Start a tutoring business: DBS checks and registration

The rules here are for England. Scotland and Northern Ireland run their own criminal record checks.

Licence and registration

No licence, register or regulator covers private tutoring in England. Registration applies in only two cases.

Full-time teaching

Providing full-time education to five or more children of compulsory school age makes your setting an independent school, and so does full-time education for one child who is looked after or has special educational needs. Running an unregistered independent school is a criminal offence. Tutoring around a child's school day does not reach that point.

Children under 8

Teaching a child under 8 counts as childcare, which Ofsted registers. Most tutoring falls within an exemption. The study support exemption applies only where the care is incidental to the activity.

DBS checks

A tutor who works through a school, agency or tuition company is checked by that organisation, which applies on their behalf.

Apply for your own check

A Basic check is open to anyone and shows unspent convictions only. You apply for it on GOV.UK. A self-employed tutor whose teaching is eligible can apply for an Enhanced check through an umbrella body. If your teaching is not eligible for an Enhanced check, apply for a Basic check instead.

Safeguarding

No law requires a lone tutor to have a child protection policy. Parents and local safeguarding partners expect these arrangements from anyone running an out-of-school setting, including a private tutor:

• a child protection policy and a code of conduct
• a named safeguarding lead with safeguarding and online safety training, which is you if you work alone
• a named person parents can raise concerns with, plus the contact details for your local authority children's services and the NSPCC helpline
• written parental consent to work alone with a child, especially one under 16
• a route for reporting allegations of harm to the local authority designated officer and the police

Meet the child and parent before the first lesson to agree what will happen in sessions. Where you can, teach somewhere other people can see you.

Teaching online and handling pupil data

Teaching a child online is still teaching children, so the same DBS tests apply. Cover online safety in your child protection policy.

You hold personal data about pupils and parents, which makes you a controller under UK GDPR. Use the ICO self-assessment to check whether you must pay the data protection fee.

Contracts with parents

The parent who pays is the consumer. You must perform the service with reasonable care and skill. If a lesson falls short, the parent can require you to repeat it or reduce the price.

A contract you agree online, by phone or at the family's home carries a right to cancel. Give the parent the cancellation information before the contract is made.

Insurance

No law requires a self-employed tutor with no staff to hold insurance. Public liability and professional indemnity cover are a commercial choice, and a hall you hire may ask for proof of public liability. Standard home insurance may not cover business items or pupils visiting your home.

Employers' liability insurance is compulsory once you employ people other than close family.

Tax and VAT

Tutoring income is trading income. Register with HMRC as self-employed once it passes the trading allowance. You then pay Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance on profits above their thresholds, and Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies once your income passes its thresholds.

Where to get help

For a safeguarding concern about a child, contact your local authority children's services or the NSPCC helpline. For the data protection fee, use the ICO self-assessment.