Terms and Conditions

Connected Speech allows your child to achieve their speech and language goals. We commit fully to your child’s therapy and ask the same of our families at home. These Terms and Conditions apply to all services provided by Connected Speech, a paediatric speech and language therapy service in the UK.

By accepting our terms and conditions, you agree and provide your permission to the following:

1. Services Provided

We offer speech and language therapy assessments, interventions, and consultations tailored to individual client needs. Services may be delivered in person at your home, in schools, or other settings as agreed.

Our working hours are Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursdays 9-5pm.

2. Location of Services

Locations of sessions will be agreed in advance. Sessions will be offered in your own home or at the child’s educational setting based on the therapist’s clinical judgement. The therapist reserves the right to recommend an alternative location or end treatment if there are significant and recurring issues during intervention.

It is important that the environment is quiet and free from distractions (e.g., TV off) where possible .
It is also expected that you (or a member of nursery/school staff) will stay for the duration of the session to allow for carryover of intervention between sessions.
If your therapist is unable to attend an appointment, you will be informed as soon as possible. You will not be charged for this session and the session will be re-arranged to a mutually convenient time.

3. Appointments and Cancellations

Preparation is done in advance for all speech therapy sessions. Cancellations are difficult to fill and prevent others from being able to schedule a session in that time slot.

Appointments must be booked in advance. A minimum of 24 hours’ notice is required for cancellations. Sessions cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice or missed without notice will be charged in full. Cancellations with at least 24 hours’ notice are not charged a cancellation fee. Please notify us by emailing wendy@connectedspeech.co.uk or calling 0778 6877829 with your child’s name and date of the appointment to be cancelled. If cancelling outside business hours, please email directly.

Cancellations made with less than 24 hours’ notice or no notice given will be charged the full session fee. If you cancel 3 or more sessions in a therapy block, you forfeit your regular time and may be placed on the waiting list.

It is the parent/carer’s responsibility to inform the therapist if the child is going to be absent from school / preschool on the day of a visit.

Late arrivals to a booked therapy session receive the time remaining from their session and pay the full session fee.

4. Sickness on the day of therapy

If your child is sick on the day and you notify before 8.30am on the day of your appointment , the cancellation fee will be waived for that session. However, if you cancel more than one appointment per school term due to sickness, with less than 24 hours’ notice, the cancellation fee applies for each subsequent cancelled/missed appointment.

School events, excursions and sports days

It is the parent’s responsibility to advise the therapist if your child is unable to attend their regular therapy session due to school obligations. The cancellation fee will only apply if less than 24 hours’ notice is given.

5. Fees and Payments

Pricing Schedule

Therapy sessions

45 minutes face to face session, includes planning, preparation of resources & note writing - £80.00

Assessment sessions – includes Management Plan

75 minute assessment, short summary report included - £170.00

75 minute assessment, full report included - £270.00

Additional Assessment Session (where recommended by the therapist)

60 minutes £95.00

Travel charges for home and school visits

The first 10 miles in any direction that I travel from my home in Wokingham, Berkshire are free. Thereafter mileage will be charged at 45p per mile.

For initial assessment prepayment is required in advance of the appointment to confirm the appointment.

For therapy/intervention

Invoices for blocks of therapy are normally issued at the end of each month. Alternatively, we accept pre-payment or payment at the end of each session if you prefer.

Whole term school-based contract invoices are issued at the end of each calendar month for the sessions completed that month.

Payment is requested within 7 days. Direct online bank transfer is preferred. Cheques are not accepted.

Every attempt will be made to resolve late payments amicably. However, these may incur an additional 10% charge. In the case of failure to pay, outstanding debts will be collected through legal proceedings.

In the event of another family member paying for therapist services (such as grandparents), we are only able to share information around the child’s progress with written consent from parents/guardians.

Fees are subject to review on a 6 monthly basis (1st September and 1st April). You will receive at least 6 weeks’ notice of fee increases and these will not apply to invoices that have been already issued or sessions that have been booked.

We do not provide services under health insurance policies although some insurers do accept a receipt to reclaim a set number of sessions.

Phone conversations

Phone conversations - free for the first 15 minutes for parents/carers making initial inquiries or changing appointment times. Thereafter a fee of £5 per 10 minutes will be charged following the phone call, which should be paid in full within 7 days of the date on the invoice. This rate also applies to phone calls to other professionals if required.

Review appointments - £90 (60 minutes) and occur where a break in therapy sessions of 3 months has taken place. The child would have already previously attended an initial assessment with Connected Speech. If a report is required following this review appointment, this would be charged at an agreed rate depending on the time taken to write the report.

Refunds

If a pre-paid session is cancelled or postponed within the terms of our cancellation policy above, we will make a note in your payment record and the payment will cover the following session.

If pre-paid sessions are cancelled and not rescheduled, then we issue a credit note for future sessions. If future sessions are unlikely to be needed, then we refund all monies owing within 1 month.

If your child does not engage in a session, we are unable to reimburse any of the session.

6. Safeguarding

If a safeguarding concern arises, where we believe a child may be at risk of harm, we are legally obliged to share information with relevant professionals as outlined in the Children Act 2004. You can find out more information here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2

7. Record keeping and storage of confidential client data

Wendy Gracie is the data controller and Founder of Connected Speech. She is registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) and all records are kept in accordance with GDPR legislation. Information on how we store your personal information is detailed in our GDPR/privacy policy which can be found on our website. Paper records are stored in locked filing cabinets and on a password protected laptop which is locked in a filing cabinet at home. When the SLT is out on visits, any paper records are taken into schools, or client’s homes, or locked in the boot of a car – whichever is deemed safer at the time. Electronic records are stored within the GDPR and HIPAA compliant virtual practice management system Zanda.These records are kept until the child is 25 years of age or until 26 years if the young person is 17. Further information about Zanda is available at https://www.zanda.com.Any electronic client reports & intervention plans are password protected before emailing.Audio and video recordings of clients are stored on password protected devices.

Full names & addresses are never used during audio & video recording.Documents containing client data that are no longer required are shredded before disposal.

Reports and Documentation

Reports, therapy plans, and letters may be requested and are chargeable separately according to the time taken. This fee will be agreed prior to the work being undertaken. All documentation remains the intellectual property of Connected Speech and should not be modified or shared without permission.

8. Responsibilities of Clients

Clients agree to provide accurate, up-to-date information and participate fully in therapy sessions. Parents/carers are responsible for the child’s attendance, safety during sessions, and implementation of home practice.

9. Therapist Responsibilities

We commit to providing professional, ethical, and evidence-based services in line with HCPC and RCSLT standards. We will communicate openly, monitor progress, and adapt plans as necessary.

10. Liability

Connected Speech accepts no liability for any loss, damage, or injury arising from the use of our services, except where legally required. Parents/carers are responsible for their child’s wellbeing outside of direct therapy sessions.

11. Complaints Procedure

School staff, parents and carers are actively encouraged to raise concerns or issues at the earliest opportunity. We recognise that most concerns will be dealt with informally and never go further than the preliminary stage. Please discuss any complaints or concerns that you may have in the first instance.

If we are unable to resolve the difficulty, then you can take your concern to the Association of Speech & Language Therapists in Independent Practice (ASLTIP) http://www.helpwithtalking.com/Complaint-Policy

For serious issues you may also contact the Health Professions Council:

https://www.hcpc-uk.org/concerns/raising-concerns/

12. Amendments

We reserve the right to amend these Terms and Conditions at any time. Clients will be notified of significant changes.