Legal hotline

BSA Legal Hotline Terms and Conditions 

Scope of service 

The legal hotline is available to full UK members of the Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA), including Jersey and Guernsey members, who have paid membership subscriptions for the current academic year. If you are unsure whether your membership is up to date, please contact bsa@boarding.org.uk before using the service. 

The service is not available to affiliate UK members, day school members, or international members. If you would like to enquire about upgrading your membership, please contact bsa@boarding.org.uk 

Guidance is only available on matters relating to the running of your school or college not issues related to your own employment and other personal issues affecting you. The hotline is not able to give advice to member friends or clients. If you are a consultant or professional advisor, we do not give guidance for you to pass on to your clients. 

Guidance is given by telephone only and not in writing. 

The service is facilitated by the BSA Group Services Ltd (trading names include BSA and BSA Group) and provided by one of the following: BSA Group Legal Services Ltd, Moore Barlow LLP, Bhayani Law, or Doyle Clayton. Your query will be triaged and placed with the most appropriate or available firm. Contact details and details of your query will be shared with the firm providing advice.  

Guidance may be given by legal advisers with experience of the subject in question. 

These terms and conditions shall govern your use of the hotline. Additional terms and conditions may also apply to other services provided by the BSA and these will be made available to you if you use these services. By using or accessing the BSA’s hotline you will be deemed to have accepted these terms in full. 

If you do not agree with these terms and conditions, please refrain from using the service. 

Without prejudice to the BSA’s rights under these terms and conditions, if a member is in breach of the terms and conditions in any way, or if the BSA reasonably suspects that the member has breached these terms and conditions in any way, the BSA may: 

• Send the member one or more formal warnings; 

• Temporarily suspend the member’s access to the legal hotline 

• Permanently prohibit the member from access to and use of the legal hotline 

• Commence legal action against the member for breach of contract. 

Opening hours and charges 

Queries will be dealt with during the hours of 09:00 – 17:00 (GMT), Monday to Friday, excluding UK public holidays. 

Service administrators will ask you for a concise summary of your situation and the question which you wish to ask. You will receive a call back from a legal adviser by the end of the following working day. 

Guidance is free, but call charges apply. Charges for calls from outside the UK and from mobile phones may vary. 

Guidance given outside of the initial 15-minute period may attract charges at rates applicable at the time of calling and as agreed with the firm. BSA members will be responsible for the payment of these additional charges and are advised to make themselves aware of the scale of fees payable at the outset. BSA and BSA Group Legal Services Ltd accepts no responsibility for such work and they in no way encourage members to use the private services of the firm’s solicitors. 

You may use the free legal hotline multiple times per year – up to 15 minutes per term for immigration queries and 15 minutes per term for any other queries. This limit is per member school, not per individual. 

Requests for guidance cannot be accepted if your membership status cannot be verified. 

Paperwork 

Documents (including letters and other written communications) cannot be considered or drafted. 

Jurisdiction 

Initial 15 minutes of free guidance on the specified legal subject will be provided by legal advisers qualified to give advice under the law of England and Wales. Immigration and HR advice may cover Scottish law and the law of Northern Ireland.