National Fire Chiefs Council Terms & Conditions

Website Terms of Use and Subscription Terms

Please read these terms and conditions (these terms) carefully before using https://nfcc.org.uk. The site offers:

a free online face of NFCC, providing information about our work, governance, and structure and providing a go-to place for users to read the latest news, access publicly available reports, and stay up-to-date with our work; and
if you are a registered subscriber, a designated members’ area in which you can access an online library of resources and content made available to assist chiefs, employees and other members with information relevant to their roles.

The terms in Section A apply to everyone who uses our site regardless of whether they are a paid or free user. By using our site that means that you accept, and agree to abide by, the terms set out in Section A. The terms in Section B only apply to paid users. By completing your registration in accordance with clause 1 (Section B) that means that you also accept, and agree to abide by, the terms set out in Section B.

To the extent there is a conflict between the terms in Section A and the terms in Section B (and the terms in Section B apply to you) then the relevant terms in Section B shall take priority.

SECTION A: General Website Terms of Use

Information about us and how to contact us
1. This site is operated by the National Fire Chiefs Council Limited (NFCC), a company registered in England and Wales with company number 3677186, VAT number GB902195446, registered charity number 1074071 whose registered office is at 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ (we, us, our).
2. You may contact us:
  1. For general enquiries, please fill in the form on our site or email info@nfcc.org.uk; or
  2. For technical support or website issues, please email helpdesk@cloudworks.co.uk
What these terms do
1. These terms tell you the rules for using our site.
2. By using our site, you confirm that you accept the terms set out in Section A and that you agree to comply with them. If you do not agree to these terms, you must not use our site. By subscribing and completing your registration in accordance with clause 1(Section B), you confirm that you also accept the terms set out in Section B and that you agree to comply with them too.
3. We may amend these terms from time to time. Each time you enter our site, you agree that our terms current at that time, which apply to you in accordance with clause 2.2(Section A), shall apply to you. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to these terms.
4. Some of the provisions contained in these terms may also be superseded by provisions or notices published elsewhere on our site from time to time.
There are other terms that may apply to you
1. Our Privacy Notice also applies to your use of our site. This sets out the terms on which we process any personal data we collect from you or that you provide to us and gives you information on how we use cookies on our site if applicable. We will only use your personal data as set out in our Privacy Notice.
How you may use our site
1. We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in our site, and in the material published on it. Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.
2. Our site:
  1. contains information about the National Fire Chiefs Council, including our work, governance and structure;
  2. provides a go-to place for users to read the latest news, access publicly available reports, and stay up-to-date with our work;
  3. contains various information about others whom we work with (including their name, address, contact details, details of the products and services they provide);
  4. provides functionality for users to search our site;
  5. provides functionality for subscribers to search and access our online resource library of content in the members’ area relevant to subscribers’ roles, in accordance with Section B; and
  6. provides functionality for users to register for a subscribed account and join the members’ area, in accordance with Section B.
3. The site is designed as a helpful aid and information resource tool, it is matter for you alone to decide whether to use any information obtained via our site and you must carry out your own due diligence before making use of or relying on any information obtained via our site.
4. You must not use any part of the content on our site other than for the purposes described in clause 4.2(Section A). In particular, you must not use any part of the content of our site for commercial purposes (other than as described in clause 4.2(Section A)). Commercial purposes include any:
  1. bulk downloading or storage of any data available on the site;
  2. generating mailing or address lists for direct marketing or other marketing purposes; or
  3. selling or trading in materials copied from or containing any data available on the site.
5. You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you print off or downloaded in any way and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text, without our prior written consent. You must not share any content, resources or other materials obtained from the site outside of your organisation, outside of your role, or with anyone else for whom that content has not been specifically prepared (including other organisations or entities to which you may belong) without our prior approval.
6. Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors or licensees of any content on our site—as the case may be—must always be acknowledged.
