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Terms of use & Privacy Policy

1. General

These terms (including the Privacy Policy and any other documents referred to) are the terms (the ” Terms”) which apply to your use of the website https://www.ukmba.org (or its replacement or successor URL) and the services offered by us via that website (the ” Website”). Please read these terms carefully before you start to use the Website. If you have any questions or issues please Contact Us.

By accessing the Website you are deemed to have read and accepted the Terms, whether or not you are a registered user of the Website.

We may make changes to these Terms at any time and such changes will take effect and be binding upon you from the point at which they are posted on the Website. Therefore, you should check these Terms regularly to make sure you are abiding by the most current version. We may also make changes to the Website from time to time.

2. Information about us and the website

The Website is operated by the UK Municipal Bonds Agency Plc (“UK Municipal Bonds Agency”) and registered at Ground Floor 5 – 8 The Sanctuary, London Sw1P 3JS:

• The UK Municipal Bonds Agency Plc . Registered in England and Wales No. 9069106

3. Access and availability

We reserve the right to withdraw, suspend or amend access to all or any part of the Website or cease its operation temporarily or permanently at any time without notice.

Access to, and the use of, some parts of the Website (including content) may be restricted to Registered Users only (or to selected Registered Users) e.g. Members of the UK Municipal Bond Agency.

We may, at our sole discretion, refuse to register a user or to provide access to certain parts of the Website to certain users, or terminate the membership of a Registered User without providing reasons for doing so.

We will use reasonable endeavours to ensure that the Website is accessible 24 hours per day but the Website is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis, and we give no warranties or guarantees that the Website will meet particular levels of availability or functionality. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you do not post any business critical information or material on the Website and that you keep copies of all information and content you post on the Website in accordance with your employer’s policies and processes.

You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the Website. We cannot guarantee that the transmission of any information over your internet connection will be secure nor can we guarantee that the Website will be compatible with any or all hardware and software that you may use to visit the Website.

4. Registration

Although you register to use the Website as an individual you are participating in your work capacity. Therefore, please make sure that you are aware of, and comply with, your employer’s information and other policies regarding participating in social media including l collaboration platforms with access to social media tools.

In order to use certain aspects of the Website you must complete the registration form available via the Website. You can access the registration form on the homepage of the Website or you can [Register Here]. All information you supply when registering for the Website will be available to other Registered Users except your user name, email address, telephone number and password

5. Your personal information

We collect personal information about you when you register to use the Website and as and when you use the Website. We have explained what this information is, what we do with it, and who we share it with and other related matters such as cookies in more detail in our Privacy Policy.

6. Your password

If you know or suspect that your password has been disclosed to another person you must immediately [Contact Us] to let us know and change your password. We have the right to disable your user name and password at any time if in our opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these Terms.

7. Your conduct

We allow you access to the Website [as a Registered User] on the following terms, which you agree:

• [if you are registering as a Registered User,] you provide accurate, current and complete information about yourself on any registration forms on the Website (” Registration Data”);
• you must only use the Website to post, use or send content and messages that comply with our instructions and which are legal (in respect of the law applicable in England and Wales, Scotland and in any country from which it is posted) and appropriate to the Website;
• you maintain the security of your user name and password;
• you maintain and promptly update the Registration Data, and any other information you provide to us, to keep it accurate, current and complete;
• if you cease to work within the organisation which you indicated at the time of registration you worked for, you must Contact Us immediately so that we can update your registration and rights of access to the Website;
• you are responsible for all actions taken under your username and password;
• you will not create additional registered user accounts for the purpose of abusing the functionality of the Website, or other users;
• you do not seek to pass yourself off as another person or user; and
• you comply with these Terms.

