Tutoring Safeguarding Loophole: Why regulation is urgently needed
In an increasingly competitive education landscape, parents often seek private tutors to give their children an academic edge. While tutoring can boost confidence and improve school performance, many parents are unaware of the significant safeguarding risks that can come when hiring a tutor.
A concerning gap in current regulations, highlighted by a recent BBC investigation, means private tutors can bypass safeguards like DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks, unlike school teachers. The BBC revealed that over the past two decades, over 90 private tutors have been convicted of sexual offences with children.
This oversight leaves children vulnerable, and the alarming reality is that it has led to serious cases of abuse. Closing this loophole is essential to protect children from harm.
The Safeguarding Loophole: What’s the Risk?
Private tutoring is a growing industry in the UK, with more parents than ever seeking academic support for their children. According to a 2023 Sutton Trust report, 30% of children aged 11-16 have received private tutoring at some point, a figure that continues to rise. However, while schools are legally required to carry out enhanced DBS checks on their staff, no such rules apply to private tutors.
Unlike teachers in formal education, private tutors do not have to undergo any background checks or qualification verification to offer their services. This means that anyone can advertise themselves as a tutor, regardless of their experience or suitability to work with children. It’s a troubling gap, especially considering that many tutoring sessions are held in private, often in the tutor’s or student’s home, where there is no oversight.
One example from the BBC investigation is that of Thomas Rodgers, a music tutor convicted of sexually abusing two boys under the age of 11. Shockingly, he continued offering private lessons until he was sentenced.
Another case revealed a tutor who was charged with sexual assault but still advertised his services online. Under the current system, there is no mandatory safeguard to prevent this from happening.
Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, has called for DBS checks to be mandatory for all private tutors, stating that "it’s an absolute basic minimum" for keeping children safe. The Tutors' Association, which represents more than 50,000 tutors across the UK, also demands that its members undergo enhanced DBS checks, but with no legal backing, not all tutors are held to the same standard.
The Role of DBS Checks in Safeguarding
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check is a vital tool for safeguarding children and vulnerable individuals. There are three levels of DBS Check; Basic, Standard and Enhanced, with each level revealing more about an individual’s criminal record history than the previous.
Enhanced DBS Checks reveal spent and unspent convictions, warnings, and reprimands, and also include any information held by local police that may indicate a person is unsuitable for the job role being applied for.
Employers in regulated activities, like education, must request Enhanced DBS Checks on all their staff to ensure they are suitable for working around children.
Tutors like teachers, are involved in regulated activity and must also have Enhanced DBS Checks. Although they aren’t based at a school, they are providing one-on-one education or training to children, which usually warrants a DBS Check.
However, this only applies if they are employed by an agency or other organisation.
How Loopholes Undermine Safeguarding
This safeguarding loophole stems from one key rule; only employers can request Enhanced DBS Checks for their staff, contractors or freelancers. Individuals, like private tutors, are not entitled to apply for an Enhanced DBS Check.
This is because an Enhanced DBS Check is designed as a tool for employers to make safe and secure recruitment decisions on their current or potential employees. When employers receive a DBS Certificate they can view the information and decide whether that individual is suitable.
In the eyes of the government, an individual cannot satisfactorily decide their own suitability to carry out regulated activity.
For some tutors, this isn’t a problem, as they might already work in education or an education-adjacent field, and are already DBS-checked. By the same token, tutors who register with an agency are DBS Checked, because the agency can run the check on them.
However, as private tutors are self-employed, they don’t meet the requirements to be able to apply for an Enhanced DBS Check. This, combined with the fact that tutoring is a largely unregulated industry, means there is a huge opportunity for people who wish to do children harm to take advantage of the current loophole.
For families affected by these failures, the emotional and psychological toll is devastating.
Mandatory DBS Checks aren’t the solution
When stories like this break, we commonly see media outlets and commentators calling for mandatory DBS Checks to be brought into place. But this isn’t the real issue.
For all intents and purposes, Enhanced DBS Checks are already mandatory for tutors. The guidance for Enhanced DBS Checks, based upon the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, states that:
Individuals who provide teaching, training or instruction to children on more than 3 days in a 30-day period or overnight between 2am and 6am with the opportunity for face-to-face contact with the children (…)
are conducting regulated activity and require an Enhanced DBS Check with a search of the Children’s Barred List included. In the vast majority of cases, tutors clearly meet this definition, so are eligible for the appropriate checks.
However, as we mentioned in the previous point, it is the fact that they are self-employed which causes the main issue. A self-employed individual can still not apply for an Enhanced DBS Check.
The only real solution is to create a specific vetting process for private tutors through a primary regulatory body. Logically, this would require a body like Ofsted to become the main regulatory body for private tutors and they would be required to assess the suitability of individuals to become private tutors. Alternatively, one of the voluntary industry bodies like the Tutor’s Association could be made an official regulatory body.
There are already similar processes in other industries, such as private security. Anyone wishing to become a security contractor must register with the Security Industry Authority (SIA). The SIA complete a DBS Check for anyone wishing to join their Approved Contractor scheme and also verifies their identity, qualifications and training. Upon successful registration, the SIA then issue a licence.
A similar structure could provide a solution to the current tutoring loophole.
Practical Advice for Parents
While reform may still be on the horizon, there are immediate steps parents can take to protect their children. Below are three tips to help ensure you’re safeguarding the children in your care:
Ask Questions
Ask as many questions as you feel you need to, to feel comfortable entrusting the care of a child to this person. The key question is to ask about their Enhanced DBS Check. If they cannot provide proof, it’s a red flag. Even if they are subscribed to the DBS Update Service, if they cannot show you their original DBS Certificate, the subscription is invalid and you cannot trust the authenticity of the person’s claims.
If possible, try and source references from previous workplaces. They can provide you with further reassurance about the tutors character
Stay Involved
Even when a tutor has passed a DBS check, parents should remain engaged. Where possible, sit in on the first few sessions or arrange for tutoring to take place in a public or open space within your home. This ensures an additional layer of protection while giving you a chance to observe the tutor’s methods and interaction with your child. Trust your instincts—if something feels off, act on it.
Agencies vs. Independent Tutors
While many tutors operate independently, using a tutoring agency can provide an extra safeguard. Reputable agencies like those registered with The Tutors’ Association require DBS checks and have stricter hiring processes. If hiring independently, parents should perform additional due diligence, such as asking for references and reviewing feedback from other families.
In our experience, many independent tutors establish relationships with agencies simply to enable them to get an Enhanced DBS Check. Often agencies are more than happy to run checks on tutors, because they understand the complicated loophole that exists within the sector.
The current loophole in safeguarding regulations means that parents need to be proactive in ensuring their child’s tutor has undergone the necessary background checks. Until the law catches up, parents must take extra precautions when choosing a tutor.