Key Forensic Services Terms & Conditions

General

These terms and conditions detail the basis on which we as Key Forensic Services Ltd (also referred to as KFS) (the Company) will deliver the goods or services that you (the Customer) are procuring. The Company will only provide services to Customers in accordance with its internal procedures and when formally instructed to proceed, either by bona fide purchase orders or similar such document committing you the Customer to the charges as detailed in a quotation. In issuing a purchase order or formal instructions to proceed you the Customer commit to the work as outlined and agree to payment for said work as detailed in a quotation.

The Company is any member company within the Key Forensic Group or trading names used by the Key Forensic Group. Certain aspects of the service may be performed within specialist member companies within the group, or where appropriate specialist services from trusted partners, as deemed appropriate by the Company in the delivery of the Service being purchased. You the Customer will be quoted a single price for all services, irrespective of one, or more member company of the Key Forensic group or a trusted partner contributing to delivery of the service being purchased.

Our commitment to you the Customer is that we will clearly identify all charges beforehand in a formal quotation. The Company will keep you the Customer informed of any changes during implementation of the purchase order likely to result in additional charges that may apply, only proceeding in such circumstances following discussion with you the Customer and receiving your explicit agreement and formal instruction to proceed.

The Company will always endeavour to deliver a professional and satisfactory service to quotation and within the indicated time frame. In the event of any complaint or dissatisfaction with the service you should first raise this with the person who provided the quotation or who is delivering the service. In the event where any issue is not resolved to your complete satisfaction the Company has a formal complaints procedure and we would encourage dissatisfied Customers to escalate their complaint using this procedure such that a resolution may be achieved at the earliest opportunity or our procedures reviewed such that any deemed fault with the Company is corrected without delay.

In return for the Company providing a quality and professional service to you the Customer, we expect that you the Customer will in turn make payment according to the quotation provided by the Company and in accordance with the terms and conditions enclosed herein, following receipt of an appropriate invoice which is materially correct with regards to the specific quotation and prevailing regulations.

Terms and Conditions

• 1. The Company will not commence work until it has received written (email, letter, or some such other permanent record) authorisation (formal instruction to proceed and/or completed and authorised purchase order) that you the Customer accept the fees as indicated in the Company quotation.
• 2. Acceptance of our quotation and the instruction to proceed by you the Customer constitutes a contract between you the Customer and the Company, comprising of the terms & conditions herein, the Company quotation and any other such documentation relating to goods and/or service being provided.
• 3. In providing your instruction and/or Purchase Order it is reasonable on the Company’s part to expect that these (or other similar forms provided for the purpose of instructing the Company to proceed) provide the appropriate authority on behalf of you the Customer to commit you the Customer to the terms and conditions of supplying the requested goods or services.
• 4. It is your responsibility as the Customer to inform the Company of any changes in circumstances relating to the instruction to proceed. The Company will endeavour to minimise costs in the event of instructions being cancelled or amended and will charge you the Customer for work and expenses incurred up to the date the Company receives any such revised instructions in writing from the authorised signatory. You the Customer explicitly agree that in providing instructions to proceed you are liable for all charges the Company may submit for payment up to receiving the revised instructions. You the Customer should not rely on any such notification to halt further work on an agreed instruction to proceed unless you have formal acknowledgement from the Company that they have received said notice. To be an effective notice the notice must be from the Customer or a suitably authorised employee of the Customer and not a third party to the contract under which the service or goods are being supplied. In return, acknowledgement must be from a Company representative.
• 5. All charges and costs to you the Customer will be detailed in the quotation and where any risk applies to variations in the final charges vs the quotation they will be clearly noted in the quotation and brought to you the Customer’s attention by the Company representative dealing directly with you.
• 6. All charges will be made to you the Customer in UK Pounds Sterling, unless expressly notified differently in the quotation and as agreed beforehand between the Customer and the Company. All foreign currency payments, where agreed beforehand, must be by direct credit transfer to the Company’s nominated bank account.
• 7. Expenses incurred by Company employees in providing services will be recharged at cost, with the exception of fuel for vehicles, which will be recharged at the prevailing rate used by the Company. Rail will be charged at standard cost, flights at business class, reasonable refreshment expenses and hotel or other accommodations charges for overnight stays will be charged at cost. If necessary, photocopying, reproduction of diagrams and drawings and similar expenses incurred will be provided at cost, with suitable copies of receipts provided wherever possible. In accordance with VAT regulation VAT will be applied at the applicable and prevailing rate, which requires that we charge standard rate VAT on recovered expenses being recharged even when those expenses are zero rated.
• 8. Where the Company agrees to offer deferred payment, standard payment terms are for cleared funds for the full invoiced amount to be in the Company’s possession by 30 days following the date of invoice. The contract to provide goods or services is with you the Customer and payment of our invoice is not contingent on any other circumstance or event not specifically agreed between you the Customer and us the Company beforehand. Any such variation to the standard terms of payment must be formally recorded and agreed before the Company is instructed to proceed.
• 9. The Company will take any action it feels appropriate in the recovery of overdue payments owed to it. Part payment does not constitute satisfaction on the Company’s part that any dispute is resolved or that the balance of any amounts remaining unpaid are not due as per the terms of payment as agreed here or within the purchase order. Amounts not settled within the agreed period, at the Company’s discretion, may be subject to interest charges at 3% above the UK base interest rate, as determined by the Company’s own bank from time to time, per month or part thereof, until settlement is received in full. The Company will utilise the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1988 and Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2002, or any other applicable legal rights of redress in the recovery of late or overdue payments, as it sees fit.
• 10. The Company’s total liability with regard to costs associated with or arising from damage or complete loss of evidence submitted by the Customer to the Company is limited to the order or contract value placed by the Customer with the Company for the express purpose of examining said evidence submitted for examination. The Company will reimburse to the Customer the lower of a) the agreed value of evidence lost or damaged, b) the order value agreed for examining said evidence submitted by the Customer or, c) the maximum insurance value available from 3rd party courier services where this may apply. It is the strict responsibility of you the Customer to highlight to the Company evidence which is being submitted to the Company for examination which is of high value and for which special arrangements, including but not limited to special courier requirements, or additional insurance may be required. Any requests to examine bank notes with a monetary value must be specifically detailed and agreed in advance due to insurance limitations. It is clearly understood that the Company will not be liable for any contingent liability or opportunity cost associated with the impairment or loss of evidence submitted by you the Customer unless any such liability is agreed in writing by both parties beforehand and specific contingent insurance has been put in place to cover any such liability. You the Customer hereby indemnify the Company against any loss of exhibits above the value being charged for the examination and reporting of that examination of said exhibits.
• 11. Copyright: All imagery created by the Company which forms part of a casefile is copyrighted and remains the property of the Company. Whilst the copying of such imagery is permitted as part of a defence examination process; the use and/or distribution of all such imagery shall be restricted to its original intended use; i.e. preparation and/or presentation of the defence case. Any use/copying/distribution outside of the Criminal Justice System is strictly prohibited.
• 12. Where the Company receives any personal data (as defined by the Data Protection Act 1998 and superseded by The General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (“the Act”)), or any other such relevant subsequent regulatory requirement it shall ensure that it fully complies with the provisions of the Act and only deals with the data to fulfil its obligations to complete the work commissioned.
• 13. It is a requirement of conducting commercial activities with all Company customers and suppliers that they comply with their statutory obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and Anti Bribery Act 2010.