Platform Terms of Service

These Terms of Service govern your access to and use of the VerifiedCoaches platform, available at verifiedcoaches.co.uk and through any associated mobile applications (the "Platform"). The Platform is operated by VerifiedCoaches Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales with company number 17157205 and registered office at 192 Wilderspool Causeway, Warrington, United Kingdom ("VerifiedCoaches", "we", "us", or "our").

By creating an account, accessing the Platform, making a booking, or otherwise using the Platform, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not use the Platform.

1Definitions

1.1"Child" or "young person" means any person under the age of 18.

1.2"Player" means a child aged 5 to 16 for whom a Parent books or seeks to book football coaching through the Platform.

1.3"Parent" means a parent, legal guardian, or adult with lawful authority to book coaching for a Player.

1.4"Coach" means an independent football coach approved to offer coaching sessions through the Platform.

1.5"Session" means a one-to-one or small group football coaching session arranged through the Platform.

1.6"Approved Public Venue" means a public or semi-public sports venue, including a public park, 3G pitch, sports centre, school pitch with permission, recognised football facility, or other venue approved by VerifiedCoaches. Private residences are not Approved Public Venues.

2About the Platform

2.1VerifiedCoaches is an online marketplace that connects Parents with independently operating football Coaches for one-to-one and small group football coaching Sessions in the United Kingdom.

2.2VerifiedCoaches does not employ Coaches. Coaches are independent service providers who use the Platform to advertise their services, manage bookings, and receive payments. VerifiedCoaches acts as an intermediary facilitating introductions, bookings, payments, safety rules, and platform administration.

2.3Before a Coach is permitted to offer Sessions through the Platform, VerifiedCoaches carries out reasonable checks of selected credentials, including Enhanced DBS information, coaching qualifications, safeguarding training, proof of identity, and public liability insurance. Further details are set out in our Safeguarding Policy.

2.4Verification confirms only that selected documents or information have been reviewed at the relevant time. It does not amount to an employment appointment, endorsement, guarantee, warranty, or assurance that a Coach will always remain suitable, competent, insured, qualified, or available.

2.5Coaches remain responsible for the accuracy of their profiles, the delivery of their Sessions, and compliance with all laws, safeguarding duties, platform rules, and professional standards that apply to them.

2.6Parents are responsible for making informed decisions when selecting a Coach and must comply with all supervision and safety requirements in these Terms and the Safeguarding Policy.

3Eligibility and Accounts

3.1To register as a Parent, you must be at least 18 years old, have authority to book Sessions for the relevant Player, and provide accurate and complete registration information.

3.2To register as a Coach, you must meet the requirements set out in the Coach Terms and Conditions and any additional verification requirements notified through the Platform.

3.3You are responsible for keeping your account information accurate and your login credentials confidential. You must notify us immediately at hello@verifiedcoaches.co.uk if you become aware of unauthorised access to your account.

3.4We may refuse registration, pause approval, request additional information, suspend access, or terminate an account where we reasonably believe that information is inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, fraudulent, or that continued access may create a safety, safeguarding, legal, reputational, or platform integrity risk.

4Bookings and Sessions

4.1Parents may search for Coaches by location, age group, availability, specialism, pricing, and other criteria made available on the Platform.

4.2A booking is confirmed only when payment has been successfully processed through the Platform and confirmation has been issued to the Parent and Coach.

4.3All Sessions involving a Player under 16 must take place at an Approved Public Venue. Sessions must not take place at any private residence, including a Coach's home, Parent's home, or any residential property.

4.4A Parent or legal guardian must remain on site and within sight of the Session at all times where the Player is under 16. This is a non-negotiable safeguarding requirement. If no Parent or legal guardian is present, the Coach must not begin the Session.

4.5For small group Sessions involving Players under 16, a Parent or legal guardian for each Player must remain on site unless VerifiedCoaches has approved a different arrangement in writing.

4.6Coaches must submit Session notes through the Platform within the required timeframe. These notes form part of the Player development record and must be professional, accurate, and appropriate.

4.7Parents must ensure that Players arrive appropriately dressed, with suitable footwear, water, and any medical information reasonably required for the Session.

5Payments, Fees, and Off-Platform Payment Restrictions

5.1All payments for Sessions must be made through the Platform using the payment methods provided. Cash payments, bank transfers, direct card payments, or any other off-platform payment arrangements are not permitted for Sessions arranged through the Platform.

