Terms and Conditions

The HR Inner Circle is a vibrant, active and caring community of smart and ambitious HR professionals.  We provide the support, advice and encouragement you need to succeed and thrive in your role, whether you are in-house, employed or an independent HR consultant. We aim to lift the burden you’re carrying by giving you swift access to comprehensive resources and live practical guidance you can implement right away. 

  1. This agreement is between you and HR Inner Circle Limited (‘HRIC’), trading as the HR Inner Circle.  It sets out the basis on which we welcome you as a member of the HR Inner Circle.

The Services

  1. All benefits described as ‘monthly’ will be provided at least ten times a year.  All benefits described as ‘fortnightly’ will be provided at least 22 times a year.
  2. You may need to register an account with a third party provider (such as Facebook or Slack) in order to access our online forum.
  3. As a member, you undertake to keep strictly confidential any matters raised or discussed by others within the HR Inner Circle, whether at meetups, online huddles, online Q&A sessions, within member forums, or on other occasions.  This includes any matters raised or discussed in recordings of previous events.  You acknowledge that any issues you raise or discuss with other members of the HR Inner Circle, or with Daniel Barnett, will probably not be protected by legal professional privilege and, in theory, anybody hearing the issues could be ordered by a court or tribunal to give evidence on what they have heard.  You also run the risk that another member of the Inner Circle might not keep to their confidentiality undertaking.  HRIC is not obliged to take steps to enforce any member’s confidentiality undertaking.  If there has been a breach and you ask HRIC to take steps to enforce the confidentiality agreement, HRIC is not obliged to do so.  If it does, you agree to indemnify HRIC for any legal costs and other expenses incurred, and further pay for the time of the directors or such persons from HRIC involved in enforcement proceedings at a rate of £250+VAT per hour.
  4. Any legal or other information or advice produced by HRIC in pre-packaged format (including any audio seminar .mp3 recording, any issue of the HR Inner Circular magazine, template document, any podcast, YouTube video, online video or at a conference) is produced in good faith but is not a substitute for formal legal advice from a lawyer who has considered the particular circumstances relevant to your business.  You should always seek independent legal advice before relying on our content.  Any liability for negligent advice or information is limited to the fee you pay for three months' membership of the HR Inner Circle.
  5. Any legal or other information or advice produced by HRIC specifically for you (for example, during a Q&A call/broadcast), but not 999 calls which are dealt with below, is likewise given in good faith.  However, it is off-the-cuff or swiftly given advice without taking full instructions.  It is not a substitute for formal legal advice from a lawyer who has taken full instructions and considered relevant documents or the particular circumstances relevant to your business, and/or and had the opportunity to consider and reflect on the advice. You should always seek independent legal advice before relying on it.  Any liability for negligent advice or information is limited to the fee you pay for six months' membership of the HR Inner Circle.
  6. The following applies to ‘999 calls’:
    • this is a service which is available once a year, free of charge, to members who have an annual (not monthly) membership of HRIC;
    • we maintain a panel of experts in employment law who will help you with a particular question which requires more time than is available in our Q&A calls.  Panel members may be, but are not necessarily, practising lawyers.  If they are practising lawyers, they are not acting in that capacity.
    • when you ask to use your ‘999 call’, which you can do by emailing 999@hrinnercircle.co.uk, you will be assigned to a panel member.  That panel member will agree a mutually suitable time to speak with you by Zoom and you will get (up to) an hour of the panel member’s time, to include their preparation time.
    •  we recommend you send any crucial documents to the panel member in advance. The panel member will probably want about 30 minutes to review any documents and think about the issue, and 30 minutes to speak with you on Zoom.  If you send more than about 10 pages of documentation, it is unlikely the panel member will have time to read it all within this timescale.  Do not assume any document has been read; it is your responsibility to draw the information to the panel member’s attention during the call.
    • the panel member will tell you what they think the relevant law is, from an educational perspective, but will not give legal advice.  The conversation is not protected by legal professional privilege and any information you provide or discussion you may have, along with any recording, may be disclosable in litigation if the panel member or HRIC is the subject of a witness summons or a third party disclosure order.
    • we will record the 999 call and keep a copy for review purposes.
    • any delay in responding to your request for a 999 call, or in holding the call, does not give rise to any legal liability.
    • you understand and agree that the panel members do not necessarily hold professional indemnity insurance for the content of any discussion, and you undertake not to bring any proceedings against them for negligence or otherwise.  Any claim you may have against HRIC arising from the 999 call is limited to the fee you pay for three months' membership of the HR Inner Circle.
    • if you do not have a free 999 call available, you may purchase one for the fee set out on our website.   
  7. HRIC is not responsible for any information or advice given by other members of the HR Inner Circle, for example at huddle sessions or on the private Facebook group.

