London Bridge Business Academy

In 2023, we referred London Bridge Business Academy to National Trading Standards because of concerns with the formatting of the terms and conditions document, which was all capitalised and fitted on one page of A4 paper, and included terminology that was not clearly explained.

Overall, we were concerned that the document was not clear to read. This is contrary to the Competition and Markets Authority’s guidance, which states: 'unfair terms legislation requires that your terms much be written in plain and intelligible language…you are more likely to achieve this if our contract and rules and regulations are intuitively laid out, use meaningful headings, are written in plain English and explain any terminology used.' 

We also had concerns about the following clauses:

'If a student visa application has been refused, then the amounts paid will be refunded, less an administration charge of £500 (plus any courier and transfer charges) on production of the following documents:

• A copy of the visa refusal letter (app200)
• Copy of both student’s passport showing both a photograph and a signature; and
• Where the payer was not the student, an original authority letter from the student authorising the payment to the payer.

Refunds will only be made under this paragraph if requested in writing with the necessary supporting documents within four weeks after the commencement of the course (published date) should the student be applying for a visa from abroad'.

'Should students (requiring a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies) have commenced the course at the college and then be refused a visa provided it is within four weeks and full fees have been paid they will then be allowed a refund of half (50 per cent) of the full fees paid.'

We were concerned that these clauses were not intelligible and required students to pay charges which appeared disproportionate and unfair. They also seemed likely to have the same effect as terms included in the grey list¹ to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and were contrary to paragraph 5.13 of the CMA guidance to UK higher education providers, which states: 'A term in a HE provider’s rules and regulations will be unfair under unfair terms legislation if it creates a significant imbalance between parties’ rights and obligations under the contract to the detriment of the student, and is contrary to the requirement of ‘good faith''.

'The college reserves the right to change any aspect of a course including availability of the course, course dates, tutors’ timetables, curriculum and the material at any time. It is student’s’ responsibility to be aware of the changes.'

We were concerned about this term because it allows the college an unreasonably wide discretion to vary course content and structure during the duration of the course. This is contrary to paragraphs 5.22 – 5.24 of the CMA guidance to UK higher education providers.

After working with Trading Standards, the college made the following changes:

• The document was reformatted, to appear in standard typeface with terms explained.
• The term which allowed the college to deduct an administration charge of £500 (plus any courier and transfer charged) was amended to reduce the administration charge to a single fee of up to £350.
• The clause which allowed the college to refund half (50 per cent) of the annual fees paid in circumstances where a student requiring a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) had commenced the course but was subsequently refused a visa provided it was within four weeks was amended to permit the issuing of refunds in these circumstances within eight weeks.
• The clause which gave the college a wide discretion to vary course content and structure was removed and a new clause outlining the college’s approach to dealing with events outside its control was included. This clause states that 'the college will use all reasonable attempts to lessen the effect of the event and will communicate these to students in a timely manner. Where students are adversely affected, then they will be given the option to either switch courses or to withdraw from the college.'

Notes

[1] The Consumer Rights Act 2015 contains a list of terms that may be regarded as unfair, known as the ‘grey list’. This also applies to terms that have the same purpose or effect as terms on the grey list. However, these terms are not automatically unfair.