5.2The total price shown to Parents at the point of booking includes the Coach's Session fee and any platform booking fee charged by VerifiedCoaches. Any platform booking fee will be shown before payment is confirmed.

5.3Payments are processed securely through Stripe or another payment processor notified on the Platform. VerifiedCoaches does not store full card details.

5.4VerifiedCoaches is not responsible for delays, failed payments, chargebacks, payment holds, bank errors, payout restrictions, or payment processor issues caused by Stripe, a bank, incorrect payment information, suspected fraud controls, or circumstances outside VerifiedCoaches' reasonable control.

5.5Any attempt to arrange or pay for Sessions outside the Platform following an introduction through VerifiedCoaches is a serious breach of these Terms and may result in account suspension, cancellation of bookings, termination, and recovery of losses.

6Cancellation, Rescheduling, and Refunds

6.1A Parent may cancel a confirmed Session through the Platform. Refunds will be determined by the timing of the cancellation and the circumstances set out below.

6.2If a Parent cancels 48 hours or more before the scheduled Session start time, the Parent will receive a full refund of the Coach's Session fee. The platform booking fee is not refundable.

6.3If a Parent cancels between 6 and 24 hours before the scheduled Session start time, 50% of the Coach's Session fee will be charged as a late cancellation fee. Unless otherwise required by law or determined by VerifiedCoaches in its discretion, the platform booking fee will not be refunded for late cancellations.

6.4If a Parent cancels less than 6 hours before the scheduled Session start time, or if the Parent or Player fails to attend without prior cancellation, this will be treated as a no-show and no refund will be issued, except where VerifiedCoaches accepts that exceptional circumstances apply.

6.5If a Coach cancels a confirmed Session, the Parent may choose either a full refund or a rescheduled Session at no additional charge, subject to Coach availability.

6.6If a Session cannot safely or reasonably take place due to circumstances outside the reasonable control of the Parent, Coach, or VerifiedCoaches, including severe weather, venue closure, illness, injury, public emergency, transport disruption, strike, natural disaster, safeguarding concern, or other serious unforeseen circumstance, either party may request a reschedule at no additional charge.

6.7Where a reschedule is requested under clause 6.6, the parties should first make reasonable efforts to agree a suitable alternative date. If no suitable alternative can be agreed within a reasonable time, VerifiedCoaches may issue a full or partial refund depending on the circumstances and applicable consumer law.

6.8VerifiedCoaches may request reasonable evidence before applying an emergency, safety, or unforeseen-circumstances exception. Decisions will be made fairly and consistently, taking account of safeguarding, consumer fairness, and the interests of both Parents and Coaches.

6.9Refunds will normally be processed within 5 to 10 business days after approval. Actual receipt may depend on the payment processor and the Parent's bank.

7User Conduct

7.1All users must behave respectfully, lawfully, honestly, and safely when using the Platform or participating in Sessions arranged through it.

7.2You must not transmit, post, or communicate material that is threatening, abusive, defamatory, discriminatory, obscene, harassing, misleading, or otherwise objectionable.

7.3You must not create a false or misleading account, impersonate another person, misrepresent your identity, provide false information about yourself or a Player, or provide inaccurate or misleading coaching credentials.

7.4You must not contact Coaches, Parents, Players, or other users outside the Platform for the purpose of arranging, paying for, or diverting Sessions that would otherwise be booked through the Platform.

7.5If we reasonably believe that you have breached this section, we may issue a warning, remove content, cancel bookings, restrict messaging, suspend or terminate your account, withhold or delay access to services, or report the matter to a relevant authority where appropriate.

8Reviews, Content, and Platform Records

8.1Users may be able to submit reviews, Session notes, profile information, photographs, messages, or other content through the Platform.

8.2You are responsible for ensuring that any content you submit is accurate, lawful, respectful, and does not infringe the rights of any third party.

8.3VerifiedCoaches may remove, moderate, restrict, or refuse to publish any content that we reasonably believe is inaccurate, misleading, inappropriate, unsafe, unlawful, or inconsistent with these Terms or the Safeguarding Policy.

8.4By submitting content to the Platform, you grant VerifiedCoaches a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to use, store, display, reproduce, adapt, and share that content solely in connection with operating, improving, protecting, and promoting the Platform, subject to our Privacy Policy and safeguarding obligations.

9Intellectual Property

9.1All content and materials on the Platform, including text, graphics, logos, icons, images, software, database structures, business processes, verification badges, the shield logo mark, the VerifiedCoaches wordmark, and the Player Development Passport framework, are owned by VerifiedCoaches Ltd or its licensors.

