Terms of Use

About the Platform

Your Rights Shield is a proposed Charitable Incorporated Organisation in registration with the Charity Commission of England and Wales. We operate a platform of free public legal information tools covering employment, housing, welfare benefits, debt, council tax, and civil claims, together with Shield Engine — an adviser case management platform for organisations working with people who need legal support.

The platform is operated by Matthew Foreman, Founder & Technical Lead of Your Rights Shield (Proposed CIO), from England. All tools are designed for use by people in England and Wales. The law covered by our tools is the law of England and Wales only. If you are in Scotland or Northern Ireland, the law that applies to your situation may differ significantly and these tools may not reflect your position accurately.

What This Platform Is Not

Legal information explains the law as it generally applies. Legal advice applies the law to your specific circumstances, involves professional judgment, and is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and other professional bodies.

Our tools:

• Are not provided by qualified solicitors or regulated legal professionals in the course of a professional relationship
• Do not create a solicitor-client relationship between you and Your Rights Shield (Proposed CIO)
• Do not constitute legal advice on which you should rely without independent verification
• Are not a substitute for specialist legal advice where your circumstances are complex, urgent, or where significant legal consequences may follow

Where a tool identifies a potential legal issue, we strongly encourage you to verify the finding with a qualified adviser, trade union representative, Citizens Advice, or other specialist service before taking any action.

Accuracy and Limitations

We take care to ensure that the legislation, statutory rates, and legal standards referenced in our tools are current and accurate. Every finding in every tool discloses the specific legislation applied and the methodology used, so that outputs are transparent, auditable, and independently verifiable.

However, the law changes. Statutory rates are updated. Case law develops. We cannot guarantee that every element of every tool reflects the most current legal position at all times. You should:

• Check the date of the most recent legislative update shown on each tool
• Verify statutory rates independently where your situation is time-sensitive
• Seek professional advice where the stakes are high or the legal question is complex

Our tools are designed to identify issues worth exploring — not to provide definitive legal determinations. A finding that a potential issue exists is a starting point for further investigation, not a confirmed legal violation.

We do not warrant that the tools are error-free. If you believe a tool contains an error in its legal references or calculations, please report it to us at mattf@yourrightsshield.org.uk. We take accuracy seriously and will investigate all reports promptly.

Permitted Use

You may use our tools for the following purposes:

• Personal use — understanding your own legal rights and entitlements
• Supporting another person — helping a friend, family member, or colleague understand their situation, provided you make clear to them that the tool provides information, not advice
• Professional use by advice-sector organisations — using the tools as part of a triage or intake workflow, subject to appropriate disclosure to clients
• Academic and research purposes — reviewing the tools' methodology, outputs, or approach to public legal information
• Journalistic purposes — reporting on access to justice, legal information provision, or related matters

Prohibited Use

You must not use our platform for any of the following purposes:

• To provide regulated legal advice to third parties without appropriate authorisation
• To represent to others that our outputs constitute legal advice or a legal determination
• To scrape, copy, reproduce, or redistribute the tool content, code, or outputs for commercial purposes without our written consent
• To attempt to circumvent, disable, or disrupt the technical operation of the platform
• To submit false or misleading information into the tools with the intention of generating a misleading output
• Any unlawful purpose, or any purpose that would bring Your Rights Shield (Proposed CIO) into disrepute

We reserve the right to restrict access to any part of the platform where we have reasonable grounds to believe it is being misused.

Intellectual Property

The tools, code, methodology, design, content, and documentation that make up the Your Rights Shield platform are the intellectual property of Your Rights Shield (Proposed CIO) and its founder, Matthew Foreman.

The platform was independently designed and built by Matthew Foreman prior to and in anticipation of the CIO's registration. In accordance with the CIO's governing document, these assets will be held by the CIO as charitable assets on registration and applied solely in furtherance of the CIO's objects.

You may not copy, reproduce, adapt, or redistribute any part of the platform for commercial purposes without our written consent. Non-commercial sharing — for example, directing someone to use a tool, or discussing its methodology in an academic context — is welcomed.

The legislation referenced throughout the platform is Crown copyright, reproduced for public information purposes. Nothing in these terms restricts your right to access primary legislation through official sources including legislation.gov.uk.

Liability

Your Rights Shield (Proposed CIO) provides its tools free of charge as a public benefit service. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we exclude liability for:

• Any loss or damage arising from reliance on the outputs of our tools without independent verification
• Any inaccuracy in the legislative references, rates, or calculations used in our tools
• Any decision made, action taken, or action not taken on the basis of a tool output
• Any interruption, suspension, or discontinuation of access to the platform

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by law.

We are a pre-registration charitable organisation operating on a not-for-profit basis. Our tools are provided as a public information resource. Users are encouraged to seek independent verification of any finding before taking legal action or making significant decisions.

Shield Engine — Adviser Platform

Shield Engine is a separate adviser case management platform accessible only to registered adviser accounts at partner organisations. It is not a public-facing service.

Organisations and advisers accessing Shield Engine do so subject to a separate data processing arrangement and any applicable partnership agreement. The following additional terms apply to Shield Engine users:

• Access credentials must not be shared with unauthorised individuals
• Case data within Shield Engine must be handled in accordance with the partner organisation's own data protection obligations
• Shield Engine outputs — including case intelligence reports — are for advisory use only and must not be represented to clients as legal advice
• The sandbox environment (accessible at shieldengine.uk using the published demonstration credentials) is for evaluation purposes only. No real client data should be entered into the sandbox environment.

Third Party Links and Services

Our tools and website may contain links to third-party services including Citizens Advice, StepChange, the Valuation Office Agency, and other relevant organisations. These links are provided for information only. We do not endorse, control, or take responsibility for the content or practices of any third-party website or service.

Accessing a third-party service through a link on our platform is subject to that service's own terms and privacy policy.

Changes to the Platform and These Terms

We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the platform at any time, including to update tools to reflect changes in the law, to correct errors, or to improve accuracy and accessibility.

These terms may be updated from time to time. The version number and date at the top of this page reflect the current version. Continued use of the platform following an update to these terms constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.

We will not make material changes to these terms without updating the date. If a change significantly affects users' rights, we will take reasonable steps to draw attention to it.

Governing Law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. Any dispute arising in connection with these terms or the use of our platform shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Our tools are designed for use by people in England and Wales and reflect the law of England and Wales only. We make no representation that the information provided is accurate or applicable in any other jurisdiction.

Contact

If you have questions about these terms, wish to report an error in our tools, or want to discuss a partnership or institutional arrangement, please contact us: