Founding Member

Terms & Conditions

Effective date: 12 September 2026 · Mlex UK Designs Ltd, Company No. 13892495

These Terms & Conditions govern the Founding Member subscription to CIC Studio, a product of Mlex UK Designs Ltd. By completing payment, you agree to these terms in full. Please read them carefully before proceeding.

The Service

CIC Studio is an executive dashboard and administrative tool for Community Interest Companies (CICs), provided by Mlex UK Designs Ltd ("we", "us", "our") to the subscribing organisation or individual ("you", "the subscriber").

CIC Studio requires a Google account with access to Google Drive and Google Sheets. Use of Google's services is subject to Google's own terms and is separate from this agreement.

Support & response times

Mlex UK Designs Ltd will use its best endeavours to respond to all subscriber support requests — including but not limited to password resets, access issues, and general platform queries — within 3 to 5 working days of receipt.

We will always aim to resolve issues as quickly as possible; however, response times cannot be guaranteed and may vary depending on the nature of the request and current workload. This response time commitment does not apply to requests submitted on UK public holidays or outside of normal business hours, which will be addressed on the next available working day.

Support requests should be submitted by email to mlexuk@outlook.com with "CIC Studio" in the subject line.

Google Account & Folder Access

CIC Studio is delivered via Google Drive and Google Sheets. The following responsibilities apply to both the subscriber and Mlex UK Designs Ltd for the service to function:

Subscriber responsibilities

You are solely responsible for maintaining your own Google account, including keeping it active, secure, and in good standing with Google's terms of service.
You must grant and maintain shared access to the designated CIC Studio Google Drive folder for Mlex UK Designs Ltd at all times.
Any costs or issues arising from your Google account — including storage limits, account suspension, or loss of access — are your responsibility and are outside the scope of this agreement.

Acceptance of folder ownership

Upon subscribing, Mlex UK Designs Ltd will share the designated CIC Studio Google Drive folder with the subscriber and invite them to take ownership of it. Accepting ownership is how the subscriber formally takes responsibility for their data — until ownership is transferred, Mlex UK Designs Ltd retains ownership of the folder and, with it, the associated data liability.

For this reason, the subscriber must accept ownership of the folder within 7 days of the invitation being issued. The CIC Studio tool remains accessible during this period; however, accepting ownership is a condition of the subscription continuing.

Mlex UK Designs Ltd will send a reminder email to the subscriber's registered email address if ownership has not been accepted by day 5, to allow time to act before the deadline.

Failure to accept folder ownership within 7 days will result in immediate termination of the subscription at the end of day 7. On termination:

Access to CIC Studio will be removed immediately
The monthly subscription fee will be refunded in full
The onboarding fee will not be refunded — this covers the setup work already carried out by Mlex UK Designs Ltd
The Founding Member rate will be permanently forfeited

This termination is treated as a cancellation by the subscriber under Section 05. Mlex UK Designs Ltd accepts no liability for any data held within the folder during the period prior to ownership being accepted.

Access required by Mlex UK Designs Ltd

In order to deliver, update, and support CIC Studio, Mlex UK Designs Ltd requires ongoing access to the designated Google Drive folder. If that access is revoked, restricted, or otherwise unavailable for any reason — including accidental removal or a Google account issue on the subscriber's side — Mlex UK Designs Ltd will notify the subscriber by email.

The subscriber will be given 7 days from the date of that notice to restore access. We recognise that access may occasionally be lost unintentionally or as a result of a Google-side issue; however, as stated above, the subscriber remains solely responsible for their Google account and its continued availability.

If access is not restored within 7 days of written notice, Mlex UK Designs Ltd reserves the right to suspend the subscription. Suspension in these circumstances does not constitute a breach of these terms by Mlex UK Designs Ltd, and no refund will be issued for any period during which access was unavailable.

Should access remain unavailable for a further 7 days following suspension (14 days total from the original notice), Mlex UK Designs Ltd reserves the right to terminate the subscription entirely. Termination under these circumstances will be treated as a cancellation by the subscriber under Section 5, and no refund will be due.

Founding Member Pricing

Founding Members who sign up on or before 12 September 2026 are eligible for the following rates, locked for the lifetime of a continuous, on-time subscription:

Monthly plan: £33.00 per month
Annual plan: £330.00 per year

These rates are guaranteed for life — provided all payments are made on time and the subscription remains active without a break. See Section 4 for payment obligations and the consequences of late or missed payments.

The Founding Member rate is personal to the subscribing organisation and is non-transferable. It cannot be assigned to another organisation, individual, or entity.

Payment Obligations & Late Payment

Payments are due on the same date each month (for monthly subscribers) or on the renewal date each year (for annual subscribers).

Grace period

A grace period of 14 days applies from the payment due date. If payment is not received within 14 days of the due date, access to CIC Studio will be suspended until payment is made.

