Refund Policy

Cancelled Courses and Classes

The length of each course is based on a minimum number of learners enrolled and the financial viability of the course. If this is not achieved, it may be necessary for us to cancel the course before the first class, and provide learners with a full refund;

There are certain circumstances where we may have to cancel an individual class, for example if a tutor is unwell. In this event, we will contact you as soon as possible. We will endeavour to put an additional class on at a later date. This additional class will be on a day and time that the majority of learners are able to attend. Learners unable to attend the re-scheduled class will not be provided with a refund. If, however, we are unable to offer an additional class at a later date we will provide a refund for the missed class.

In the event of severe weather, we will provide information on any impact on our classes by leaving a message on the enrolment centre telephones. We will also post notice of any disruptions on our website and social media and contact learners via text message and email if these details have been provided to us at the time of enrolment on one of our courses.

For more information about what to do if your course or class is cancelled, please contact LALS on FREEphone 0800 988 0308.

Refund Process

If a refund is issued, the refund method will depend on how you initially paid and the timescale will vary for you to receive your refund.

Card Payments

Learners who have paid by card within 6 months of the course being cancelled will have their refund returned to the same card used at the enrolment process. This usually takes 3-5 working days. LALS staff will ask for the card details as they do not keep any record of card details.
If a card expires then a refund via BACS will be issued. No other card can be used except the original payment card used at the point of enrolment.
If the refund is over 6 months, then a BACS payment will be paid to the learner.

Cash/Cheques

Learners will either be refunded via cash or a BACS payment and will be issued dependent on the amount owed to them.
If a learner does not have a bank account, LALS can pay the refund to a nominated person, but will require written confirmation from the learner.

BACS Payments

As part of data requirements Leicestershire County Council (LCC) central finance are only able to keep card payments for a maximum of 6 months before they destroy the information. If a learner has enrolled on a course and the course is cancelled, and the payment was taken over 6 months ago, then a payment to a bank account will be required.

If this is the case, then the learner will be contacted by a member of staff working in LALS and will ask the learner to provide their bank details – account code and sort code to set them up onto the LCC payment system so that the money can then be transferred to the learners bank account.

They will also ask the learner to provide them with proof that the bank account exists and is in the learner’s name in the form of a bank statement or paying in slip.

This information is sent to the LCC Finance Team and will then be destroyed by LALS. This is standard LCC procedure as they require this proof to protect both you and themselves against fraud. Learners bank details will not be passed to anyone else.

A learner will need to be set up on the LCC finance system. This can take 5-10 working days. Once the learner has been set up. LALS can then raise a request for payment for the refund to the learner. Once this has been approved it will be sent to finance for payment. LCC payment terms are 28 days and in some cases, this process may take longer.

Once the payment has been processed by LALS it then sits within the LCC finance system and they become responsible for making the payment to you.

Although LALS can check the status of the payment they do not have the authorisation to process refunds any faster.

Any queries should be directed to the financial shared services team on 0300 303 0222.