Terms & Conditions

1. Application of Terms and Conditions

(a) These terms and conditions govern your use of the Services. Whenever you access and/or use the Services, your access to and/or use of the Services constitutes your agreement to be bound by these terms and conditions. If you do not agree to be bound by these terms and conditions you must not access/use the Services.

b) Kin reserves the right to update these terms and conditions from time to time. Any updated terms and conditions will be effective upon Kin posting the updated terms and conditions and notifying you by email of the update. Your continued access to and/or use of the Services will constitute your agreement to be bound by the updated terms and conditions.

2. Description of Services

(a) The Services, including the Kin Platform, primarily constitute a technology platform that facilitates the provision of childcare by independent third party childcare providers.

(b) You expressly acknowledge, by your use of the Services, that Kin does not provide childcare services or function, in any way, as a childcare provider. All childcare services are provided by independent third party providers who are not employed or otherwise engaged by Kin in any way whatsoever.

3. Creation of an Account

(a) In order to access and use the Services as a User you must register and maintain a User Account with Kin.

(b) In order to access and use the Services as a Carer you must register and maintain a Carer Account with Kin.

(c) You agree to maintain any account that you have with Kin such that all information is accurate and up to date. You are responsible for the security of the information necessary to access your account/s and you must notify Kin immediately in the event that you suspect and/or become aware of a breach of this security and/or any unauthorised use of your account.

(d) You are solely responsible for all activities that occur under your account.

(e) You are not permitted to have more than 1 User Account or more than 1 Carer Account.

(f) Kin will deal with all personal information provided to it as part of the account creation process in accordance with its Privacy Policy.

(g) Kin reserves the right to verify any details that you provide to Kin from time to time. Kin may request identification from you in order to carry out this verification process.

(h) Kin reserves the right to do the following (without limitation):

  1. terminate an account as a result of the account holder breaching these terms and conditions or for any other reason that Kin considers appropriate in Kin’s absolute discretion;
  2. suspend an account for any reason that Kin considers appropriate in Kin’s absolute discretion; and/or
  3. deactivate an account due to inactivity.

(i) An account holder may terminate their account at any time via the Kin Platform.

4. Use of the Services

(a) Carers create profiles, via their Carer Account, displaying their details, skills, qualification and location on the Kin Platform so that Users can search for Carers based on these criteria. Carers will also be separated into 3 distinct categories: Gold; Silver; and Bronze – which are further detailed on the Kin Platform.

(b) Users enter jobs into the Kin Platform detailing location, date, start time and end time.

(c) Users offer jobs to available Carers that match the User’s specified criteria.

(d) Carers accept jobs through the Kin Platform on a first come first serve basis. Acceptance of jobs is at each Carer’s absolute discretion. Kin provides a technology platform only and has no control over Carers’ acceptance of jobs posted on the Kin Platform.

(e) Upon acceptance of a job by a Carer:

  1. the User will receive a notification via the Kin Platform confirming acceptance and providing the Carer’s contact phone number;
  2. the Carer will receive a notification containing the User’s full name, contact phone number and the nominated address where the childcare is to be provided; and
  3. payment for the job will be processed from the User’s nominated credit card.

(f) The Carer must meet at the nominated address at the start time. At the start of the job, the Carer must formally “start” the job via the Kin Platform.

(g) At the end of the job the Carer must formally “end” the job via the Kin Platform.

(h) All correspondence regarding jobs must occur via the Kin Platform.

5. Users

(a) Users must strictly comply with these terms and conditions.

(b) Users must provide Carers with a safe and clean environment in which to work. Users are solely responsible for all applicable Occupational Health and Safety obligations that arise in the course of engaging Carers.

(c) Users are solely responsible for any injuries that Carers suffer as a result of the negligence of Users.

(d) Users are encouraged to ensure all applicable insurance policies they hold are up to date to reflect the possibility of accidental, negligent and/or malicious damage and/or theft. Kin is not liable for any property theft or damage, personal injury, illness or death caused by the actions of a Carer booked through the Kin Platform.

