TERMS AND CONDITIONS (DRAFT)

Please read our Terms and Conditions (T+Cs) carefully to make sure we’re on the same page before we start working together.

We may update our T+Cs from time-to-time, and will notify existing clients of any significant changes.
These T+Cs were last reviewed on 4th September 2024.

These Terms & Conditions explain the arrangements for Speech and Language Therapy, Communication Coaching and related services provided by TalkCoach. Please read the general terms that apply to everyone, followed by the additional terms for your appointment or funding arrangement.

General terms - applying to everyone

Before we begin

  • Before your first appointment, we will send you the relevant consent information and a link to our Privacy Policy. We cannot begin appointments until the required consent and booking arrangements are in place.

  • For clinical referrals, this may include relevant medical reports and any information needed to plan safe appointments.

  • If someone else is arranging or funding your support, we may also need relevant information from your referrer and confirmation of the funding arrangements.

Cancelling or rearranging an appointment

  • Please let us know as soon as possible if you need to cancel or rearrange an appointment.

  • We ask for at least 48 hours’ notice.

  • The charges that apply to short-notice cancellations depend on your payment or service arrangement and are explained in the relevant sections below.

Late arrivals

  • If you arrive late, we can normally offer only the time remaining in your scheduled appointment, because we may have other clients booked immediately afterwards.

  • We send appointment reminders, but please keep a record of your appointment details.

  • For online sessions, please check that your internet connection and equipment are working.

  • For clinic visits, allow time for travel and parking.

If we need to rearrange an appointment

If your therapist or coach needs to cancel an appointment, we will give you as much notice as possible and arrange another suitable time.

Working with other professionals

Where relevant to your care, we may recommend liaising with your GP, consultant, NHS therapist or other professionals involved in your support. We will discuss this with you and seek appropriate permission for information sharing, except where a legal or safeguarding duty requires us to act otherwise.

If you are already receiving Speech and Language Therapy elsewhere, or are waiting for NHS Speech and Language Therapy, please tell us so that we can consider the best way to coordinate your care.

Audio and video recordings

Sometimes an audio or video recording can be helpful for assessment, therapy or reviewing progress. We will explain why we recommend a recording and seek your consent before making or keeping it. You do not have to agree to being recorded.

Confidentiality and personal information

We handle personal information in line with our Privacy Policy. This explains what information we collect, how we use and store it, when it may be shared, and your rights.

Safeguarding and personal safety

Our team follows the safeguarding and professional responsibilities relevant to their work. If we become aware of a serious risk of harm, we may need to share relevant information with appropriate professionals or authorities, where required or permitted by law.

We may need to pause, rearrange or end an appointment if we believe that the circumstances are unsafe for the client or our team.

Questions, concerns and complaints

If you have any concerns about the service you receive, please contact us at contact@talkcoach.co.uk so that we can discuss them and try to resolve the issue.


    • Booking and Payment: Payment can either be made via the online booking system at the time of scheduling (currently only available for appointments with Kezia), or an invoice will be sent via email prior to your first session or block of sessions.

    • Payment Method: Invoices will include bank details for making an online bank transfer.

    • Payment Due Date: Payment is required one week before your appointment, or immediately upon receipt of the invoice if the session is booked within a week of the appointment.

    • Securing Your Booking: Your booking is only confirmed once payment has been received. If payment is not made by the due date, the session will be cancelled or postponed, and the appointment slot may be released for another client.

    • Refunds

      • Individual Sessions: For individually booked sessions, if cancelled more than 48 hours before the appointment, you will receive a full refund minus a £10 administration fee. Cancellations within 48 hours of the session are non-refundable.

      • Therapy Blocks: If you have paid for a block of therapy sessions but decide to cancel the remaining sessions, you will receive a refund for any appointments scheduled more than 48 hours from the time of cancellation, minus a £10 administration fee.

      • Sessions within 48 hours: If a session is due to take place within 48 hours of cancellation (whether part of a block or individual session), we are unable to provide a refund. However, any travel costs associated with that session will be refunded, minus the £10 administration fee.

    • Cancellations/ Rescheduling (More than 48 hours' notice): If you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment, please inform us at least 48 hours before your scheduled session. We will do our best to accommodate your new preferred time, but please note that rescheduled sessions will be subject to availability.

    • Late Cancellations/ Rescheduling (Less than 48 hours' notice): If you cancel or request to reschedule an appointment with less than 48 hours' notice, the session will be charged in full. This applies to both one-off and ongoing/block bookings. Exceptions will only be made if we are able to offer the appointment at short notice to another client, in which case we will reschedule your session without charge. If travelling to an appointment (i.e. in clinic), please allow for sufficient travel time, including factoring in traffic and parking.

    • Therapist Cancellations: If your Speech and Language Therapist needs to cancel a session, we will give as much notice as possible and reschedule at the earliest opportunity. We cannot accept liability for any costs or inconvenience caused by unforeseen cancellations.

  • As a team, we are registered with most private health insurance providers. However not all our clinicians are registered with all health insurance providers and some clinicians may have a waiting list.

    Coaching sessions are not typically eligible for private health insurance funding.

