not responsible for:

Consumer services must be provided with reasonable care and skill. Digital content and other purchases remain subject to applicable statutory standards and remedies.

Users should contact TEO Academy promptly when a problem arises and provide relevant booking details, communications and supporting information.

TEO Academy may review account records, lesson information, payment evidence and communications reasonably relevant to a complaint.

TEO Academy will aim to reach a fair outcome based on the available evidence, applicable policies and legal obligations. Any internal decision does not remove a user’s statutory rights or lawful right to seek independent advice, use an applicable dispute process or bring a claim.

Users should contact TEO Academy before initiating an avoidable payment dispute or chargeback so that the matter can be investigated. This does not prevent a user from exercising a lawful right to dispute an unauthorised or incorrect payment.

TEO Academy may update these Terms where reasonably necessary, including to reflect:

Material changes will be communicated in a reasonable manner. Changes will not retrospectively remove rights already acquired under a completed consumer purchase.

Continued use after the effective date of updated Terms may constitute acceptance where lawful and appropriate. Where separate consent is legally required, TEO Academy will request it.

20.1 Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Consumers may also have mandatory rights under the law of the country in which they normally live.

20.2 Courts

Subject to any mandatory consumer rights concerning jurisdiction, the courts of England and Wales will have jurisdiction in relation to disputes arising from these Terms.

20.3 English-language version

The English-language version of these Terms is the legal reference. Any translation is provided for convenience. Nothing in this provision limits rights that apply under mandatory law.

20.4 Severability

If any provision is found to be unlawful or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue to apply so far as legally possible.

20.5 No waiver

A delay in enforcing a right does not automatically mean that the right has been waived.

20.6 Entire agreement

These Terms, together with any applicable policy, product description, order confirmation and separately agreed written terms, form the agreement relating to use of the Service.