Terms of Service
Last updated: 3 October 2026
About These Terms
These Terms of Service govern the services provided by The Personalised VA. In these terms, "we", "us" and "our" mean The Personalised VA, and "you" and "your" mean the person or business engaging our services.
Your use of www.thepersonalisedva.com.au is covered by our separate Website Terms of Use.
Please read these terms together with your Service Agreement and our Privacy Policy. By signing your Service Agreement or engaging our services, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not engage our services.
Service terms
1. How an engagement starts
After a discovery call, we send you a written proposal or service agreement setting out the services, hours, rates and start date (your "Service Agreement"). The engagement starts once you have signed your Service Agreement and paid the first invoice. If your Service Agreement and these terms differ, your Service Agreement applies to the extent of the difference. Changes to the scope of work must be agreed in writing, and email is fine.
Your Service Agreement names the person or business engaging us and responsible for paying our invoices, and the version of these terms that applies. If a different person or business is to engage or pay us, this must be agreed in writing before work starts.
In the first 3 to 4 weeks, we will be in contact with you more often while we learn your practice's systems, procedures and preferences. This settling-in period helps us adjust to how your practice runs before we work more independently.
2. Our services
We provide virtual administration and bookkeeping support to small businesses, with a focus on psychology and allied health practices. Depending on your Service Agreement, this may include:
• Client and diary management: answering calls during working hours, inbox management, bookings and rescheduling, filling cancelled appointments, waitlist management, new client enquiries and intake, and explaining fees, rebates and booking steps to your clients.
• Referrals and Medicare: entering referral and mental health care plan details, tracking referral validity and session numbers, prompting clients and GPs about re-referrals, uploading documents to client files, liaising with GPs, sending or faxing letters you have written or approved, and sending NDIS service agreements and consent forms you have prepared, then tracking their return.
• Billing and claims: invoicing, processing payments, session, cancellation and no-show fees, Medicare, DVA and health fund claims and rebates, NDIS invoicing, marking remittances as paid, requesting and updating card details, collecting e-claiming consent, and following up unpaid invoices.
• Practice software (Halaxy): setup, reviews, templates and forms, reports, troubleshooting, appointment reminders and two-way SMS, online booking setup, and sending client emails and campaigns through Halaxy.
• Automation setup: automatic Medicare claiming, automatic billing, re-referral alerts after a client's next appointment, and reminder emails to clients.
• Practice systems: documenting your admin procedures and policies, and reviewing your workflows.
• Bookkeeping: see clause 3.
Our practice support is provided in Halaxy. In other practice management systems, we can provide appointment bookings, cancellations and filling cancelled appointments.
Where we book or allocate new clients, we follow the criteria you give us in writing. Decisions about whether a client is clinically suitable for your practice remain yours.
To fill cancelled appointments, you need to keep a waitlist, including clients who want an earlier appointment. This can be kept in Halaxy. We only contact clients on the waitlist you provide.
Automated messages are sent to your clients in your name. Before we switch on any automation that sends a message to your clients, you must provide or approve its wording in writing. You are responsible for the content of those messages, including meeting your professional, Medicare, privacy and consent obligations, and for having your clients' consent to any automatic card charges.
Medicare, DVA, NDIS and other third-party claims are processed on your instructions. You approve the item numbers billed under your provider number and remain responsible for the claims made in your name.
We do not:
• provide clinical, health or psychological services of any kind;
• read, write, transcribe or summarise session notes, clinical notes or clinical reports;
• respond to clinical questions or crisis situations on your behalf;
• prepare reports, documents or clinical files for subpoenas, medico-legal or court purposes;
• provide legal, financial or tax advice; or
• provide BAS services (see clause 3).
We may set up blank templates for clinical notes and letters in your software, and send letters, service agreements and consent forms you have prepared or approved. We do not write these documents, and we do not write, edit or review clinical content.
3. Bookkeeping and BAS services
We are not a registered BAS agent or tax agent, and we do not provide BAS services under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (Cth). This means we do not prepare or lodge business activity statements, deal with the ATO on your behalf, or advise you on GST, PAYG withholding, superannuation guarantee or any other tax obligation.