7. If you print off, copy or download any part of our site in breach of these terms, your right to use our site will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.
8. We do not warrant that your use of the site will be uninterrupted and we do not warrant that any information (downloads or messages or postings) transmitted via the site will be transmitted accurately, reliably, in a timely manner or at all.
9. You shall ensure that all Material provided by or on behalf of you to us, the site and/or other users (whether through the site or not) is true, complete and accurate and does not infringe third party intellectual property rights of any kind, and you shall promptly inform us of any changes to such information, or update such information, if possible by using the relevant function on the site.
Do not rely on information on our site
1. Whether you are a free user or a paid subscriber accessing content on our site, it is your responsibility to verify that the content is accurate and correct, and that it is suitable for the purposes for which you are using it.
2. Our site and all content is provided as a helpful tool for general information purposes only. In particular it is up to you to carry out your own due diligence in relation to any particular content in our online resource library, or our wider site, in order to satisfy yourself that it is right for you.
3. Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on our site and to ensure the accuracy of the content, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that such information or content is accurate, complete or up-to-date. Whilst we take care to provide the most helpful content that we can, including by surveying our users to collect relevant information, our site (including the resource library) is ultimately only made available as a generic reference tool and will not take up responsibility for free users’ and/or paid subscribers’ own legal duties or responsibilities that apply to them or how they carry out their roles.
4. We use reasonable care and skill in a professional manner in the way we obtain, compile, select and arrange the information on our site. You acknowledge that our site, including any associated content, may not:
  1. fulfil your present or future needs or requirements; or
  2. be complete, error-free, wholly accurate or up-to-date or that it will be delivered without interruption, delay, fault or error.
5. If you are a free user, you acknowledge that we are making the information, and other general content on our site, available free of charge and that, as described above, it is your responsibility to verify that the content is suitable for the purposes for which you are using it. Except as we may otherwise agree in writing, we will not be liable to you for any loss or damage, whether in contract, tort, negligence, breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising under or in connection with any use of or reliance on any content contained on our site or in relation to any products or services obtained from third parties listed on our directory.
6. If you have any suggestions for content or further information for our site, please let us know using our contact details at the start of these terms.
We may make changes to, suspend or withdraw our site
1. We may update and/or change our site from time to time; for example, to reflect changes to our activities, improve performance, enhance functionality, update content, address security issues, our users’ needs and/or our business priorities.
2. We do not guarantee that our site, or any content on it, will always be available or that access will be uninterrupted. We may suspend or withdraw or restrict the availability of all or any part of our site at any time for business and operational reasons.
3. You are responsible for ensuring that all persons who access our site through your internet connection are aware of these terms and other applicable terms and conditions, and that they comply with them.
Our site is directed at users in the UK
1. Our site is directed at users habitually resident in the United Kingdom. We cannot confirm and do not represent that content available on or through our site is appropriate for use or available in other locations. If you choose to access or use the site from or in locations outside the United Kingdom, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for:
  1. ensuring that what you are doing in that country is legal; and
  2. the consequences and compliance by you with all applicable laws, regulations, byelaws, codes of practice, licences, registrations, permits and authorisations (including any laws that relate to businesses providing services).
Prohibited uses of our site
1. You shall not use our site:
  1. in any way that breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation;
  2. in any way that is unlawful, malicious or fraudulent, or has any unlawful, malicious or fraudulent purpose or effect;
  3. for the purpose of harming or attempting to harm minors or vulnerable people in any way;
  4. to transmit any material that is defamatory, offensive or otherwise objectionable in relation to your use of our site;
  5. to transmit, or procure the sending of, any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation (spam);
  6. to knowingly transmit any data, send or upload any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect our operation and/or security or any computer software or hardware; or