(e) Users must not transmit any material and/or engage in any activity via the Kin Platform that is illegal, intimidating, defamatory, abusive or discriminatory.

(f) Users must use their best endeavours to make themselves available by phone during all jobs in the event of emergency or otherwise provide the Carer with an alternate emergency contact number.

6. Carers

(a) Carers must strictly comply with these terms and conditions.

(b) Carers must be aged 18 and over and be legally able to work in Australia in order to create a Carer Account.

(c) As part of the Carer Account creation process, all Carer’s must submit the following:

  1. Photo identification (Drivers Licence or Passport); and
  2. Current and valid Working with Children Check (in accordance with the Working With Children (Criminal Record Checking) Act 2004 (WA).

(d) As part of the Carer Account creation process, each Carer is encouraged to submit the following, if the Carer is appropriately qualified:

  1. Acceptable first aid qualification; and/or
  2. Diploma or Certificate III in Early Childhood Education & Care (or similar/equivalent).

If Carers have additional qualifications they are entitled to charge higher hourly rates based on the Gold, Silver and Bronze Carer categories set out on the Kin Platform.

(e) Kin reserves the right to request further information from all Carer’s that create Carer Accounts as Kin considers reasonably necessary.

f) While Kin does not accept any liability for doing so, Kin uses reasonable endeavours to verify all details provided to Kin by Carers.

(g) Carers must bring a functioning mobile phone with them to all jobs to ensure they are contactable at all times during jobs.

(h) Carers must not transmit any material and/or engage in any activity via the Kin Platform that is illegal, intimidating, defamatory, abusive or discriminatory.

7. Fees and Payments

(a) The hourly rate charged to Users by Carers is dependent on whether the Carer is a Gold, Silver or Bronze category carer. The qualifications and the applicable hourly rates associated with each category of Carer are set out on the Kin Platform. When Users enter jobs into the Kin Platform they specify which category of Carer they require and this dictates the applicable hourly rate.

(b) Users do not pay any fees directly to Kin. Kin charges Carer’s a flat rate of $2 per hour or part thereof (inclusive of GST) for all jobs booked via the Kin Platform in consideration of the Carer’s use of the Kin Platform.

(c) Upon acceptance of a job by a Carer a binding agreement is formed between the relevant User and Carer. Upon acceptance, the fees in relation to the job, calculated based on the agreed length of the job and the applicable hourly rate, are charged to the User’s nominated credit card.

(d) Until the job is completed the funds are held on a third party secure server. As soon as reasonably possible after the successful completion of a job, the funds are released to the Carer and Kin in accordance with these terms and conditions.

(e) Kin facilitates the payment process on behalf of Carers however, for the avoidance of doubt, Users do not pay any fees to Kin. Kin utilizes the Stripe payment platform to process payments. By agreeing to these terms and conditions all Users and Carers consent to the use of the Stripe payment platform.

(f) Jobs (including any overtime on jobs) can only be booked and are charged based on minimum 30 minute increments.

(g) If a job runs overtime then additional time will be charged at the same hourly rate that applied in relation to the original job based on the minimum 30 minute increment charge. For example, if a job runs overtime by 45 minutes, the User will be charged for an additional 60 minutes i.e. 2 x the minimum 30 minute charge.

(h) If a job runs overtime or additional fees are payable for any reason, the additional fees will be charged to the User’s nominated credit card as soon as reasonably possible after completion of the job.

(i) Carers will not in any circumstances attend without payment being successfully received. In the event that a credit card payment fails for any reason upon acceptance of a job by a Carer the job will be cancelled.

(j) Users acknowledge and agree to their credit cards being pre-authorised by Kin upon creation of a User Account and as required thereafter.