Our bookkeeping services include data entry, bank reconciliations, invoicing, accounts payable and receivable, and preparing reports from your accounting software. We code transactions only where no interpretation of GST or other tax law is needed, or under the instruction and supervision of your registered BAS agent or tax agent. We do not decide the GST treatment of transactions, provide payroll or Single Touch Payroll services that require interpreting tax law, or calculate superannuation guarantee amounts. You remain responsible for your tax obligations and for engaging a registered agent for BAS and tax services.
4. Independent contractor
We provide our services as an independent business, operating as a sole trader. We provide our own workspace, computer equipment, internet connection, business software and insurance, and pay our own business expenses and tax. Using your practice software, email and other systems to do your work does not mean you are supplying our equipment.
Within the agreed scope and timeframes, and your lawful instructions about your practice and records, we decide how, when and by whom the work is done (see clause 12). We may work for other clients. Nothing in these terms makes us your partner or agent.
Each of us remains responsible for any tax, superannuation or other obligation the law places on us. Nothing in these terms excludes or transfers an obligation that cannot lawfully be excluded.
5. Your responsibilities
You agree to:
• give us clear instructions and the accurate, complete information and documents we need, in time for us to do the work;
• tell us promptly about changes that affect our work, such as new fees, policies, software or business details;
• make sure your own privacy policy and collection notices tell your clients that you use administrative support providers and that their information may be stored overseas by those providers, including email stored in Switzerland (Proton Mail), so that we can lawfully handle their information on your behalf;
• meet your own professional, registration and regulatory obligations, which remain yours;
• hold and pay for your own software subscriptions and accounts, unless your Service Agreement says otherwise;
• check our work before relying on it for clinical, financial, legal or tax decisions; and
• treat us with courtesy and respect.
We are not responsible for delays or errors caused by information or instructions that are late, incomplete or inaccurate.
6. Access to your systems
Where a system allows it, each person who works on your account uses their own named login or delegated access to your systems (such as your practice management software, email, calendar and accounting software), with only the permissions needed, so you do not need to share your password. Where a system does not allow this, such as some email accounts, you can give us the password through a password manager or by phone, never by email or text.
We use multi-factor authentication where it is available, keep passwords in a secure password manager rather than in documents, emails or messages, lock our devices when we step away, and keep them password protected and up to date. We do not ask for or send full payment card numbers by email or text. Card details are entered directly into your practice software.
You own your accounts and the information in them. When our engagement ends, you agree to remove our access and change any password you have given us, and we will confirm we no longer hold any login details.
7. Availability and communication
Our usual working hours are 8:30am to 4pm (Sydney time), Monday to Friday, excluding NSW public holidays. We are not available to you or your clients on public holidays, although we may do some background work on those days. Package fees are the same in months that include public holidays.
We check and action your practice inbox three times each working day, at about 8:30am, 12pm and 3pm. Emails that arrive after the 3pm check are actioned at the next morning's check. Turnaround times for specific tasks are set out in your Service Agreement.
We aim to respond to enquiries within one business day. Some enquiries need your input before we can answer them, such as a question about fees, availability or whether to accept a referral. When this happens, we will let the enquirer know we are checking with you, and contact you by your preferred method. We understand you may be in session, so please reply when you can. We will follow up with the enquirer within one business day of receiving your answer.
If your Service Agreement includes phone handling, we answer calls diverted to us during working hours. If we are on another call or otherwise unable to answer, we return the call as soon as we can. Calls and messages received outside working hours are returned on the next working day.
We do not provide after-hours or emergency cover, and we are not a crisis contact for your clients. You are responsible for making sure your clients know how to get urgent help, such as calling 000 or Lifeline on 13 11 14. Before we start, we will review with you the practice's written procedure for any client contact that suggests a serious risk to someone's life, health or safety. If you do not have one, we will use our standard procedure as a starting point for you to adapt and approve. We follow the agreed procedure and pass the information to you straight away, but we do not assess risk. If someone's life appears to be in immediate danger, we call 000 and then tell you.