Forfeiture of Founding Member rate

If payment is not received within the 14-day grace period, your Founding Member rate is permanently forfeited. This applies to both the monthly (£33/month) and annual (£330/year) rates. Once forfeited, the rate cannot be reinstated under any circumstances.

Should you make a payment after the grace period has expired, your subscription will resume at the standard rate in effect at the time of that payment. If CIC Studio pricing has increased since your last on-time payment, the new standard rate will apply from that point forward.

Discretionary reinstatement

Mlex UK Designs Ltd recognises that exceptional circumstances — such as a bank processing delay or technical payment failure outside the subscriber's control — may occasionally cause a late payment. In such cases, the subscriber may submit a one-time written request to Mlex UK Designs Ltd asking for their Founding Member rate to be reinstated.

Any such request is entirely at the discretion of Mlex UK Designs Ltd. We are under no obligation to grant reinstatement, and a decision not to do so does not constitute a breach of these terms. This discretion may be exercised only once per subscriber for the lifetime of their subscription — a second late payment will result in permanent forfeiture with no right to request reinstatement.

For annual subscribers: your renewal payment must be received on or before the anniversary of your subscription start date. If it is not received within 14 days of that date, the same forfeiture rules apply — your £330/year rate is permanently lost and future payments will be charged at the then-current standard annual rate.

Cancellation

You may cancel your subscription at any time. There is no minimum contract period and no notice period required.

To cancel, contact us by email (details in Section 10). We will cancel your subscription with immediate effect upon confirmation.

No refunds are issued for any part of a billing period already paid. You retain access to CIC Studio until the end of your current paid period, at which point access will cease.

Cancellation does not entitle you to a refund of any fees already charged. If you cancel and later wish to re-subscribe, you will be offered the standard rate in effect at that time — the Founding Member rate will not be reinstated.

Payments & Processing

Payments are processed securely via SumUp. Mlex UK Designs Ltd does not store your card details. Payment processing is subject to SumUp's own terms and privacy policy.

All prices are stated in GBP (£). Mlex UK Designs Ltd is not currently VAT registered; no VAT will be added to the prices stated.

Limitation of Liability

CIC Studio is provided as a software tool to support administrative tasks. Mlex UK Designs Ltd accepts no liability for decisions made by subscribers based on information within the platform.

Mlex UK Designs Ltd reserves the right to discontinue CIC Studio at any time. We will provide subscribers with a minimum of 30 days' written notice by email before discontinuation takes effect.

In the event of discontinuation, the subscriber's sole remedy shall be a pro-rata refund of any subscription fees already paid that relate to a period beyond the discontinuation date. No other compensation, damages, or claims will be entertained — including but not limited to claims for business disruption, loss of data, loss of revenue, or any other consequential or indirect losses arising from the discontinuation of the platform.

Scheduled maintenance & downtime

Mlex UK Designs Ltd reserves the right to take CIC Studio offline for scheduled maintenance, updates, or improvements at any time. Where planned downtime is known in advance, we will provide at least 48 hours' notice by email to the address registered on the subscriber's account.

Mlex UK Designs Ltd accepts no liability for any inconvenience, loss of access, or business disruption arising from scheduled maintenance carried out in accordance with this notice period. In the event of unplanned or emergency downtime, we will notify subscribers as soon as reasonably practicable and work to restore the service promptly.

Third-party services

CIC Studio relies on third-party platforms including Google Drive, Google Sheets, and Google Workspace (collectively "Google Services"), as well as payment processing via SumUp. These services are operated independently of Mlex UK Designs Ltd and are outside our control.

Mlex UK Designs Ltd accepts no liability for any outage, disruption, data loss, degraded performance, or change in functionality caused by Google Services, SumUp, or any other third-party provider. This includes but is not limited to server outages, scheduled or unscheduled maintenance by Google, changes to Google's platform or access policies, and internet connectivity issues beyond our infrastructure.

In the event of a prolonged third-party outage that renders CIC Studio inaccessible for an extended period, Mlex UK Designs Ltd will communicate with subscribers and make reasonable efforts to minimise disruption, but subscription fees will not be suspended or refunded on account of third-party downtime.

All data created and stored within CIC Studio resides in a Google Drive folder that is owned by the subscriber from the point of onboarding. As set out in Section 09, the subscriber takes ownership of that folder upon accepting the onboarding invitation. Mlex UK Designs Ltd holds shared access only, for the purpose of delivering the service.

Because the subscriber owns their data outright, Mlex UK Designs Ltd accepts no liability for any loss, damage, or claim arising from the loss, corruption, unauthorised access to, or unavailability of that data — including any business loss or consequential loss arising from the subscriber's use of, or inability to access, CIC Studio — except where such loss arises directly from Mlex UK Designs Ltd's own proven negligence in the handling of its shared access to the folder.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, as these cannot be excluded under English law.