8. User Cancellations

(a) If a User cancels an accepted job within 24 hours of the scheduled start time of the job, 50% of the fees will be refunded to the User. The balance of the fees will be distributed to the Carer less Kin’s standard charge of $2 per hour (inclusive of GST).

(b) If a User cancels a job more than 24 hours before the scheduled start time of the job, 100% of the fees will be refunded to the User.

9. Carer Cancellations

(a) If a Carer cancels a job or fails to attend an accepted job, if time permits, Kin will attempt to find a suitable replacement Carer for the effected User.

(b) Kin provides no warranty or guarantee that it will be able to find a suitable replacement Carer in the event of a cancellation or failure to attend.

(c)  If Kin is not able to find a replacement Carer then 100% of the fees will be refunded to the User.

(d)  Kin does not in any way accept responsibility for cancellations and/or Carers failing to attend as Kin is not responsible for Carers, Kin simply provides a technology platform, Users engage Carers directly.

(e) User’s are reminded that Carers, if they are not satisfied with their working conditions/environment, feel unsafe or are otherwise harmed in any way, may be entitled to cancel and/or terminate a job prior to completion. User’s are reminded that they engage Carers directly.

10. Late Starts/Early Finishes

(a) If a Carer arrives to a job late, Users may elect to do any one of the following:

  1. Cancel the job in which case 100% of the fees will be refunded to the User;
  2. Obtain a refund for the amount of time by which the Carer was late calculated in minimum 30 minute increments; or
  3. If it can be arranged with the Carer, extend the finish time to accommodate the late start, in which case no refund will be provided.

(b) If a User wishes to end a job early they are not entitled to a refund.

(c) If a job finishes early at the request of a Carer, the User is entitled to a partial refund based on the actual time of the job calculated in minimum 30 minute increments.

11. Legal Relationship between Users and Carers

(a) Whenever a User engages a Carer via the Kin Platform they are engaging directly with the Carer. Kin makes no warranty as to the nature of the relationship as between each User and each Carer, in particular, whether that relationship is an employment and/or independent contractor relationship.

(b) Each User and each Carer are responsible for understanding the terms and conditions of the relationship formed between them on each occasion they use the Kin Platform.

(c) Each User and each Carer are responsible for complying with all applicable laws that govern the relationship between them.

(d) If necessary, Users and Carers should obtain their own independent legal and/or tax advice in relation to their obligations that arise as a result of the use of the Kin Platform.

12. Licence re: Use

(a) Subject to strict compliance with these terms and conditions, Kin hereby grants you a limited, non-exclusive,  revocable, non-transferrable license to:

  1. access and use the Kin Platform on your personal device/s solely in connection with your use of the Services; and
  2. access and use any content, information and related materials that may be made available through the Services. Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved by Kin and Kin’s licensors (if applicable).

(b) You may not, without the prior written consent of Kin:

  1. remove any copyright, trademark or other proprietary notices from any portion of the Services;
  2. reproduce, modify, prepare derivative works based upon, distribute, license, lease, sell, resell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast or otherwise exploit the Services except as expressly permitted by Kin;
  3. decompile, reverse engineer or disassemble the Services except as may be permitted by applicable law;
  4. link to, mirror or frame any portion of the Services;
  5. cause or launch any programs or scripts for the purpose of scraping, indexing, surveying or otherwise data mining any portion of the Services or unduly burdening or hindering the operation and/or functionality of any aspect of the Services; or
  6. attempt to gain unauthorised access to or impair any aspect of the Services or its related systems or networks.

13. Ratings, Feedback and Complaints

(a) Users and Carers have the ability to post feedback and ratings on the Kin Platform.

(b) Kin reserves the right to remove any feedback and/or ratings published on the Kin Platform in its absolute discretion.

(c) Users and Carers have the ability to submit a formal complaint to Kin via the Kin Platform.

14. Disputes

Kin operates a dispute centre which can be accessed through each User’s admin profile in the Kin mobile application. All Users and Carers must adhere to the following dispute resolution process:

(a) An aggrieved User/Carer must submit any complaint or dispute they wish to initiate via the dispute centre. The complaint or dispute must be outlined in detail.

