Terms & Conditions

  1. General

  1. For the purposes of this agreement, the terms I, me, my or Pernickety Kate refer to me, Catherine Kendal, trading freelance as Pernickety Kate Proofreading & Editing. The terms you or your refer to any person, organisation or company accessing or contacting me via the website, associated social media or email. By doing so, you accept these terms & conditions.

  2. The term ‘Document’ refers to any written text that you provide for consideration of work by Pernickety Kate. The Document could be hard copy (ie, on paper, either printed or handwritten) or soft copy (ie, a Word document, PDF, Powerpoint or published website).

  3. These terms & conditions apply to any work that Pernickety Kate does for you.

  4. You are under no obligation to offer me work and I am under no obligation to accept work that you offer.

  5. I will provide service(s) as mutually agreed, confirmed in writing by you.

  6. I will carry out the work unsupervised at times and places that I decide, using my own equipment. 

2. Guarantees and responsibilities

  1. The scope of the work done by Pernickety Kate varies according to service definitions given on the website. It is your responsibility to ensure full understanding of my services before engaging me to do work.

  2. I guarantee that you will receive a high standard of proofreading, editing or writing services as agreed and appropriate. ‘A high standard’ is determined by what a reasonable individual would consider as an objectively good level of service.

  3. If my work is not satisfactory, I will correct it in my own time and at my own expense. I do not give refunds.

  4. I do not guarantee any material gain (eg, sales, acceptance for publication, marks or grades) as a result of the service carried out by Pernickety Kate.

  5. You are solely responsible for the final use and content of the Document and thus any intended meaning. If I have misunderstood the intended meaning, you are responsible for letting me know so that I can make corrections. 

3. Data protection and copyright

  1. You will retain the copyright of any content created by me as part of the copy-editing/proofreading/project management process, unless we agree otherwise.

  2. I will keep the nature and content of the work confidential. It will not be made known to anyone other than you and your contractors without your prior written permission.

  3. I guarantee that any work that I subcontract on your behalf will be completed to the same standard, schedule and budget and with the same conditions of confidentiality.

  4. Under the terms of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (GDPR), I may collect personal details including your name, business name, email address, phone number and postal address. The legal basis for collecting/processing the above data is ‘Contract’: the processing is necessary for a contract I have with you, or because you have asked me to take specific steps before entering into a contract. In other words, I need these details in order to communicate with you about any work I may do for you. I may use your contact details to follow up with you after a job. Other than following up a specific job, I will not contact you again without your permission. I will not share your personal contact details with anyone else without your permission.

  5. Either you or I have the right to end a contract for services if there is a serious breach of its terms.

4. Payment

  1. I confirm that I am self-employed, am responsible for my own income tax and National Insurance contributions, and will not claim benefits granted to your employees.

  2. VAT is not currently applicable.

  3. If necessary, I agree to attend your or other premises for meetings. The time spent and agreed reasonable expenses incurred will be reimbursed by you.

  4. You will reimburse me for agreed reasonable expenses over and above usual expenses incurred in the process of editorial work.

  5. You will pay me a fee per hour OR per thousand words OR an agreed flat fee for the job.

  6. I will deliver the completed work on or before the date agreed, for the agreed fee. This will be based on the description of the work required and the brief, both supplied by you.

  7. However, if it becomes clear that significantly more work is required than you or I had expected, I may renegotiate the fee and/or the deadline.

  8. Similarly, if you request additional tasks during the term of my work, I may renegotiate the fee and/or the deadline.

  9. If the project is lengthy, I may invoice periodically for completed stages.

  10. Unless we agree otherwise at the outset, you will make payment within 7 days of receipt of my invoice.

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This agreement is subject to the laws of England and Wales, and both you and Pernickety Kate agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the English and Welsh courts.