No liability where the subscriber is at fault. The exclusions above apply only where Mlex UK Designs Ltd is directly and solely responsible for the event giving rise to a claim — for example, where Mlex UK Designs Ltd has acted negligently in the performance of its obligations under these terms.

Where suspension, termination, or any interruption to the service arises — whether in whole or in part — from the subscriber's own actions or inactions, including:

late or missed payment, or account suspension under Section 04; or
revoking, restricting, or failing to maintain Mlex UK Designs Ltd's access to the designated Google Drive folder under Section 02,

and that suspension or termination is treated as a cancellation under Section 05, then Mlex UK Designs Ltd accepts no liability whatsoever. The subscriber shall have no claim against Mlex UK Designs Ltd under this section or under any other provision of these Terms & Conditions.

Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms & Conditions from time to time. We will notify you by email at the address provided during registration at least 14 days before any material change takes effect. Continued use of CIC Studio after that date constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

Your Data & Privacy

Where your data lives

CIC Studio is built on Google Drive. Your governance data, records, and documents are stored in a Google Drive folder that is owned by you within your own Google account. That folder lives in your Google Drive — not on Mlex UK Designs Ltd's servers, not in Mlex UK Designs Ltd's Drive.

At the start of your subscription, you will receive an onboarding email containing a link to take ownership of your CIC Studio folder. Once you accept ownership, that folder and all its contents belong to your Google account. Mlex UK Designs Ltd holds shared edit access only, for the purpose of delivering and maintaining the service.

Data on cancellation or termination

Because your data lives in your own Google Drive, you retain full access to it at all times — including after cancellation or termination. There is nothing to "export" from Mlex UK Designs Ltd; your files are already yours.

Following cancellation or termination of your subscription, Mlex UK Designs Ltd will remove its shared access to your CIC Studio folder within 30 days. After that point we will have no access to your folder or its contents.

What Mlex UK Designs Ltd holds

At the point of registration, Mlex UK Designs Ltd collects and retains the following information for the purpose of managing your subscription:

Your name
Your organisation / CIC name
Your email address

This information is used solely for subscription management, service notifications, and correspondence relating to CIC Studio. It is not shared with third parties except where required to deliver the service (e.g. payment processing via SumUp) or where required by law.

Mlex UK Designs Ltd does not access, process, or store the governance data, documents, or records held within your CIC Studio Google Drive folder for any purpose other than delivering the service.

Security & access credentials

As part of the onboarding process, the subscriber will receive access links and credentials (such as director-level access links or passwords) for use within CIC Studio. To keep your organisation's data secure, please treat all access credentials as confidential and share them only with authorised individuals within your organisation.

If you believe your access credentials have been compromised, please notify Mlex UK Designs Ltd immediately at mlexuk@outlook.com so we can take steps to help protect your account.

Mlex UK Designs Ltd accepts no liability for any loss, breach, or unauthorised disclosure of data that arises from the subscriber sharing, mishandling, or failing to adequately protect their access links or credentials. If access links or passwords are shared with, or become accessible to, unauthorised individuals — whether deliberately or accidentally — responsibility for any consequences, including data reaching the public domain, rests entirely with the subscriber.

Data security & breach

Mlex UK Designs Ltd takes reasonable steps to protect the registration data it holds (name, organisation, email address), including storing it within Google Workspace, which benefits from Google's own enterprise-grade security infrastructure.

However, Mlex UK Designs Ltd cannot guarantee absolute security of data transmitted over the internet or stored on third-party platforms. In particular:

If a data breach occurs as a direct result of Mlex UK Designs Ltd's own negligence or inadequate security practices, Mlex UK Designs Ltd accepts responsibility and will notify affected subscribers and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as required under UK GDPR.
If a data breach occurs as a result of an attack on, or compromise of, Google's own infrastructure or systems — including but not limited to a hack of Google's servers, a compromise of Google account credentials at Google's end, or any other security failure outside Mlex UK Designs Ltd's control — Mlex UK Designs Ltd accepts no liability for that breach. Such an event constitutes a third-party security failure and is entirely outside our control.

In either case, where Mlex UK Designs Ltd becomes aware of a breach affecting subscriber data, we will notify affected subscribers by email as soon as reasonably practicable.

UK GDPR

Mlex UK Designs Ltd processes personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. For the purposes of UK GDPR, Mlex UK Designs Ltd is the data controller for the registration information listed above.

You have the right to request access to, correction of, or deletion of any personal data we hold about you. To exercise these rights, contact us at mlexuk@outlook.com.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about these terms, or wish to cancel your subscription, please get in touch:

Mlex UK Designs Ltd

Company No. 13892495 (England & Wales)

Email: mlexuk@outlook.com

Please include "CIC Studio" in the subject line of any email correspondence.