9.2You must not copy, reproduce, distribute, scrape, adapt, reverse engineer, create derivative works from, commercially exploit, or publicly display any part of the Platform without our prior written consent.

9.3Unauthorised use of our intellectual property may result in account suspension or termination, removal of access to the Platform, and legal action to protect our rights, including recovery of losses, costs, and injunctive relief where appropriate.

10Safeguarding and Safety Reporting

10.1VerifiedCoaches is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people using the Platform. Our Safeguarding Policy and Coach Code of Conduct form part of these Terms.

10.2If any user has a safeguarding concern about a Coach, Parent, Player, Session, message, venue, or any interaction facilitated through the Platform, they must report it immediately to hello@verifiedcoaches.co.uk. In an emergency or where a child is in immediate danger, users must contact the police on 999 first.

10.3Upon receipt of a safeguarding concern involving a Coach, VerifiedCoaches may immediately pause the relevant Coach's profile, cancel or suspend future bookings, restrict communications, preserve records, and take any other protective action considered necessary pending review.

10.4VerifiedCoaches may share safeguarding information with the police, local authority, FA, DBS, or other relevant body where required by law, safeguarding best practice, or child protection necessity.

11Enforcement, Suspension, and Termination

11.1We may suspend, restrict, or terminate any account where we reasonably believe that these Terms, the Coach Terms, the Privacy Policy, or the Safeguarding Policy have been breached, or where continued access may create a safeguarding, safety, legal, financial, reputational, or platform integrity risk.

11.2We may take proportionate enforcement action, including warnings, content removal, booking cancellation, temporary suspension, permanent termination, payout hold, reporting to relevant bodies, or legal action.

11.3In safeguarding, fraud, payment abuse, false credential, or serious misconduct cases, we may act immediately and without prior notice where necessary to protect children, users, the Platform, or VerifiedCoaches.

11.4Termination of an account does not affect any rights, obligations, liabilities, refunds, chargebacks, investigations, confidentiality duties, intellectual property protections, or payment obligations that accrued before termination.

12Limitation of Liability

12.1VerifiedCoaches provides the Platform on an "as is" and "as available" basis. We do not guarantee that the Platform will always be available, uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or free from viruses or harmful components.

12.2VerifiedCoaches is not the employer, principal, agent, or supervisor of Coaches. Coaches are responsible for the coaching services they provide and for their own conduct, methods, decisions, and compliance obligations.

12.3VerifiedCoaches is not responsible for loss arising from the independent acts, omissions, coaching methods, conduct, or statements of Coaches, Parents, or other users, except to the extent that the loss arises from VerifiedCoaches' own negligence, breach of these Terms, failure to exercise reasonable care and skill, breach of statutory duty, fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, or any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

12.4Our verification process is designed to check selected credentials at particular points in time. It does not guarantee the ongoing validity of those credentials, the quality of coaching provided, or the suitability of any Coach for a particular Player.

12.5To the maximum extent permitted by law, VerifiedCoaches will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive losses, or for loss of profits, business, goodwill, data, or opportunity, arising out of or in connection with your use of the Platform.

12.6Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of statutory rights that cannot be excluded, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited under English law.

12.7Nothing in these Terms affects any rights that a consumer has under applicable consumer protection law.

13Complaints and Dispute Resolution

13.1If you have a complaint about the Platform or a Session booked through the Platform, please contact hello@verifiedcoaches.co.uk with relevant details.

13.2We will acknowledge complaints within 2 business days and aim to resolve them within 14 business days, although complex safeguarding, payment, or legal matters may take longer.

13.3Where a dispute arises between a Parent and a Coach, VerifiedCoaches may use reasonable efforts to assist or mediate, but we are not required to decide disputes between users except where necessary to apply these Terms, process refunds, protect children, or maintain platform integrity.

13.4These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction over disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms, subject to any mandatory consumer rights that apply.

14Changes to these Terms

14.1We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify users of material changes by email, Platform notice, or other appropriate means.

14.2Continued use of the Platform after updated Terms take effect will constitute acceptance of the updated Terms.

14.3The current version of these Terms will be made available on the Platform at verifiedcoaches.co.uk/terms.

15Contact

VerifiedCoaches Ltd, 192 Wilderspool Causeway, Warrington, United Kingdom. Email: hello@verifiedcoaches.co.uk. ICO registration number: ZC135545. Company number: 17157205.