You must not do any of the following:

• defame, abuse, harass, stalk, intimidate, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights (such as rights of privacy or intellectual property rights where applicable) of others; impersonate any other person or entity, whether actual or fictitious or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent yourself, your age or your affiliation with any person or entity or use or attempt to use another Registered User’s account;
• upload, post, transmit, share or otherwise make available any content that we deem to be obscene, indecent, unlawful, harmful, threatening, defamatory, infringing, abusive, inflammatory, harassing, vulgar, fraudulent, hateful, or racially, ethnically, sexually or otherwise objectionable;
• upload, post, transmit, share or otherwise make available any material which contains a statement which you know or believe, or have reasonable grounds for believing, that members of the public to whom the statement is, or is to be, published are likely to understand as a direct or indirect encouragement or other inducement to the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism; or
• use the Website for commercial purposes; upload, post, transmit, share or otherwise make available any unsolicited advertising (although you may advertise events you think may be of interest to other Registered Users acting in their professional capacity),
• unauthorised advertising, solicitations, promotional materials, “junk mail”, “spam”, “chain letters”, “pyramid schemes”, or engage in any other form of solicitation;
• upload, post, transmit, share or otherwise make available content unless you are sure there are no restrictions on your ability to do so;
• upload, post, transmit, share or otherwise make available any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, corrupted files, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;
• delete any required author attributions, legal notices or proprietary designations or labels in, or falsify the origin or source of, any material that is uploaded;
• use automated scripts to collect information from or in any way seek to change the Website or otherwise interact with the Website;
• register for more than one user account, register for a user account on behalf of an individual other than yourself, or register for a user account on behalf of any group or entity; or
• upload, post, transmit, share or otherwise make publicly available on the Website any private information of any other party, including, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and credit card numbers without first having obtain their written consent to this.

We will determine, in our sole discretion, whether a contribution to the Website or any other activity breaches these Terms.

You agree to obtain our consent in advance of any advertising activity on the Website. We will only allow advertising which is in line with our overall goals to support more effective knowledge sharing and to provide access to new and emerging practice for public service improvement and innovation, and tools for developing and sharing open and linked data and applications. We may withhold consent to advertising at our absolute discretion.

8. Viruses, hacking and other offences

You must not misuse the Website by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Website, the server on which the Website is stored or any server, computer or database connected to the Website. You must not attack the Website via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack.

We will report any such action to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use the Website will cease immediately.

9. Content

The majority of the information, data, text, software, photographs, graphics, messages, tags, or any other material (“Content”) on the Website is generated by the UK Municipal Bond Agency Plc.

Content may be out of date and we make no commitment to update or remove Content. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, integrity or quality of any Content on the Website.

Content is for information only and cannot be regarded as constituting advice or recommendations (professional or otherwise) and should not be relied on without taking independent advice. You are solely responsible for any decisions you take based on Content. We disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials from any Registered User or other visitor to our site, or by anyone who may be informed of any of its contents.

When you use the Website you will be able to share Content with us and with certain other Registered Users and will have access to Content provided by certain other Registered Users. You are solely responsible for Content you post or make available on the Website. Any Content you display on the Website is done so entirely at your own risk. You acknowledge that Content posted on the Knowledge Hub may be viewable by all other Registered Users.

You may also be able to communicate with other Registered Users through the Website and you acknowledge that you are solely responsible for those communications. We are not responsible for the behaviour or activities of Registered Users.

We recommend that you do not include your home address, telephone number or other sensitive personal information in any messages you send via the Website and that you do not post any Content on the Website unless you are willing for it to be shared with other Registered Users and made public. Please make sure you have complied with your employer’s information disclosure and confidentiality policies when posting Content on the Website.

We reserve the right to consider and respond to requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (” FOI”) for information which might or might not be held on the Website.

We may from time to time disclose Content provided by Registered Users to the police or other enforcement or regulatory bodies if (i) the disclosure may assist their investigations or (ii) the disclosure is required by law or any regulatory obligation, or (iii) we believe that such disclosure is necessary to assist in the prevention or detection of any criminal action (including fraud).

10. Monitoring

By using the Website you accept that you will be able to access Content posted by other Registered Users in an unedited and unrestricted form. We reserve the right, but have no obligation, to monitor the use of the Website. Facilitators of communities may also monitor your use of that community. We will not be responsible as author, editor or publisher of any Content.