  7. to infringe our intellectual property rights or those of any third party.
2. You also agree not to access without authority, interfere with, damage or disrupt:
  1. any part of our site;
  2. any equipment or network on which our site is stored;
  3. any software used in the provision of our site; or
  4. any equipment or network or software owned or used by any third party.
We are not responsible for third party content or the services of third parties listed on our site
1. Due to the nature of our site, and in order to facilitate certain functionality on our site, our site contains links to other sites provided by third parties.
2. We may also link to other third party sites and resources from time to time.
3. Third parties links are provided for your information only and should not be interpreted as approval by us of those linked sites or information you may obtain from them.
4. We have no control over the content of any third party site or resources, or the products or services of third parties. Please check the terms of any third party sites carefully including the terms of business of any service provider you may contact before engaging their services.
5. You will need to make your own independent judgement about whether to use any such third party sites, including whether to obtain any products or services offered by them. We are not party to such arrangements and shall have no responsibility or liability for them.
Our responsibility for loss or damage suffered by you
1. We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors and for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
2. We are not liable for business losses through your use of or access to our site. If you use or access our site for any commercial or business purpose, either as an organisation, employee, business or as an individual, then except as we may otherwise agree in writing, we will have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity, howsoever caused.
3. If you are registered subscriber, then the liability provisions set out in Section B apply.
We are not responsible for viruses and you must not introduce them
1. We do not guarantee that our site will be secure or free from bugs or viruses.
2. We use reasonable firewall, virus and content filtering software, but we cannot guarantee 100% security or that our site will be free from bugs, viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful. We shall not have any responsibility for damage to, unauthorised access to, or viruses or other code that may affect any computer equipment, software, data or other property as a result of access to our site. We shall also not be responsible for the actions of third parties in breaching our security measures.
3. You are responsible for configuring your information technology, computer programmes and platform to access our site. You should use your own virus protection software.
4. You must not misuse our site by knowingly introducing viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our site, the server on which our site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site. You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack. By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our site will cease immediately.
Rules about linking to our site
1. You may link to our home page, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it.
2. You must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.
3. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.
4. The website from which you are linking must comply in all respects with the content standards set out in these terms.
5. If you wish to link to or make any use of content on our site other than that set out above, please contact us using our contact details above.
Suspension and termination
1. We will determine, in our discretion, whether there has been a breach of the terms that apply to you through your use of our site. When we determine that a breach of the terms (that apply to you) has occurred, we may take such action as we deem appropriate.
2. Failure to comply with the terms that apply to you constitutes a material breach of the terms upon which you are permitted to use our site, and may result in our taking all or any of the following actions:
  1. immediately, temporarily or permanently, withdrawing your right to use our site and any content;
  2. issuing a warning to you;
  3. commencing legal proceedings against you for reimbursement of all costs on an indemnity basis (including, but not limited to, reasonable administrative and legal costs) resulting from the breach;
  4. taking further legal action against you; or
  5. disclosing such information to law enforcement authorities as we reasonably feel is necessary.
3. We exclude liability for actions taken in response to your breaches of these terms. The responses described in these terms are not limited and we may take any other action we reasonably deem appropriate.
Which country’s laws apply to any disputes?
1. These terms, their subject matter and formation are governed by the law of England and Wales.
2. If you are a consumer, you and we both agree that the courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction except that if you are a resident of Northern Ireland you may also bring proceedings in Northern Ireland, and if you are resident of Scotland, you may also bring proceedings in Scotland.
3. If you are a business, organisation or professional, you and we both agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

