Affiliate policy

1. Status — independent sub-contractor

You are engaged as an independent sub-contractor. Nothing in this policy or in the affiliate programme creates a contract of employment, a worker relationship, a partnership, a joint venture or an agency relationship between you and Food Library.

You do not hold employment status within this business and are not entitled to any employment rights or benefits, including holiday pay, sick pay, pension contributions, notice periods, redundancy pay or any other employee entitlement.

You control how, when and where you carry out your introductions. You may work for others, and you are free to accept or decline any opportunity.

2. Tax, National Insurance and VAT

You are solely responsible for registering with HMRC and for accounting for and paying all income tax, National Insurance contributions and, where applicable, VAT on any commission you earn.

Commission is paid gross. Food Library will not operate PAYE on your payments. Where you are VAT registered, you must invoice with valid VAT details.

You will indemnify Food Library against any tax, National Insurance, penalty or interest demanded from us as a result of your engagement.

3. Insurance and liability

All insurances fall to you directly. You must hold and maintain, at your own cost, any insurance appropriate to your activity — including public liability and professional indemnity cover where relevant — and provide evidence on request.

You are liable for your own acts, omissions, statements and expenses. Food Library accepts no liability for any loss, claim, injury, damage or cost arising out of your activity as an affiliate.

You will indemnify Food Library against all claims, losses and costs arising from your breach of this policy, from any misrepresentation you make, or from your dealings with venues or third parties.

4. How you may promote Food Library

You must represent Food Library honestly and must not make guarantees, pricing promises or claims about the service that we have not published.

No spam, no paid search bidding on Food Library brand terms, no misleading or offensive material, and no impersonating Food Library staff.

You must comply with all applicable law, including data protection, consumer protection and advertising rules, and must disclose your affiliate relationship where required.

5. Commission and territories

Commission is earned only on venues correctly attributed to you and is payable once the venue's monthly subscription payment clears. Commission rates are set by Food Library and may be varied for future periods.

Exclusive postcode districts are assigned, paused, reassigned and withdrawn by Food Library administrators only. Affiliates cannot turn postcode areas on or off.

Chargebacks, refunds, fraud or cancelled payments may reverse a commission entry.

6. Customers deal with Food Library only

The affiliate programme is a trade arrangement between you and Food Library. Customers order from Food Library and the venue — they are not told which affiliate covers their area, and affiliate identities, contact details and territory allocations are never published on the customer-facing site.

You must not present yourself to customers or diners as the operator of Food Library or of an area, must not solicit or take customer enquiries, orders, complaints or payments, and must not use customer contact details for your own promotion.

Any customer who contacts you must be directed to Food Library support. All customer-facing communication is handled by us.

7. Confidentiality and data

Venue and customer information you obtain through the programme is confidential and may only be used to carry out your role as an affiliate.

You must handle personal data lawfully and must not retain or transfer it after your account ends.

8. Suspension and termination

Food Library may pause, suspend or close an affiliate account at any time, including for breach of this policy. Unpaid commission relating to a breach may be withheld.

You may close your account at any time. Sections covering tax, insurance, liability, indemnity and confidentiality survive termination.

9. Acceptance

Every new affiliate application must authorise this policy. Your acceptance is logged and date-stamped against your affiliate profile, together with the policy version in force at the time.

Where this policy is materially updated, we may require you to re-authorise it before further commission is paid.