Refunds policy

This policy sets out AAT's refunds policy for all members, organisations and non-members.

Refunds will be made only once the initial payment has cleared into AAT's bank account and will only ever be made to the person who made the initial payment. Most claims will be actioned within three working days of being approved but you should allow up to 14 days for funds to clear.

Admission and reinstatement fees

All admission and reinstatement fees are non-refundable.

Annual membership and qualification fees

Affiliate, bookkeeping (associate), full and fellow annual membership fees

These can be refunded only if requested within one month of payment.

Qualification fees

Qualification fees can be refunded only if requested within one month of payment.

If the student has sat any form of assessment during the month proceeding payment they will not qualify for a refund.

Licence fees

Annual licence fees can be refunded only if requested within one month of payment.

Requesting refunds for membership, qualification or licence fees

Email customersupport@aat.org.uk. Please quote your membership number and the reason for the refund.

Direct Debits

Refund requests for membership fees paid by Direct Debit in error should be made directly to your bank, as per the guidance in the Direct Debit Guarantee.

You can cancel or amend your Direct Debit at any time: just select the Cancel or Amend option once you've logged in.

To ensure a payment is not collected please ensure you cancel your Direct Debit at least five days before a payment is due.

End Point Assessment fees

There are no circumstances where students make payments to AAT directly for End Point Assessment (EPA) fees. As such students should speak to their EPA centre in the first instance.

For registrations made on or after 1 September 2019, the administration fee paid on registration is non-refundable. The balance of the EPA fee, which becomes due when apprentices take the first component of the EPA, is also non-refundable if an apprentice has taken or submitted evidence for one or more components.

For registrations made before 1 September 2019, AAT will refund the EPA fee paid on registration in full providing an apprentice has not taken or been scheduled for any EPA component.

If one or more EPA components have been scheduled, irrespective of whether they have been taken, AAT will at its absolute discretion consider refunding the cost of the component(s) if an event caused by AAT prevented an apprentice from completing their assessment(s) or uploading their evidence. The refund will be in the form of a credit note to cover the cost of rescheduling the affected components. An event may include technical issues experienced while using an online system (except for local issues caused by slow internet connection, incorrect PC specifications, etc), or an independent assessor is unable to carry out an assessment at the scheduled time. Each refund request will be considered on a case by case basis.

Subject to the provisions of the clauses in its agreement with AAT, the EPA centre's only remedy for cancellation of all or part of the EPA shall be a refund of the EPA fee as applicable, and AAT is unable to consider any claims for compensation or consequential loss over and above this amount.

Refund requests relating to EPA assessments should be made only by the EPA centre and can be emailed to centre.support@aat.org.uk, quoting the EPA centre details, any related invoice number and the reason for the request.

Computer based assessment fees

There are no circumstances where students make payments to AAT directly for computer based assessment (CBA) fees. As such students should speak to their training provider or assessment venue in the first instance.

AAT will refund training providers or assessment venues for CBAs only in the event that a student is penalised in the course of sitting a CBA and this is due to an issue caused directly by AAT. Where invoices have been raised for assessments that could not be completed because of the disruption and an incident report logged with AAT, we will consider credit notes to training providers or assessment venues, on behalf of their students, if the incident was caused directly by AAT or our assessment platform software.

Refunds will not be considered where the assessment venue or training provider, rather than AAT, is responsible for events surrounding students' CBAs where disruptions have occurred. Examples of this include, but are not limited to, issues with the local computer network, fire alarms, scheduling errors, etc.

We are unable to consider any claims for compensation or consequential loss above and beyond any refund of AAT's assessment fee, where applicable.

Where AAT has issued a credit note back to the assessment centre for an assessment sitting, it is the responsibility of the assessment centre to refund the student.

Refund requests relating to CBA assessments should be made only by the assessment centre that hosted the sitting and should be emailed to centre.support@aat.org.uk.

Remotely invigilated computer based assessment fees

There are no circumstances where students make payments to AAT directly for remotely invigilated computer based assessment (CBA) fees. As such students that want to request a refund of their remotely invigilated CBA fees should, in the first instance, speak to the training provider, assessment venue or End Point Assessment (EPA) centre that scheduled the assessment.

AAT will refund training provider, assessment venue or EPA centres the AAT fees for remotely invigilated CBAs only in the event that a student is disadvantaged in the course of sitting one, and this is due to an issue caused directly by AAT or the software used to sit remotely invigilated CBAs.

Where invoices have been raised for remotely invigilated CBAs that could not be completed because of a disruption caused by AAT or the software used to sit remotely invigilated CBAs, and the student has logged an incident report, AAT will consider issuing credit notes to the training provider, assessment venue or EPA centre that scheduled the remotely invigilated CBAs, on behalf of their students.

Refunds will not be considered where the student, or the training provider, assessment venue or EPA centre that scheduled the remotely invigilated CBA, rather than AAT, is responsible for events relating to remotely invigilated CBAs that have led to disruption, prevented the student from completing the remotely invigilated CBA, or resulted in AAT having to void the assessment attempt. Examples of this include, but are not limited to:

• the CBA being scheduled incorrectly
• the invigilation software not being used
• assessment rules not having been followed
• minimum ICT specifications not being met
• non-provision of ID verification, room scans or invigilation video.

Where the invigilation recording is not complete due to an issue outside of the student's control, such as a drop in the internet connection, AAT will proactively void and credit note the attempt and contact the student.

We are unable to consider any claims for compensation or consequential loss above and beyond any refund of AAT's remotely invigilated CBA fee, where applicable.

Where AAT has issued a credit note back to the assessment centre for an assessment sitting, it is the responsibility of the assessment centre to refund the student.

Refund requests relating to remotely invigilated CBAs should be made only by the training provider, assessment venue or EPA centre that scheduled the assessment and should be emailed to centre.support@aat.org.uk.

Recognised prior learning exemption fees

AAT will not refund any recognised prior learning (RPL) exemption fees paid.

Paid-for AAT training provider, student, member and non-member events

AAT must be notified of the cancellation of bookings in writing (details provided below). Cancellations up to 14 days before the event are subject to a 20% administration charge. Fees are non-refundable if cancellation is within 14 days of the event. If AAT needs to cancel or postpone the event due to circumstances beyond its control, fees will be refunded in full.

Refund requests and cancellations relating to AAT events should be emailed to CPD.events@aat.org.uk.

AAT Future Finance and Training Provider Conference fees

If you book a paid-for place at an AAT in-person conference and you cancel your place more than 30 days before the start of the conference, you'll need to pay an administration fee of 20% of the total cost.

If you cancel your place within 30 days of the conference, you'll need to pay the full amount, as funds will have already been committed to the event.

Training provider approval and renewal fees

The training provider approval fee is non-refundable.

AAT will credit the annual renewal fee invoice only if the Centre Compliance team are notified by the training provider of their intended withdrawal from offering AAT qualifications within one month of the fee having been issued and if there are no students registered with the training provider. Please note this can result in the removal/suspension of the training provider's approved status.

Refund requests relating to the annual accreditation fee invoice should be made to AATQuality.Assurance@aat.org.uk and you should include the reason for the request.

AAT certificates and transcripts

No refunds will be given once a certificate or transcript has been issued.

Queries can be emailed to customersupport@aat.org.uk.

Other refund requests

For all other refund queries please email customersupport@aat.org.uk clearly stating what the refund request relates to and why you are requesting it.