We reserve the right promptly without notice to you to reject, remove, or edit any Content on the Website without any liability on our part. Facilitators of communities may also do this where the Content is posted in the community they manage.

If you encounter any content or behaviour in connection with use of the Website which you think is unacceptable you should report it to us by using the Feedback link on the Website. We will then review the content or behaviour and decide whether it complies with the Terms and we will deal with it in our discretion.

Where we consider it appropriate, we (or the facilitator of the applicable community) will endeavour to contact you to inform you that a complaint has been received in relation to Content which you have uploaded, the action that we have taken, our evaluation of the allegation, and what steps (if any) we require you to take.

11. Posting content on the website

The Website supports collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and information.

By making Content available on the Website you grant us (and our agents, successors and assignees) an irrevocable, royalty-free, perpetual licence (with the right to sub-license) to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, and publicly display your Content on the Website (a) for the purposes of our providing the Website to users and promoting the specific community or other part of the Website to which such Content was made available; and (b) so that the Content can be made available and be used, viewed and downloaded by those Registered Users that have access to the specific community or other part of the Website to which such Content was made available.

As a Registered User, you agree to comply with these Terms applying to Content you use, and agree to acknowledge the source of the Content when using it and retain any proprietary notices which may apply to it.

All copyright, trade marks, design rights, database rights and other intellectual property rights in or relating to the Content on the Website (but not Content supplied by Registered Users) (” Our Content”) belong to us or our third party licensors. You may access, use and reproduce Our Content (excluding any software code) solely for the purposes of your use of the Website.

You may also print, copy or download Our Content provided always that:

• you acknowledge us as the source of Our Content;
• all titles credits and URLs are included; and
• you comply with any legal notice contained in Our Content.

The permission to use Our Content is revocable by us at any time.

12. Links from and to the website

Where the Website contains links to websites provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only. We have no control over the availability or content of such other websites, nor for any products or services available from them. Any such link should not be seen as an endorsement of such websites, or any products or services contained on them.

Please bear in mind that your use of such other websites may be subject to additional terms and conditions imposed by the owners of those websites. Your dealings with such third parties are between you and the third party, and we accept no liability as a result of you accessing such websites or entering into contractual arrangements with the third parties.

You may link to our home page, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, but you must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.

You must not establish a link from any website that is not owned by you or your public sector employer.

The Website must not be framed on any other site except with our permission. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

If you wish to make any use of material on the Website other than that set out above, please Contact Us.

13. Disclaimers

We do not verify the identity of our Registered Users and you should not assume that the details of Registered Users are accurate. We are not liable for false or misleading statements by Registered Users.

We do not warrant that the Website is uninterrupted or error free or free of viruses, worms, Trojan Horses or technical defects of any description, and we accept no responsibility for any technical problems arising from your use of the Website.

Unless we specifically state otherwise, we provide the Website to you without any conditions, warranties, or guarantees which are expressly excluded to the extent permitted by law.

14. Our liability to you

Nothing within these Terms operates so as to exclude, limit or restrict our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraudulent misrepresentation or for any other matter for which it would be illegal for us to attempt to limit or exclude our liability.

Subject to the preceding paragraph, our maximum aggregate liability in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise arising out of or in connection your use of the Website shall be limited to £X,XXX, XXX Sterling.

We will not be liable for:

• any indirect, consequential or special losses or damages or any loss of profits, data or income arising in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise arising out of or in connection with your use of the Website;
• all conditions, warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity; and
• any loss, damage, expense, costs, delays or other liability whatsoever (including without limitation any financial losses such as loss of profit) which you may incur as a result of any event beyond our reasonable control (including without limitation any failure of transmission, communication, computer or other facilities or your inability to access the Website for any reason or any failure, error or delay in the sending or receiving of any notice or communication or instruction through the post or any electronic medium or any virus infection or denial of service attack).

In the event that you have or believe that you may have any right, claim or action against any other Registered User from that Registered User’s use of the Website, you agree to pursue such right, claim or action independently of and without recourse to us, and you release us and you will procure that any third party releases us from all claims, loss, damage expense, costs, delays and other liability, known and unknown, arising from or in any way connected with such right, claim or action.

