CIW Online terms and conditions

Information about us

online.careinspectorate.wales is a portal managed by the Welsh Government on behalf of the Welsh Ministers whose main office address is at Crown Buildings, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.

About CIW Online

The purpose of CIW Online is to provide providers of Registered Services (as defined below) with the ability to interact online with CIW.

Definitions

In these terms:

“we/us” means the Welsh Government acting on behalf of the Welsh Ministers, whose main office address is at Crown Buildings, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.

“you” means the person using CIW Online and/or accessing the Online Services:

1.on its own behalf where the person is a sole trader;  or
2.on behalf of the business or organisation providing the relevant Registered Service.

“CIW Technical Support” means the CIW helpdesk contactable via 0300 7900 126 option 4.

“Intellectual Property Rights” means copyright, rights related to or affording protection similar to copyright; rights in databases; patents and rights in inventions; semi-conductor topography rights; design rights; trade marks, service marks; rights in internet domain names and website addresses; trade names, business names, brand names; rights in get up; goodwill; know-how, trade secrets and rights in confidential information and all other intellectual property rights, in each case whether registered or unregistered and including all applications and rights to apply for and be granted, renewals or extensions of, and rights to claim priority from, such rights and all similar or equivalent rights or forms of protection which subsist or will subsist now or in the future in any part of the world.

“Activation PIN” means the 8 digit code provided by us to you.

“Online Services” means the services offered by CIW Online from time to time.

“User Account” means an account set up on CIW Online which is personal to a user and through which the user can access the Online Services.

“Responsible Individual” means the individual nominated by an organisation or business as the “responsible individual” for the purposes of the Child Minding and Day Care (Wales) Regulations 2010 and the regulations made under section 22 of the Care Standards Act 2000 or the individual designated by a Service Provider.

“Registered Person” means the individual registered under Part 2 of the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 or Part 2 of the Care Standards Act 2000.

"Registered Services” means any services which require registration with CIW under Part 2 of the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 or Part 2 of the Care Standards Act 2000.

“Service Provider” means a person, organisation or business registered to provide a regulated service.

Acceptance of these user terms and conditions

When creating your User Account you will be asked to accept and agree to these terms and conditions. If you do not accept these terms and conditions you will be unable to set up a User Account and use CIW Online to access the Online Services.

These terms and conditions can be accessed any time by using the Terms and Conditions link on the CIW Online menu bar at the bottom of each page.

Changes and Updates to CIW Online or to these User Terms and Conditions

We may make changes or updates to these terms and conditions or to the Online Services at any time.

You will be notified of any changes or updates, if any, each time you log into CIW Online and you will be asked to confirm your acceptance to the changes or updates before access to CIW Online is provided. 

These terms and conditions will apply to all changes and updates to CIW Online. If any changes or updates are made to these terms and conditions, these terms and conditions will be amended accordingly.

Applying for a user account

You must have a user account in order to use CIW Online and access the Online Services.

You can apply for a user account by completing the User Account application form and providing the requested information including your Activation PIN.

Obtaining your Activation PIN: an Activation PIN has been sent to all registered Responsible Individuals and Registered Persons at the address held by us for each individual. If you are a registered Responsible 

Individual or a Registered Person and have not received or have lost your Activation PIN or your Activation PIN has been deactivated you will need to contact the Helpdesk. 

The activation PIN can only be used once. Once used, it will be deactivated.

We reserve the right at our discretion to:

• reject any User Account application form submitted to us;
• cancel any User Account; or
• change the status or settings of any User Account.

If we accept your application for a User Account we will set up an account for you on CIW Online. You will only be able to access CIW Online using your username and password.

By applying for a user account, you represent and warrant that you have the right, authority and capacity to use CIW Online and the Online Services and to be bound by these terms and conditions. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your User Account immediately without any notice to you. 

In consideration of you being provided with a User Account and access to the Online Services, you agree:

• to provide true, accurate, current and complete information when prompted by the User Account application form or as part of any of the Online Services;
• to promptly notify us of any change to  any information you have provided to us so as to keep the information held by us true, accurate and complete.

Username and Password

Your username will be the email address provided by you when applying for a User Account. As part of the application for a User Account you will be asked to provide a password which meets our requirements.

Your username and password must be personal to you. You must keep your username and password safe and secret at all times and must take all reasonable steps to safeguard them. 

You must not share your password with another person or allow any other person to access or use CIW Online using your User Account. For the avoidance of doubt, where you are acting on behalf of a business or organisation you must not share your username or password with any other person within that business or organisation. 

You are responsible for all activity on CIW Online made using your User Account whether or not such use was actually yours. If you suspect any other person has used or is using your User Account you must notify us immediately. 

If you forget or want to change your password, you can reset your password by clicking on the “I forgot my password” link on the CIW Online login page and inserting your username.

