Terms and Conditions

Changes to courses advertised

City Lit reserves the right to change course tutors or venues from those advertised on this website and to cancel classes, or close them early if necessary. In line with our refund policy (link) we are unable to grant a refund on the grounds of a change of tutor or venue.

Cancellation: our promise

We are committed to ensuring that each course listed on this website takes place. If your course is cancelled and no alternative is available, you will receive a full refund plus a £5 voucher as compensation for your disappointment.


What you can expect at City Lit

During your time at City Lit, you will have:
• full information and advice about courses before you enrol, facilities,
support services and arrangements for fee payments
• good customer service at all times from courteous and helpful staff
• our commitment to running every course (link) as advertised in the course
guide.
• access to our complaints procedure (link) if you are not satisfied with any aspect of
our service
• the opportunity to give your views about the service and how it can be
improved.

If circumstances beyond our control (for example, industrial action, illness of a tutor, building problems) prevent us from meeting our standards, we will do our best to keep disruption to a minimum.

In your contact with City Lit, we will:
• identify ourselves
• give you our attention
• treat you with respect
• be polite, helpful and professional
• give consistent/accurate information
• listen to your comments and complaints and deal with them

Studying at City Lit, you can expect:
• classes that start on time
• a high standard of teaching from appropriately qualified teachers whose work is reviewed and supported
• prompt return of course work where it is part of your studies
• feedback on your progress
• equal educational opportunities ( link).

We aim to:
• help you choose a programme of study that suits your needs, by providing advice about the options
available to you at City Lit, and give advice on further courses of study
• clearly identify English and maths requirements for all courses
• provide details of our fees, examination costs, and concessionary rates, including information on any materials that you will be expected to buy
• offer advice and practical help where the payment of fees is a barrier to joining a course
• deal with applications for places fairly and efficiently
• provide support for students with special requirements when possible
• keep you informed of changes and developments affecting your studies
at City Lit
• make it possible for you to express your views about our services
• keep you informed about our performance.

How we ensure quality

We monitor and set standards for quality across City Lit:

Helping you choose the right course
We work to provide clear, accurate information and advice to help you make the right choice of course. We also carefully monitor attendance and if students stop coming, we need to know why.

Course evaluation by students
Tutors and programme managers are happy to hear your views about courses. On most courses you will be asked to complete a questionnaire which asks for your opinions about the course.

Appraisal and observation
Our staff receive appraisals of their work and for teaching staff this includes classroom observation. Visits from an observer will normally last for 40 minutes to one hour, and you may be asked
general questions about your course. City Lit has an active policy of staff development so that employees can improve their skills and knowledge.

How to give us your feedback
We encourage your views on the level
of service we provide at City Lit. You can give your feedback here ( link to tell us what you think form)

How we will respond to your complaint

• staff will make sure that all complaints are dealt with fairly, quickly and sympathetically
• all complaints will be treated seriously
• all complaints are monitored.

We aim to:
• send you an acknowledgement within 5 working days of receiving your complaint
• give you a full response within 20 working days.

If you are not satisfied with the action we take you should write, explaining the problem and saying what you would like us to do about it.
Please write to:
Nick Moore, Vice Principal – Programme
Development and Quality, City Lit,
Keeley Street, London WC2B 4BA
Email: nick.moore@citylit.ac.uk
Fax: 020 7492 2736

What we will do
• the Vice Principal will send you an acknowledgement within 5 working days of receiving your letter
• investigate your complaint
• give you a response within 20 working days. The response will include what City Lit plans to do about your
complaint and the timetable for any
action to be taken. If you still are not
satisfied, please write to:
Peter Davies, Principal, City Lit,
Keeley Street, London WC2B 4BA
Email: peter.davies@citylit.ac.uk
Fax: 020 7492 2736
Your statutory rights are not affected.

Obligations of students
For information on what City Lit expects of students, please refer to the City Lit
code of conduct/obligations of students ( link)


Equal opportunities and race equality

All staff and students are expected to:
• promote a work and education culture in which diversity is vigorously pursued
and highly valued
• ensure zero tolerance of all forms of discrimination, bullying and harassment
• take steps to resolve personal conflict as early, fairly and as amicably as
possible
• ensure that they are familiar with policies and procedures for equality and diversity, and complaints.
Staff are responsible for reporting complaints of discrimination, bullying and harassment from both staff and students.

Information we hold about you

Data Protection Act 1998 – how the Act helps you

The Act gives you certain rights. It also ensures that when we record and use your personal information, we must be open about how the information is used and follow the principles of “good information handling” set out in the Act.

Why does data need protecting?
While there are benefits derived from the processing of your personal data, problems can also occur when data is incorrectly entered, becomes out of date or is confused with someone else’s data.

What are we doing?
• we have a data protection policy with clear guidelines, and staff training and awareness has taken place
• forms used for recording your personal data, e.g. the enrolment form, explain what your data is used for and contain a data protection statement for your information.

Right to access information
You have the right to access certain personal data that we hold about you.
If you wish to exercise this right, please
complete the City Lit request form ( link) for Access to Personal Data and send it to the
data controller (Services Contract Manager), IT Services, City Lit, Keeley Street, London WC2B 4BA.

Records management
City Lit has a records management system whereby student information and course details are kept on-site for the current academic year and the previous academic year. At the end of this period student information is archived off-site for a further one year. Course information will be destroyed after two
years and student information after three years. There will be a charge of £50 to the student for retrieval of information stored off-site. Electronic records are kept for longer but may not contain the
same level of detail as paper records.

Website
On this website we use cookies* to enable us to monitor the use of our site
and whether visitors are new or repeat users. We do not store personal information.
You can manage cookies by editing your browser preferences (check the
advanced features). *Cookies are the files which enable us to hold information on the times and dates
visitors have used our website.

Information available to you

Freedom of information
You are entitled to look at any City Lit document, other than personal and
confidential files. For more details about your rights, please read the City Lit Publication
Scheme ( link)

Published information
If you want to know more about City Lit,
we issue:
• an annual report ( link)
• inspection reports on City Lit
• results of the student satisfaction survey
• an annual summary of your comments
from the ‘Tell us what you think’ form
• a course guide for the year and an
additional summer course guide
• email updates on new courses
• our application for the Charter Mark,
the award for excellence in public
service
• a publication celebrating our Adult
Learners’ Award winners.

Contact: Marketing and Communications
020 7492 2672 marketing@citylit.ac.uk