15. Your liability to us

You agree to indemnify us and keep us indemnified against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities and reasonable costs arising from or in connection with your use of and conduct on the Website and your breach of any of the Terms.

16. Termination

If you no longer wish to be a Registered User, please Contact Us or terminate your registration by selecting Remove my Registration in your My profile page.

If we believe that you have not complied with the Terms we may, at our discretion and without incurring liability, cancel your membership and restrict access to the Website immediately and without giving you any prior notice.

Even after termination (for whatever reason) these Terms shall remain in full force and effect.

17. Waiver

Any failure or delay by us to enforce strict performance by you of any of the Terms or to exercise any right under the Terms will not be regarded as a waiver of any rights.

18. Severability

if any provision of the Terms is found by any Court, or other competent body to be wholly or partly illegal, invalid, void, voidable, unenforceable or unreasonable, that part shall be deemed to be severable from the Terms and the remaining provisions of the Terms shall continue in full force and effect.

19. Partnerships

The Terms are not intended, nor shall they operate, to create a partnership or joint venture of any kind between us and you, and you are not authorised to act as our agent.

20. Third party rights

Nothing in the Terms shall create or confer any rights or any other benefits whether pursuant to the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 or otherwise in favour of any person other than you or us.

21. Notices

We may provide you with notices regarding the Website or the Terms by regular mail, email, or postings to this website.

22. Entire agreement

These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and us with respect to the use of the Website and supersede any previous agreements between you and us regarding such subject matter.

23. Assignment

We may assign, delegate or transfer our rights, liabilities and/or obligations under the Terms without your prior consent and upon such assignment, delegation or transfer we shall be relieved of any further obligations under the Terms. You shall not assign, delegate or transfer any of your rights, liabilities and/or obligations under the Terms without our prior written consent.

24. Governing law and jurisdiction

The interpretation, construction, effect and enforceability of these Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English Law. You and we agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

25. Contacting us

You can contact us by emailing [email protected] or by writing to us at UK Municipal Bond Agency Plc, 5 – 8 The Sanctuary, London SW1P 3JS

Website Accessibility

This accessibility statement applies to https://ukmba.org/

This website is run by the Local Government Association and PFM. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts
• zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
• We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

• There are some images that do not contain accurate alt text
• PDFs are not sufficiently tagged for accessibility
• There are no significant landmarks to be able to by-pass menus

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please contact:

Email [email protected]

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: [email protected].

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The UKMBA is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Not all of our images have suitable text alternatives and where there is alt text, it is not always suitable. This fails SC 1.1.1: Non-text Content and is something we will aim to improve on with all new content whilst correcting older content/images.

Currently the sites core theme has no landmarks, which makes it impossible to navigate in this manner and impossible to bypass menu info with a ‘skip to content’. This fails SC 2.4.1: Bypass Blocks. We will look at how to best implement the landmarks in the next significant round of developer updates.

Many of the links on the site have been poorly created in terms of how they might work with assistive technology. Terms such as ‘click here’ or similar have often been used. These fail SC 2.4.4: Link Purpose (In Context).

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

The majority of the PDFs on the site were created before 2018 and do not have a wide readership. We believe that they site outside of the regulations.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 7 February 2023.

This website was last tested on 7 February 2023. The test was carried out in house by the LGA.

We tested key landing pages and templates using the Axe Extension for Chrome and the Simplified Testing method used by the UK Government.

This website was based on a design by Themes and Co.

Photographs on the front slider
“Construction” by Alex Liivet
“New Birmingham Library under construction” by Tony Hisgett

Licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence

Technical Help

The UK Municipal Bonds Agency Plc is constantly improving the quality of the service it provides over the Internet. From time to time this may require upgrading to a suitable browser or amending your computer settings in order to enjoy all the benefits and new services that the agency provides on the Internet. If you do not have one of the supported web browsers installed on your computer, click on one of the links below to download one.

If you have any technical problems downloading a browser, we recommend you contact your Internet Service Provider.

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