If you forget your username, you must contact the Helpdesk.

Closing your User Account

You can apply to have your User Account closed by contacting the Helpdesk.

Your Account Details

We may use the details provided on your User Account to contact you regarding your use of CIW Online. You can update these at any time by contacting the Helpdesk.

It is your responsibility to ensure that the information held on your User Account and provided by you, including without limitation your contact details, are accurate and comprehensive and up to date in all respects at all times. Except where a change to your information requires a notification, you can update your information by logging in to your User Account.

Individuals Acting on Behalf of an Organisation or Business

Where you are acting on behalf of an organisation or business your actions will bind that organisation or business. You must act:

• solely within the remit of your role within or relating to organisation or business;
• within the authority of the relevant organisation or business at all times;
• in accordance with any instructions given to you by that organisation or business when completing and/or submitting any forms or information on behalf of that organisation or business (provided that where any such instructions conflict with guidance issued by the Welsh Government or any law such guidance or law shall take precedence of any such instructions).

Using CIW Online

You are responsible for ensuring that your information technology, computer programs and platform are configured in order to access CIW Online.

Except where a change to any data or information requires a notification, you can edit the data or information by logging in to your User Account.

You acknowledge and agree that by submitting any form, information or material when using the Online Services:

• you represent and warrant that such form, information or material is complete, accurate and up to date;
• you (or, as the context requires, the organisation or business on behalf of which you are acting) may be held responsible for any inaccuracies or misrepresentations relating to any such form, information or material; and
• you represent and warrant that you (or as the context requires the organisation or business on behalf of which you are acting) have the authority and all necessary rights, licences and permissions to submit the form, information or material for the purposes referred to in the paragraph immediately below.

Any form, information or material submitted by you when using the Online Services will only be used by us (or our authorised representatives) for the purposes for which it was submitted and to verify that the information is complete, accurate and up to date.

As part of using CIW Online (including applying for a User Account) you may be required to indicate your agreement, make a declaration of or confirm a state of affairs by ticking a box or inserting text. You acknowledge and agree that by ticking any such box or inserting any text you (or, as the context requires, the organisation or business on behalf of which you are acting) will be bound by any such agreement, declaration, confirmation or the content of the inserted text and that we can rely on any such agreement, declaration, confirmation or text as though it was made and signed in writing by you.  

We reserve the right at any time to require you (or, as the context requires, the organisation or business on behalf of which you are acting) to provide any additional information or meet additional requirements to satisfy our needs.

If you have any queries regarding any form, information or material submitted by you please contact the Helpdesk.

Virus Protection and Security

While we will take reasonable steps to check and test CIW Online, you must take your own precautions to ensure that the process which you employ for accessing CIW Online does not expose you to the risk of viruses, malicious computer code or other forms of interference which may damage your computer system. It is always wise for you to run an anti-virus program on anything you download from the internet.

No data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed as totally secure. While we strive to protect any data or information provided to us, we do not warrant and cannot ensure the security of any information which you transmit to us. Accordingly, such transmission is at your own risk. We will not be liable for any damage or loss arising out of the use of CIW Online. We accept no liability for any loss, disruption or damage to your computer system or your data caused by using CIW Online or arising as a result of having used CIW Online.

Acceptable Use

13.1 You may only use CIW Online for lawful purposes. You may not:

• use CIW Online in any way that is unlawful or fraudulent, or has any unlawful or fraudulent purpose or effect;
• use CIW Online to send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use or re-use any material:
  • capable of being threatening, obscene, harmful, defamatory, pornographic or causing distress; 
  • which others may find sexist, racist or otherwise offensive; or
  • which may violate or infringe in any way the rights of others;
• use CIW Online to transmit, or procure the sending of, any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation (spam);
• access or attempt to access accounts belonging to other users of CIW Online or to any other service, device, data, account or network;
• knowingly transmit any data, send or upload any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware;
• interfere with or attempt to interfere with any security measures belonging to or relating to CIW Online;
• access, copy, modify or attempt to access, copy or modify any part of the computer software for CIW Online; and/or
• use CIW Online in any way that could harm it or impair anyone else’s use of it.

Unauthorised access and unauthorised modification to CIW Online are offences under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and it is unlawful therefore to cause damage to it intentionally or to any Welsh Government electronic facility or data through the knowing transmission of any programme information code or command.

Availability of the CIW Online

You acknowledge that CIW Online is a Beta service. For more information regarding Beta services see the relevant link on CIW Online menu bar.

If access to CIW Online or to any of the Online Services is interrupted we will take reasonable steps restore it as soon as possible. However, access to CIW Online may be suspended at any time without notice. 

We will not be liable for any disruption or failure to make CIW Online available.

