Terms of use

1. About these terms

Direct Supply (getdirectsupply.co.uk) is run by William Fraser, a sole trader trading as Direct Supply, in England ("we", "us"). These terms apply whenever you use Direct Supply. By creating an account you agree to them, and to our privacy policy.

You can reach us at hello@getdirectsupply.co.uk.

2. What Direct Supply is, and isn't

Direct Supply is an online directory and messaging platform. Teachers list their availability and day rate. Schools search, message, post vacancies and send booking requests.

• We are not an employment agency or employment business. We don't employ teachers, supply them to schools, set their pay, or take any part in the working arrangement.
• Any engagement is agreed directly between the school and the teacher. That includes the terms, the pay and how it's paid (for example through the school's payroll or the teacher's umbrella company). We are not a party to it.
• We don't guarantee that a teacher will find work, or that a school will find cover.

3. Accounts

• You must be 18 or over, and the information you give us must be true and kept up to date.
• One account per person. Keep your password safe; you're responsible for activity on your account.
• School accounts must be created by someone who works at the school and is authorised to arrange supply cover for it.

4. Verification, and what it means

For teachers, we check photo ID and right to work, teacher registration (DfE, EWC, GTC Scotland or GTCNI), criminal record check status (DBS Update Service, PVG or AccessNI) and two references. For schools, we check the official school register and call the school office.

A "Verified" badge means those checks were completed at the time shown. Circumstances can change after a check, so verification by Direct Supply does not replace a school's own pre-employment and safer recruitment checks, including those required by Keeping Children Safe in Education and its equivalents in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Schools remain responsible for deciding who works with their pupils.

We may refuse, suspend or remove verification where a check fails, information turns out to be false, or we have a safeguarding concern.

5. Teacher subscriptions

• Being listed as a live teacher costs £20 a month or £199 a year. The price is shown before you pay.
• Payments are taken by Stripe. Your subscription renews automatically at the end of each month or year until you cancel.
• You can cancel at any time from Account → Manage billing. Your profile stays live until the end of the period you've paid for, and you won't be charged again.
• If you're signing up as a consumer, you can cancel within 14 days of your first payment for a full refund by emailing us. Apart from that, payments for periods that have started aren't refundable, except where the law says otherwise.
• If we change the price, we'll email you at least 30 days before it applies to you, and you can cancel before then.
• If a payment fails and isn't fixed, your profile will be taken offline until it is.

Schools use Direct Supply free of charge.

6. Paying teachers

Schools pay teachers directly for the work they do. Direct Supply never holds, receives or forwards that money and takes no commission. Tax, National Insurance, pension and employment status are matters for the school and the teacher.

7. Using Direct Supply properly

You agree not to:

• give false information, pretend to be someone else, or claim qualifications or checks you don't have;
• use teachers' contact details for anything other than arranging supply work, or copy or sell them;
• send messages that are abusive, discriminatory or spam, or that advertise other services;
• use Direct Supply to recruit for an agency or another platform;
• try to get round the site's security or access data you're not entitled to see, or scrape the site.

If you have a safeguarding concern about anyone you meet through Direct Supply, follow your school's or local authority's safeguarding procedures, and tell us at hello@getdirectsupply.co.uk.

8. Your content

You own what you put on Direct Supply. You give us permission to show and store it so we can run the service. We may remove content that breaks these terms.

9. Suspending or closing accounts

You can delete your account at any time from your Account page. Deleting it cancels any subscription.

We may suspend or close an account that breaks these terms, fails verification, or raises a safeguarding concern. If we close a teacher's account without them having broken these terms, we'll refund any unused part of their subscription.

10. Our responsibility to you

• We'll provide Direct Supply with reasonable care and skill, but we can't promise it will always be available or error-free.
• We're not responsible for the conduct of schools or teachers, for any engagement between them, or for any payment between them.
• We're not liable for losses that weren't foreseeable, or for business losses such as lost income or lost opportunities.
• Otherwise, our total liability to a teacher is limited to the subscription fees they paid in the 12 months before the claim. Our total liability to a school is limited to £100.
• Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law doesn't allow us to limit. Nothing in them affects your statutory rights as a consumer.

11. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as Direct Supply develops. If a change is significant, we'll email account holders at least 30 days before it takes effect.

12. Law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can also bring proceedings in your local courts.