Refunds & Returns

Version 3 · 8 October 2026
The Ops Con Ltd, company number 16049216, registered office The Engine Room, 18 The Power Station, London SW11 8BZ ("we", "us"). Contact: info@theopscon.com.

This is the one cancellation and refund policy for every training course run by The Ops Con Academy. It forms part of the Learner Agreement. If anything on a course page, checkout page, email or older document says something different about cancellations or refunds, this policy applies instead, except where section 1.3 gives you better terms.

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1. Scope

1.1 This policy applies to every course that The Ops Con Academy runs, whether you book and pay online or join through an application (such as the Close Protection Programme).

1.2 Courses delivered by a partner training provider and sold through our website follow that provider's own payment, cancellation and refund terms. They are paid in full when you book, except Ambassador Training Academy courses, which keep their existing 50% deposit arrangement. The course page will say when a course is delivered by a partner.

1.3 Bookings made before this policy. If you booked before 8 October 2026, you keep whichever terms are better for you: this policy, or the terms you were shown when you booked. In particular:
(a) if the terms you were shown said we would always offer to move you to another date, we will still offer you that; and
(b) if you booked while our refunds page said that cancelling 30 or more days before the start date gives a full refund, a cancellation in that window gets a full refund, including the deposit.
(c) Point (b) does not apply to the Close Protection Programme deposit. Close Protection Programme applicants were told at checkout that the application deposit is non-refundable, so once your 14-day cooling-off period has ended that deposit is not refunded, whenever you applied. You still get a full refund if your application is rejected (section 8.3) or we cancel or change the course (section 7).

2. Words used in this policy

2.1 Course fee: the full price of your course, as shown when you booked (after any discount).

2.2 Deposit: the part of the course fee you pay to hold your place, as shown when you book:
(a) Close Protection Programme: 10% of the course fee (currently £199.90, or £179.90 at the Operator Pro member price);
(b) all other Ops Con Academy courses: 50% of the course fee.
You can always choose to pay the full course fee instead. If you use a discount code, the discount comes off the full course fee and the deposit is calculated on the discounted price.

2.3 Balance: the course fee less the deposit.

2.4 Start date: the first scheduled day of the course, including any online learning that is scheduled to start before the face-to-face days.

2.5 Days before the start date: counted in calendar days from the day we receive your written cancellation (UK time) to the start date. Example: for a course starting on 30 November, a request received on or before 16 November is "14 or more days before".

3. Your 14-day cooling-off period

3.1 If you book online, by phone or by email, you have the right to cancel within 14 days of the day your booking is confirmed (for application courses such as the Close Protection Programme, 14 days from the day you accept our offer of a place) and receive a full refund, including the deposit. This applies whether you book for yourself or on behalf of a business or employer. For individuals it is also your legal right under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

3.2 If your course (including any online learning) starts within those 14 days, we will only start it early if you expressly ask us to when you book. By asking, you acknowledge that:
(a) if you cancel during the cooling-off period after the course has started, you will pay a proportionate amount for what we have provided up to the time you tell us you are cancelling, and we will refund the rest; and
(b) once the course has been fully delivered, you will no longer have the right to cancel.

3.3 This section applies in addition to the rest of this policy. If a cancellation falls inside your cooling-off period, section 3 applies and section 5 does not.

4. Deposit, balance and confirming your place

4.1 Close Protection Programme. You pay the deposit to accept our offer of a place (a deposit paid with your application counts towards it). The balance is due within 15 days of your acceptance. If the balance is not paid by then, your place is released and we keep the deposit, unless you are still within your 14-day cooling-off period (section 3), in which case the deposit is refunded.

4.2 Other Ops Con Academy courses. You pay a 50% deposit to hold your place, or the full course fee. Places go to whoever pays the deposit first.
(a) The balance is due 14 days before the start date.
(b) Straight after you pay the deposit, we email you a secure link to pay the balance. You can pay it early.
(c) We send you reminders 7 days and 2 days before the balance is due.
(d) If you book within 14 days of the start date, the balance is due within 2 days of booking, and never later than the start date.
(e) If the balance is not paid by the deadline, your place is released automatically and we keep the deposit, unless you are still within your 14-day cooling-off period (section 3), in which case the deposit is refunded. We will email you to let you know.

4.3 Your place is confirmed only when the full course fee has been paid by the deadline in section 4.1 or 4.2.

4.4 If your place is released because the balance was not paid, we treat your booking as cancelled by you on the day the balance was due, and section 5 applies. That means we keep the deposit you have paid and do not ask you for anything more. This does not affect your cooling-off rights under section 3.

4.5 Once your cooling-off period has ended, the deposit is non-refundable. It secures your place and covers the cost of holding it for you, except where section 7 (we cancel or change the course) or section 8.3 (application rejected) applies.