We will give you reasonable notice of planned leave, and agree with you beforehand how urgent tasks will be handled while we are away. We will tell you as soon as possible if illness or another unplanned absence affects our work. Where one is available, we may arrange cover from an approved replacement VA under clause 12. Until replacement access has been approved, you remain responsible for urgent and time-sensitive matters. If you have paid for package hours we are unable to provide because of our own leave or absence, and no replacement cover is arranged, those hours are credited to your next invoice.
8. Fees, hours and invoices
Our fees are set out on our website and in your Service Agreement. Unless we say otherwise, all prices are in Australian dollars and do not include GST, as we are not currently registered for GST. If we register for GST, we will give you notice before GST is added to our fees, as for any rate change.
• Monthly packages include up to a set number of hours each month and are paid in advance at the start of the month. Hours not used by the end of the month do not carry over, except as set out in clause 7 for our own leave or absence.
• Onboarding fee: a one-off fee for setting up your account, charged on top of your first package and paid before work starts. It is not taken from your package hours. Practices with more than one practitioner pay an extra amount for each additional practitioner, as set out in your Service Agreement.
• Ad hoc or hourly work is invoiced weekly in arrears.
• Projects (such as a practice software setup or review) are quoted as a fixed fee or as a block of hours paid in advance. We track time against the block and check with you before going over it.
• Time is tracked in Clockify, and we can provide a time report on request.
• Extra hours beyond your package are charged at our hourly rate. We will check with you before going over your package hours. If you do not approve extra hours, the remaining tasks return to you or wait for your next package.
• Changing your package: you can ask to increase or reduce your package at any time, and the change is confirmed in writing. Packages are set from your caseload. If the work regularly takes longer than your package hours, for example because your practice has grown, or for the Reception Package because the number of calls or texts has increased, we will talk with you about adjusting your package. We will give you at least 30 days' written notice before any change we propose to your package hours or fee takes effect. If you do not accept the change, you may end the engagement under clause 15.
Invoices are payable within 7 days of the invoice date by direct deposit to the account shown on the invoice. We may change our rates by giving you at least 30 days' written notice.
Our invoices show the dates and a description of the services provided, the time spent, and our ABN.
For practices with more than one practitioner, pricing is set out in your Service Agreement.
9. Late payment
If an invoice is unpaid by its due date, we will send a reminder and may pause our services until it is paid. If an amount is still unpaid after we have given you written notice, you are responsible for the reasonable costs we actually incur in recovering it, including debt collection costs.
If you disagree with an invoice, please tell us in writing within 14 days of receiving it so we can sort it out. The undisputed part of the invoice remains payable by its due date.
10. Confidentiality
We keep confidential all information about your business and your clients that we receive while working with you. We only use it to provide our services and only disclose it with your consent or where the law requires or authorises it. This obligation continues after our engagement ends.
11. Your clients' personal information
In working with you, we may handle personal and health information about your clients. When we do:
• we handle it only to provide our services to you and in line with your instructions;
• we handle it in line with the Australian Privacy Principles and our Privacy Policy;
• we keep it within your systems wherever possible, rather than copying it to our own. Emails we send or receive about your clients are stored by our email provider, Proton Mail, in Switzerland;
• we refer any request by your clients to access or correct their information to you, as your practice is responsible for those records; and
• if we become aware of a suspected privacy or security incident involving your information, we will tell you promptly, give you the information reasonably available to us, take reasonable steps to contain it, keep relevant records, and help you assess it under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme. We will not notify your clients or the regulator about your records without consulting you first, unless the law requires us to.
You are responsible for having a lawful basis to share your clients' information with us.
12. Who does the work
Moira is your dedicated VA and main contact, and ordinarily does your work herself. We may also arrange for an appropriately skilled employee or subcontractor, whom we select, engage and pay, to do some or all of the work, for example to provide cover while Moira is unwell or on leave. You keep contracting with and paying us. We remain responsible for the quality of the work and for paying that person, and they do not become your employee or contractor.