(b) Once the dispute is submitted it will be reviewed by a Kin team member within 48hrs of receipt and progressed appropriately. Where a complaint is urgent, please indicate this in the written description of your complaint so that a team member can respond as quickly as possible.

15. Warranties

(a) Notwithstanding the fact that Kin does use reasonable endeavours to verify information provided to Kin by Carers, Kin does not provide any warranty whatsoever in relation to the qualifications, skill, honesty and/or capability of any User or Carer who uses the Kin Platform. Users engage Carers directly via the Kin Platform and as such:

  1. each User bears the sole responsibility for ensuring they are satisfied with a particular Carer and their qualifications when deciding whether to use and/or to  continue to use a Carer’s services via the Kin Platform; and
  2. each Carer bears the sole responsibility for ensuring they are satisfied with a User when deciding whether to provide and/or to continue to provide child care services to that User via the Kin Platform.

(b) Users are entitled to request proof of identity and proof of qualifications direct from Carers.

(c) Kin uses reasonable endeavours to ensure that the Kin Platform is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week however Kin does not make any representations or warranties that access to and use of the Kin Platform will be uninterrupted and/or error free.

(d) Kin uses reasonable endeavours to ensure all information on the Kin platform is accurate and up to date however Kin does not provide any warranty as to the accuracy and/or currency of any information on the Kin Platform.

(e) If the Kin Platform contains links to any third party advertisements or third party websites, Kin provides no warranty as to any third party content whatsoever and anyone accessing third party context via a link on the Kin Platform does so entirely at their own risk.

16. Liability and Insurance

(a) Each User and Carer that uses the Services does so entirely at their own risk.

(b) Each User and Carer acknowledge that Kin provides a technology platform only, does not in any way provide childcare services or a childcare function and, on that basis, is not responsible in any way for any issues associated with any childcare services that are provided via the Kin Platform.

(c) To the maximum extent permitted by law, Kin excludes all implied representations and warranties which might apply in relation to the Services. To the extent that Kin’s liability cannot be excluded by law, Kin’s maximum liability is hereby limited to the total amount paid by a User and/or Carer (as appropriate) in relation to the job that gave rise to the liability.

(d) Kin in no way accepts liability for any ratings, feedback or other communications that Users and/or Carers post on the Kin Platform.

(e) Kin in no way accepts liability for any indirect, punitive or consequential losses or damages that may arise as a result of any User and/or Carer using the Services.

(f) By using the Services, Users and Carers expressly authorise Kin to collect and publish information in accordance with these terms and conditions and Kin in no way accepts liability for publishing such information in accordance with these terms and conditions.

(g) Each User and each Carer (on a several basis) hereby agrees to indemnify and keep Kin indemnified against any and all losses, damages, costs and/or expenses that Kin may suffer or incur as a result of or in connection with their use of the Services except to the extent that any such loss, damage, cost or expense is caused by Kin.

17. Definitions

In these terms and conditions, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) Carer means any person that creates a Carer Account with Kin with a view to offering childcare services via the Kin Platform;

(b) Carer Account means an account created on the Kin Platform setting out a Carer’s details, qualifications and other necessary particulars;

(c) Kin means Kin Childcare Pty Ltd;

(d) Kin Platform means the technology platform created by Kin consisting primarily of the website “care4kin.com” and the mobile application “Kin” that enables Users to obtain childcare services directly from Carers and enables Carers to provide childcare services directly to Users;

(e) Services means all websites, applications, content, products and services including, without limitation, the Kin Platform made available by Kin from time to time;

(f) User means any person that creates a User Account with Kin with a view to obtaining childcare services via the Kin Platform;

(g) User Account means an account created on the Kin Platform by a User;

(h) You means any every person that accesses and/or uses the Services from time to time and Your shall have a corresponding meaning.

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