SECTION B: Subscriber Terms

These terms in Section B apply to you if you complete your registration in accordance with clause 1(Section B) (in addition to the terms in Section A).

Registration
1. You need to register to become a subscriber and to access the online resource library or any other functionality that we make available to subscribers from time to time.
2. We reserve the right to decline a new registration for any reason.
3. To register, you agree to supply us with your name, address, organisation details, role, website, email address, telephone number (or other information we reasonably request), username (which you may need to replace if your desired one is unavailable), password, and any other information we may reasonably request from time to time. To understand how we use that information, please see our privacy policy.
4. You must not choose a password that can be readily guessed. You must keep your password strictly confidential and secure and immediately change your password using the functionality on the site and notify us if you suspect that any unauthorised third party becomes aware of that password or if you become aware of any unauthorised use of your email address or password or there is any breach of security known to or suspected by you. You agree that any person to whom your username or password is disclosed is authorised to act as your agent for the purposes of using (and/or transacting via) the site. You are entirely responsible if you do not maintain the confidentiality of your password. You are also entirely responsible for bringing these terms to the attention of all persons who may access the site through your password or your internet connection. You agree to regularly change your password and in any event when we require.
5. Your subscription will start once we have notified you by email that we have accepted and completed your registration and that your listing is live. Until that point, the full range of site functionality will not have started and completion of your registration and profile information will be in preparation for commencement of your subscription.
Fees and Payment
1. 1. The applicable Fees must be paid in order to become a subscriber and access our members’ area and online resource library (and any other the functionality we make available to paid subscribers from time to time).
  2. Subject to your successful registration in accordance with clause 1(Section B), you must pay us the Fees must be paid in accordance with this clause 2(Section B).
  3. All sums payable under these terms:
    1. are exclusive of value added tax or other applicable sales tax, which shall be added (if applicable) to the sum in question and payable at the same time as the sum in question; and
    2. shall be paid in full without any deductions (including deductions in respect of items such as income, corporation, or other taxes, charges and/or duties) except where you are required by law to deduct withholding tax from sums payable.
  4. If there is a failure to make any payment due to us under these terms in cleared funds by the due date for payment, then, without limiting our other rights or remedies (whether under this agreement or at law), we may do either or both of the following:
    1. charge interest on the overdue amount at the rate of 6% per annum above the Bank of England’s base rate from time to time. Such interest shall accrue on a daily basis from the due date until actual payment of the overdue amount, whether before or after judgment, and shall be compounded monthly. The interest shall be paid together with the overdue amount; and
    2. give notice with immediate effect that we are suspending this agreement including your access to the site, until we have received the outstanding sums in full.
  5. The Fees shall be payable for your subscription alone and are not dependent upon you actually making use of the Site or any content we may make available.
  6. Termination or expiry of these terms, howsoever arising, shall not affect the continuation in force of the amounts owing under this clause 2(Section B) prior to termination or expiry.
Indemnity
1. You shall fully and promptly indemnify and keep indemnified us against all liabilities, losses, damages, injuries, costs, expenses, fines, demands, claims and proceedings suffered or incurred by us arising (directly or indirectly) out of:
  1. any claims or legal proceedings arising from your use of the site through your password, which are brought or threatened against us by any person;
  2. any claims, legal proceedings or allegations that any material you have provided, or which has been provided on your behalf may infringe any intellectual property rights (including copyright), rights of personality, publicity or privacy of a third party, or any other third party rights of any nature;
  3. any breach of these terms by you; or
  4. any liability owed by you to anyone else; except to the extent caused by our breach of this agreement or our negligence.
Limitation of liability
1. 1. 1. Nothing in these terms shall limit or exclude the liability of either party for:
      1. death or personal injury caused by its negligence, or the negligence of its employees, agents or subcontractors (as applicable);
      2. fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation or wilful default;
      3. liability under the indemnities contained in clause 3.1(Section B); or
      4. any matter in respect of which it would be unlawful to exclude or restrict liability.
    2. Subject to clause 4.1(Section B):
      1. We shall not under any circumstances whatsoever be liable, under or in connection with this agreement, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), misrepresentation, restitution, breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, for:
        
        any loss of profit, sales, revenue, or business;
        
        loss of anticipated savings;
        
        loss of or damage to goodwill;
        
        loss of agreements or contracts;
        
        loss of opportunity;
        
        loss of use or corruption of software, data or information;
        
        any loss arising out of the lawful termination of this agreement or any decision not to renew its term, or
        
        any indirect or consequential loss.
      2. Our total liability in respect of all other loss or damage arising under or in connection with this agreement, in each Contract Year, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), misrepresentation, restitution, breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, shall in no circumstances exceed 150% of the Fees in relation to your subsciption paid in that Contract Year.
Definitions and Interpretation

The following definitions and rules of interpretation apply in these terms.

Contract Year: means each period of 12 months starting on the date we confirm your successful registration and restarting on each anniversary of that date.
Fees: means the recurring subscription fee which is payable in advance (such charge being an amount that we specific in our subscription correspondence with you), which we charge for your subscription and to access the members’ only functionality, plus any value added tax or other applicable sales tax, which is payable to NFCC (and which we shall collect in accordance with clause 2(Section B)).
Material: means any material, content, information, data, profiles, feedback, opinions, suggestions, portfolios, descriptions, documents, files, pictures, photographs, diagrams, designs, sketches, drawings, plans, specifications, lists, text, images, logos, graphics, names or trade marks, (in any form or in any media) uploaded or provided by you to us or the site.

Headings – Clause and paragraph headings shall not affect the interpretation of this agreement.
Person – A person includes a natural person, corporate or unincorporated body (whether or not having separate legal personality).
Company – A reference to a company shall include any company, corporation or other body corporate, wherever and however incorporated or established.
Unless the context otherwise requires, words in the singular shall include the plural and in the plural shall include the singular.
Unless the context otherwise requires, a reference to one gender shall include a reference to the other genders.
Legislative references – Unless expressly provided otherwise in this agreement, a reference to legislation or a legislative provision is a reference to it as amended, extended or re-enacted from time to time, and shall include all subordinate legislation made from time to time under that legislation or legislative provision.
Writing – A reference to writing or written includes email.
Including–- Any words following the terms including, include, in particular, for example or any similar expression shall be construed as illustrative and shall not limit the sense of the words, description, definition, phrase or term preceding those terms.

Last updated: October 2023