If access to CIW Online or to a particular Service is disrupted or suspended in any way it remains your responsibility to comply with any statutory time limits regarding the filing of any documentation or information or registration and you will be expected to use the other methods of filing or registration available.

We reserve the right to deny access to the CIW Online or to any of the Online Services where it is considered necessary to protect the integrity of CIW Online or to discontinue the provision of Online Services via CIW Online at any time. We will not be liable for any damage or loss arising out of the use of CIW Online.

Linking to/from other websites

As CIW Online is a private website you are only able and permitted to provide links to CIW homepage. You do not have to ask permission to link directly to CIW homepage provided that: 

• you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it;
• you do not link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists; and
• the website from which you are linking complies with the spirit the section entitled Acceptable Use of these terms and conditions.

We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

Any links provided on CIW Online to any third party sites and resources are provided for your information only and should not be taken as an endorsement of any kind.  We have no control over the content of those sites, their resources or the data they collect and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them. 
 
We cannot guarantee that any links provided on CIW Online will always work.

Copyright/Ownership and Proprietary Rights

You may use and re-use Crown copyright content on CIW Online (other than the Royal Arms and departmental or agency logos) free of charge in any format or medium, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Open Government Licence v3.0  provided it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context.  Where any of the Crown copyright items on CIW Online are being republished or copied to others, the source of the material must be identified and the copyright status acknowledged.

The permission to use Crown copyright content on CIW Online in clause 16.1 is subject to clause 13 above and does not extend to:

• any name or logo for or of CIW, the Welsh Government, the Welsh Ministers or any other logo or name on CIW Online;
• images on this CIW Online (these may only be used with our prior written permission); and
• any material on CIW Online which is identified as being the copyright of a third party. You must obtain permission to use any third party copyright directly from the third party.

Any copyright or other Intellectual Property Right in any content or material submitted by you to us by using the Online Services shall remain vested in or licensed to you. By submitting content or material you shall be deemed to have granted us all necessary non-exclusive royalty free licences (or, as appropriate, sub-licences) to enable us to use such content or material for the purposes referred to in clause 11.4 and to store them in accordance with the Welsh Government’s retention and disposal policy as applicable from time to time. 

If you have any queries please contact the Helpdesk.

Cookies and Privacy Policy – Information about you and your use of CIW Online

We will process information about you in accordance with our Cookies and Privacy Policy. By using CIW Online you consent to such processing and you warrant that all data provided by you is accurate.

Freedom of Information

We are subject to the laws governing access to information as set out in the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”) and any other relevant legislation relating to access to information. While all the information that you provide to us is potentially disclosable, there are exemptions to disclosure and where we consider possible we will seek to rely on such exemptions. We will where possible consult you should we receive a request for the information you have provided. However, you acknowledge that we may disclose any information relating to you which in our absolute discretion we consider we are required to disclose in accordance with the FOIA and/or any other statutory requirement.

Liability

We take reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in the Online Services accessed via CIW Online but this information should not be relied upon as a substitute for formal advice from us.

Subject to clause the paragraph immediately below we will not be held responsible or liable for any claim, loss or damage (including without limitation fines, costs and expenses) howsoever arising in contract, tort (including without limitation negligence) or statutory duty in connection with the use or loss of use of CIW Online including, without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage; any loss or damage arising from use or loss of use of or corruption of data; economic loss; loss of profits or loss of goodwill.

Nothing in these terms and conditions shall exclude our liability for:

• death or personal injury resulting from negligence;
• fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or
• any other act or omission where liability for which can not be limited under any applicable law.

General

CIW Online and the information, materials and Online Services (including without limitation any third party information and materials) provided, are provided on an 'as is' and ‘as available’ basis without any representation or endorsement made and without warranty of any kind whether express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of satisfactory quality, reliability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, compatibility, security and accuracy.

We do not warrant that the functions contained in CIW Online will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected, or that CIW Online or the server that make it available are free of viruses or represent the full functionality, accuracy, reliability of the materials. 

Without prejudice to the section entitled Changes and Updates to CIW Online or to these User Terms and Conditions, notices to you may be made via email or standard mail or by displaying notices or links to notices on CIW Online generally.

If we waive any rights available to us under these terms and conditions on any occasion, this does not mean that those rights will automatically be waived on any other or subsequent occasion.

If any part of these terms and conditions are held to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal for any reason, the remaining terms and conditions shall nevertheless continue in full force.

These terms and conditions shall govern your access to CIW Online and the Online Services to the exclusion of any other terms and conditions proffered by you.

Governing Law

The English and Welsh courts will have exclusive jurisdiction over any claim arising from, or related to, a visit to CIW Online.

These terms of use and any dispute or claim howsoever arising out of or in connection with them shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

Feedback and Complaints

If you have any complaints, have any questions or would otherwise like to provide feedback about the portal or the Online Services provided you can contact us by contacting the Helpdesk.