Before anyone else is given access to your systems or your clients' information, we make sure they have signed a written agreement covering confidentiality, privacy and information security, and have been briefed on your practice procedures and risk procedure. They work from Australia unless you agree otherwise in writing. We tell you their name, the tasks and systems involved and the dates, and get your written approval before they access health information or client-facing systems. You will not unreasonably withhold or delay approval where the person meets these requirements. If you decline, we will agree with you whether the affected work is paused, done by you or credited.
Each person uses their own named login, and their access is removed when their cover ends.
13. Insurance
We hold professional indemnity insurance for all active client engagements. Details and a certificate of currency are available on request.
14. Intellectual property
Once you have paid for it, you own the copyright in the work we create specifically for you, such as documents, spreadsheets and email templates. Your Service Agreement, signed by us, is our written assignment of that copyright to you. We keep ownership of our own templates, checklists, processes and know-how that existed before our engagement or that we develop for general use, and we give you a non-exclusive licence to use any of them included in your work for your own business.
15. Ending the engagement
Either of us may end the engagement by giving 28 days' written notice. You pay for services provided up to the end of the notice period. Monthly package fees already paid for the notice period are not refunded, and unused package hours lapse at the end of the notice period.
Either of us may end the engagement immediately by written notice if the other seriously breaches these terms or the Service Agreement. For any other breach, the other party must first be given written notice of the breach and a reasonable time to fix it. We may also end the engagement immediately for non-payment, if we are given misleading information, or if we are asked to do something unlawful or unethical.
If we end the engagement immediately for a reason that was not caused by you, we will refund any prepaid fees for package hours we have not provided.
When the engagement ends, we will:
• give you any work in progress and any documents of yours that we hold;
• remove our access to your systems;
• return or securely delete any of your or your clients' information we hold, within 14 days, unless the law requires us to keep it, and make sure anyone who provided cover under clause 12 has done the same; and
• confirm in writing once this is done.
General terms
16. Australian Consumer Law
Our services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any right or remedy you have under that law.
17. Limitation of liability
To the extent permitted by law:
• we are not liable for any indirect or consequential loss, including loss of profit, revenue, data or opportunity;
• we are not liable for loss caused by information or instructions you give us, by your own decisions, or by the failure, outage or security breach of any third-party software or platform; and
• our total liability to you for any claim arising from our services is limited to the fees you paid us in the 3 months before the claim arose.
Where a guarantee under the Australian Consumer Law applies and our liability can be limited, our liability is limited to supplying the services again or paying the cost of having them supplied again.
18. Indemnity
You agree to indemnify us against any claim, loss or cost arising from your breach of these terms, your breach of privacy law, or our following an instruction from you that was unlawful, except to the extent the claim, loss or cost was caused or contributed to by our own negligence or breach. We will take reasonable steps to minimise any loss we claim under this clause.
19. Events outside our control
We are not liable for delays or failures caused by events outside our reasonable control, such as natural disasters, power or internet outages, or failures of third-party software. We will tell you as soon as possible and do what we reasonably can to keep the work on track. If the event continues for more than 30 days, either of us may end the engagement by written notice.
20. Concerns and disputes
If you are unhappy with our services, please contact us first at personalisedva@proton.me so we can try to put it right.
21. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms from time to time. For current clients, we will give you at least 30 days' notice by email before a change takes effect. Changes do not apply to work already done or to fees you have already paid. If you do not accept a change, you may end the engagement by giving us notice before the change takes effect, and we will refund any prepaid fees for services not yet provided.
22. General
• Notices may be given by email to the address each of us has nominated.
• Whole agreement: these terms, your Service Agreement and our Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between us about our services.
• Severability: if any part of these terms is invalid or unenforceable, it is removed and the rest of these terms continue to apply.
• Waiver: a failure to enforce any part of these terms is not a waiver of it.
• Transfer: neither of us may transfer our rights under these terms without the other's written consent. This does not stop us using an employee or subcontractor under clause 12, as we remain responsible for the work.
23. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia, and each of us submits to the courts of New South Wales.
24. Contact us
The Personalised VA
Founder: Moira (ABN 49 268 734 717)
PO Box 5171, Erina NSW 2250
Email: personalisedva@proton.me
Website: www.thepersonalisedva.com.au