5. If you cancel after the cooling-off period

Once your 14-day cooling-off period has ended, your place is secured and the course fee is non-refundable. If you cannot attend, you can move to a later date (section 6), or pass your place to someone else. You are not refunded: the place you have paid for passes to them, and they must be accepted on the course through our normal application process where the course has one.

If you have paid only the deposit, we keep the deposit. If we cannot fill your place, we may ask you to pay the rest of the course fee.

6. Transfers: moving to a later date, or passing your place to someone else

Moving to a later date

6.1 You may transfer once, free of charge, to a later date of the same course, if you ask in writing 14 or more days before the start date. Transfers depend on a place being available.

6.2 If the new date costs more, you pay the difference. If it costs less, we do not refund the difference.

6.3 Once transferred, your booking is non-refundable. Any further transfer is at our discretion. This does not affect section 1.3 (bookings made before this policy), section 3 (if you are still within your cooling-off period) or section 7 (if we cancel or change the new date).

Passing your place to someone else (substitution)

6.4 If you cannot attend, you can pass your place to someone else (your "substitute"). You are not refunded: the place you have paid for passes to them. They must be accepted on the course through our normal application process where the course has one, must meet the course's entry requirements, and you must ask us before the start date.

6.5 To do this, email us with your substitute's name and contact details. Your substitute must accept the Learner Agreement and complete any steps the course requires before the start date. For the Close Protection Programme, that means the application, the interview and the non-disclosure agreement, and our decision whether to offer them a place.

6.6 If your substitute is not accepted, or cannot meet the entry requirements in time, your booking stays as it was and the rest of this policy applies to it as normal.

6.7 Once the substitution is made, the place belongs to your substitute. There is no new cooling-off period. Any refund that later becomes due is paid to the original payment method (section 13.2). Any payment between you and your substitute is a matter between the two of you.

6.8 Operator Pro funding is awarded to the person who applied for it and does not pass to a substitute. If funding covered part of your course fee, your substitute pays that part.

7. If we cancel or change the course

7.1 If we cancel your course, or make a material change to its date or venue, you choose either:
(a) a full refund of everything you have paid, including the deposit; or
(b) a free transfer to another date of the same course.

7.2 We will tell you as soon as we can, and refund within 14 days of you telling us your choice.

8. Removal from a course, or not meeting the entry requirements

8.1 If we remove you from a course because of your conduct, or because you put the safety of yourself or others at risk (as set out in the Learner Agreement), you will not receive a refund, except where the law requires one.

8.2 Each course lists its entry requirements (for example photo ID, age, first aid qualification, English level, or a successful interview). If you do not meet them by the deadline we give you, you will not receive a refund beyond what the law requires.

8.3 For application courses (such as the Close Protection Programme): if your application is rejected at selection (application or interview), any deposit or other payment you have made is refunded in full.

9. No-shows and missed sessions

9.1 If you do not attend, or leave the course early by your own choice, you will not receive a refund and the booking cannot be transferred.

9.2 If you miss part of a course with our instructor's permission, we may let you complete the missed content on a later course. A fee may apply.

10. Illness, pregnancy and other personal circumstances

10.1 If illness, injury, pregnancy, bereavement or another serious personal reason stops you attending, tell us in writing as soon as you can. We will consider each request individually and may, at our discretion, offer a transfer outside the rules in section 6. Any such offer is a goodwill gesture; if you do not take it up, the normal rules in this policy apply. We may ask for reasonable evidence. You can also pass your place to someone else (section 6.4).

11. Assessment, fails and resits

11.1 Not passing an assessment does not entitle you to a refund.

11.2 Where a resit is available, a fee may be charged. We will tell you the fee before you book the resit.

11.3 Awarding body registration and certification fees are non-refundable once we have registered you with the awarding body, and are deducted from any refund under section 5. This does not apply to a cancellation in your cooling-off period (section 3) or where we cancel or change the course (section 7).

12. How to cancel, transfer or pass your place to someone else

12.1 Email info@theopscon.com with your name, the course and its date (and, for a substitution, your substitute's name and contact details). A cancellation, transfer or substitution request takes effect on the day we receive your email. We will confirm receipt within two working days.

12.2 During the cooling-off period you may also use any other clear written statement, or the cancellation form we send you with your booking confirmation.

13. Refunds: timing and method

13.1 We refund within 14 days of the day we receive your cancellation (or, under section 7, of the day you tell us your choice).

13.2 We refund to the original payment method. If you paid with Klarna or another finance provider, we refund the provider, and they adjust or close your agreement under their own terms.

13.3 Operator Pro funding. If Operator Pro funding covered part of your course fee, any refund (including a cooling-off refund or a refund because we cancel) returns only the money you paid yourself. The funded amount is not refunded or paid out to you.

14. Your statutory rights

14.1 Nothing in this policy affects your statutory rights, including under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. If the course is not provided with reasonable care and skill, you have the remedies the law gives you.