Fees

9. You will pay a membership fee to us until this agreement is terminated.  The fee is payable either monthly or annually, depending on the terms of the agreement.

10. Fees are payable in advance each month (or year) by credit/debit card or direct debit.  The fee falls due on each monthly or yearly anniversary of the date you joined the HR Inner Circle.  You authorise HRIC to take payment from your credit or debit card.  If your credit/debit card provider or bank rejects the payment, HRIC reserves the right to charge an administration fee of £12+VAT per missed payment.

11. If we have agreed that you can pay annually by invoice, then the annual fee falls due on each anniversary of the date you joined the HR Inner Circle, unless you have terminated your membership in advance of the anniversary auto-renewal date.  

12. Any discount offered is only applicable to your first payment (whether that be monthly or annually), unless explicitly stated otherwise. Your membership will renew at full price.

Termination 

13. This agreement may be terminated by either party without notice.

14. You may terminate the agreement by:

  1. sending a letter to HR Inner Circle Limited, Unit 3, Chequers House, Chequers Lane, Watford WD25 0LG;
  2. sending an email to support@hrinnercircle.co.uk; or
  3. cancelling directly in your account settings in the members area of the website (members.hrinnercircle.co.uk).
  4. IMPORTANT: If you click 'unsubscribe' (or similar) on any of our emails, this will stop you receiving emails but does not terminate this agreement.

15.   If you terminate the agreement during the month or year of your membership subscription, you will not receive any refund of the balance for that month/year.  If we terminate the agreement during the month or year of your membership subscription, we will issue a pro rata refund for any complete unexpired month.

16.  If your membership of the HR Inner Circle ends before any conference or meetup which you were due to attend takes place, your place at conference or meetup will be cancelled.  You will be entitled to a refund of any monies paid.

17. You agree, as an ex-member, that you will not take advantage of any future introductory offer, or trial membership, that HRIC offers from time to time to promote itself to new members, until 18 months have elapsed since your previous membership terminated.  If you do (re)join under an introductory offer within 18 months of having been a member, HRIC is entitled to refuse you the benefits of any offer made or to charge you a standard month’s membership fee instead of a free or trial price.

Ancillary Matters

18. In providing services on behalf of HRIC, Daniel Barnett is not acting in his capacity as a practising barrister but is acting as a director and agent of HRIC.

19. We are entitled to ask for a deposit when you book a place on a meetup or conference.  If we do so, we will return your deposit within seven days of you cancelling your place (provided you give at least three full working days' notice) or attending the event.  If you fail to attend the event, or do not give us three full working days' notice of cancellation, you forfeit the deposit.

20. Any items we agree to post (such as magazines and books) as part of your membership will only be posted to a UK address.  If you live overseas, you must nominate a UK address for delivery.

21. If we reasonably believe that you are making excessive or inappropriate use of our community facilities (such as the Facebook group, Q&As or member huddles) in a way that might irritate or upset other members, we are entitled to restrict or end your access to those facilities.  An example of this might be somebody who posts excessive or inappropriate requests for help in the Facebook group.

22. You are not permitted to:

  •  promote your commercial services to other members (other than in a trivial and non-intrusive way, for example if another member asks for recommendations for a service and you volunteer);
  • use any of our content (including recordings, magazines, books or transcripts) for any purpose other than learning and development.  Without prejudice to the foregoing, you are not permitted to use any of our content to train any artificial intelligence bot, any generative AI software or any large language learning model.

23. If you breach clauses 4 or 20(b) you are liable to indemnify us for any legal costs and other expenses incurred to enforce our rights under those clauses, and further pay for the time of the directors or such persons from HRIC involved in enforcement proceedings at a rate of £250+VAT per hour.

24. HRIC may make changes to these terms and conditions at any time.  Any changes will be notified to you by email.

25. This agreement is governed by the laws of England and Wales.

Version 3.4

February 2025