Every tutor we place is checked before they meet a student, and we are happy to talk through exactly what that involves rather than asking you to take it on trust. If you would rather see how the matching works before speaking to anyone, our tutors page sets out who we work with and how they are selected.
Anyone in the UK can advertise as a tutor tomorrow morning. No qualification is required, no registration, no licence, and no obligation to be checked before working alone with a child.
Private tutoring is not a regulated profession. That surprises most parents, and it is the single most useful thing to understand before booking anyone, because it means the responsibility for checking sits entirely with you.
Most guidance on choosing a tutor tells you to look for experience, ask about qualifications and request a DBS check. That advice is fine as far as it goes. What follows is the part it leaves out, including a change to the DBS rules that took effect in January 2026 and which a good many tutors have yet to catch up with.
There is no professional body a tutor must belong to, no minimum standard, and no register to check someone against. The Tutors' Association exists and sets standards for members, but membership is voluntary.
A tutor may hold a PGCE and twenty years of classroom experience. They may equally be a second-year undergraduate who was good at maths. Both are entitled to call themselves a tutor and charge whatever the market will pay, and from an advert alone the two can look remarkably similar.
None of which means independent tutors are a poor choice. Many are excellent, and some are better than agency-placed alternatives. It means the checking is yours to do.
“DBS checked” appears on almost every tutor profile. It is close to meaningless on its own, because there are three different levels and they reveal very different things.
Until 21 January 2026, a self-employed person could not apply for an Enhanced check at all. The system required an employer or agency to submit the application on their behalf, and a sole trader has neither. The practical consequence was stark: a self-employed tutor could be on the Children's Barred List and still have no route to a check that would reveal it.
That gap closed following a Statutory Instrument laid before Parliament in November 2025. From 21 January 2026, self-employed people in paid regulated activity can apply for an Enhanced DBS check including a Barred List check through a registered umbrella body, without needing an employer. Government guidance published in January 2026 uses a private tutor as its worked example.
So the question to ask has changed. It is no longer whether an independent tutor has a DBS, but which level, and when it was issued. A Basic certificate dated before 2026 may simply reflect what was available at the time. There is now no such excuse.
Ask to see the original certificate rather than a photograph or a PDF. Check four things: the name matches, the check is Enhanced with a Children's Barred List check, the workforce is listed as child, and the issue date is recent. Certificates are not renewed automatically and have no expiry, so a check from 2019 tells you about someone's record in 2019.
Ask whether the tutor subscribes to the DBS Update Service, which allows a certificate to be checked as current. Do not keep a copy or a photograph of the certificate; you are entitled to see it, not to hold it.
One point worth knowing about tutoring through an agency. Agencies placing tutors with children are required to carry out these checks as a condition of operating, which is why an agency-placed tutor will normally already have been checked to the appropriate level. That is a genuine structural difference rather than a marketing claim, and it is the main practical argument for going through an agency rather than arranging privately.
There is no required qualification, so the useful question is not what someone holds but whether it is relevant to what your child needs.
Qualified teacher status matters most where a child needs the curriculum taught properly from the beginning, or where exam technique is the problem. A teacher who has marked for an exam board knows what the mark scheme rewards, which is a different kind of knowledge from subject expertise.
Subject depth matters most at the top end. A first-class graduate or postgraduate in the subject will handle A-Level and university-entrance work in a way a generalist cannot, even without teaching qualifications.
Specialist training matters where there is an identified need. Supporting a dyslexic student is a distinct skill set, not simply teaching more slowly, and our guide to finding the right SEN tutor in London sets out what to look for.
Be wary of a tutor who claims to cover every subject at every level. Breadth at that scale usually means depth somewhere is thin.
Most tutors offer a first session, sometimes free and sometimes at a reduced rate. Parents commonly treat it as a formality. It is the most informative hour in the entire process.
Afterwards, ask your child two questions. Did they understand the explanations, and did they feel comfortable saying when they did not. The second matters more. A student who will not admit confusion learns very little, however good the tutor is.
From your side, the things worth noticing are whether the tutor asked about your child before teaching anything, whether they diagnosed rather than assumed, and whether they were specific afterwards. “She is doing fine, we will keep going” is not a plan. “She understands the method but loses marks setting out working, so that is where we will start” is.
The three routes differ in ways that matter more than price.
Checks are carried out before placement, matching is done for you, and there is someone to speak to if it is not working. You pay for that, and the hourly rate is higher than arranging privately.
A large choice and visible reviews, with the platform usually requiring an Enhanced check before a tutor can work with children. The matching is yours to do, and quality across a large roster varies considerably.
Often the best value, and frequently excellent, particularly where you have a personal recommendation. All the checking falls to you, and if the relationship does not work there is no fallback.
None of these is the right answer in general. The honest framing is that you are choosing how much of the verification and matching you want to do yourself, and what that service is worth to you. Our guide to what private tutoring costs in London sets out the going rates across each route.
Rates in London range widely, and the range itself is informative. A rate well below the market for the level being taught usually indicates limited experience, which may be entirely fine for straightforward support and is a poor bet for exam-year work.
At the upper end, ask what the premium buys. Specialist experience, exam board familiarity or admissions expertise are reasonable answers. Reputation alone is not.
Be cautious about paying for a long block of sessions upfront. A month at a time is standard, and any pressure to commit further before the tutoring has started is worth questioning.
Choosing well is mostly a matter of asking a small number of direct questions and paying attention to how they are answered. A good tutor will not mind being asked about safeguarding, and will have a clear answer about what the first month involves.
If you are still weighing up whether tutoring is the right step at all rather than who to book, our article on whether to hire a tutor covers that decision, including when extra help genuinely makes a difference and when it does not.
There is no blanket legal requirement for a self-employed tutor to hold one. Agencies placing tutors with children are required to carry out checks. Since 21 January 2026, self-employed tutors in paid regulated activity have been able to apply for an Enhanced check with a Children's Barred List check through a registered umbrella body, which was not previously possible.
Enhanced, with a Children's Barred List check, for anyone working alone with a child. A Basic check shows unspent convictions only and reveals nothing about cautions, police intelligence or whether someone is barred from working with children.
No. Tutoring is unregulated and no qualification is required. Qualified teacher status is most valuable where exam technique or curriculum delivery is the problem. Subject depth matters more at A-Level and for university entrance, and specialist training matters where a learning difference is involved.
Rates vary by level, subject and location, and London sits at the upper end of the national range. What matters more than the figure is what the rate buys, so ask what experience or specialism justifies a premium and be wary of a rate well below the market for exam-year work.
Not inherently. An agency handles vetting and matching and can replace a tutor who is not the right fit, which is why rates are higher. An independent tutor is often better value and frequently excellent, but the checking is yours to do and there is no fallback if it does not work.
Around half a term, or six to eight sessions, is a reasonable point to review. Ask at the outset how progress will be measured, so the review has something concrete to look at rather than a general impression.
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