    Before commencing treatment, please follow the steps below:

    • Contact your health insurance provider to confirm that Speech and Language Therapy is covered under your policy. Confirm how many sessions have been authorised and whether there are any restrictions, excesses or benefit limits.

    • Provide us with your membership number, authorisation code and any other information required for billing.

    • If you have been referred by a consultant, please send us a copy of your medical report or referral letter.

    • For ENT-related voice or swallowing difficulties, we will require your ENT report before offering an initial appointment.

    Bupa and Vitality-funded clients:

    • Sessions are available online or in-person at our Maidstone clinic. Clinic appointments are currently available on Wednesday mornings. Home visits are not available.

    • Appointments are a maximum of 40 minutes and are billed directly to the insurer at its approved rate.

    • We require your authorisation code and membership number prior to booking your first appointment.

    • While we invoice your insurer directly, in the event that your insurer does not cover the cost of a session (for example, if you exceed your session limit or your claim is denied), you will be responsible for paying for any costs not covered.

    AXA-funded clients:

    • Sessions are a maximum of 40 minutes and are billed at AXA’s approved rate of £75 per session.

    • We will invoice you directly for your sessions and you are responsible for paying TalkCoach (please refer to our payment terms). You are then able to claim reimbursement from AXA. We will provide you with payment receipts.

    • We are not usually able to offer home visits under AXA funding. This is because AXA’s approved session rate does not usually cover the additional travel time or travel costs involved.

    • Please note that AXA may not reimburse fees for late cancellations or missed appointments. If a late cancellation or missed appointment fee is applied under our cancellation policy, you will be responsible for paying this fee, even if AXA does not cover it.

    Other health insurance providers (i.e. Aviva, Aetna, Cigna, WPA):

    • We will invoice you directly for your sessions (please refer to our prices and payment terms) and you are responsible for claiming back the costs from your health insurance provider.

    • Please note that some insurance companies may not reimburse you the full session fee, and you will be responsible for covering any shortfalls between what you pay and what your provider reimburses.

    • We can offer home visits, however it is important to confirm in advance whether your insurance covers these, as you will be liable for any non-reimbursed costs (health insurance providers do not typically fund travel charges).

    • Please also note that health insurance providers may not reimburse fees for late cancellations or missed appointments. If a late cancellation or missed appointment fee is applied under our cancellation policy, you will be responsible for paying this fee, even if your insurer does not cover it.

  • If you arrive late to your session, we will only be able to offer the remaining time of your scheduled appointment, as we often have other patients booked immediately after.

    To help you keep track of your appointments, we send automated reminders and calendar invites ahead of your session.

    For clinic appointments, we recommend that you leave plenty of time to allow for traffic and parking.

    For online appointments, we recommend that you check in advance that your internet connection is stable.

  • Liaison with other professionals:

    In order to provide the best service, we may need to liaise with medical professionals who are also involved in your care. This may include your GP, consultants or other healthcare professionals (i.e. Dietitians, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Psychologists or other Speech and Language Therapists known to you).

    It is good practice, where both an independent and an NHS therapist are involved, to work together collaboratively to maximise opportunities for effective therapy to take place. We will therefore need to know if you are currently receiving Speech and Language Therapy intervention elsewhere (NHS or independent therapist).

    Please also inform us if you are currently on a waiting list for NHS Speech and Language Therapy. This will enable us to provide thorough handover information in order to facilitate a seamless transfer between services, or to liaise effectively with them to work alongside each other.

    Video and audio recordings:

    For the purpose of assessment and therapy, there may be times when we advise taking video and audio recordings. This may be to analyse your voice quality, speech intelligibility, expressive language abilities or to allow you to listen back to yourself and self-monitor your progress. They can also provide powerful feedback indicating the progress you have made with therapy. Audio and video recordings will either be deleted at the end of the session, or saved in a folder on a password-protected computer using only your initials and the date of the recording. We will seek consent before taking or saving any recordings. You do not have to consent to this.

    For further information about how your personal data is handled, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

  • We hold enhanced DBS disclosure. You may request to see this at any time.

    We update our safeguarding training regularly. In the event of a safeguarding concern it is our duty to refer and/or report to the relevant agencies and professionals in line with current legislation and statutory guidance.

    Personal safety is 'an individual's ability to go about their everyday life free from the threat or fear of psychological, emotional or physical harm from others' (defined following research undertaken by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust Research Institute). We have the right to refuse to proceed with a consultation if we feel our safety is at risk.

    A reportable incident is a death, a serious injury, a sexual assault or sexual grooming, abuse or neglect, or unauthorised use of restricted practice. If we notice something, or you tell us about something that happened to you that is a Reportable Incident, we must tell a relevant government authority about it.

    We have a legal requirement to follow these rules very carefully. We may need to ask for more information to make sure we have taken all the details accurately. We will need to carefully document all the information provided. There may be times where a Reportable Incident has happened where we need to give your personal information to the relevant authority without your consent.

  • We aim to provide a positive service at all times. If you are unhappy with the service you receive, please direct any concerns to contact@talkcoach.co.uk.

    If you remain dissatisfied and wish to make a formal complaint, you can contact the Association of Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practice (ASLTIP) or the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC) for further advice.