Tutor insurance: key facts
- Tutor insurance is not a legal requirement for a self-employed private tutor, but many agencies, schools and tutoring platforms ask for it.
- Professional indemnity is usually the most important cover for tutors. It deals with claims that your teaching or advice caused a pupil to lose out, for example by teaching the wrong exam board's syllabus.
- Cover for a sole trader tutor often costs roughly £40 to £200 a year (rough guide figure).
- A DBS check is not a legal requirement for a self-employed private tutor. You can apply for a basic check yourself, but an enhanced check has to go through a registered body, such as an agency.
- Most tutors who keep pupils' details on a phone or laptop will need to pay the ICO data protection fee, unless an exemption applies.
- Tell your home insurer if pupils come to your home for lessons. Home insurance usually doesn't cover business visitors.
- Employers' liability is a legal requirement once you employ anyone, with at least £5 million of cover.
What does tutor insurance cover?
Tutor insurance usually combines professional indemnity (a parent or pupil says your teaching or advice caused them a loss) with public liability (someone is injured or property is damaged during a lesson). You can add equipment, cyber and data cover, personal accident and, for tutoring businesses, employers' liability and premises cover.
| Cover | What it protects | Who needs it |
|---|---|---|
| Professional indemnity | Claims that your teaching, advice or a mistake caused a pupil or parent a loss, such as poor results blamed on your lessons. Pays legal defence costs too. | Every tutor. This is usually the bigger risk for tutors than accidents. |
| Public liability | Claims if someone is injured or their property damaged because of your tutoring, such as a pupil tripping at your home. | Tutors who teach face to face, at home, in clients' homes, libraries or hired rooms. |
| Cyber and data cover | Costs if pupils' or parents' data is lost, stolen or hacked. | Online tutors and anyone keeping pupil records, recordings or payment details electronically. |
| Equipment | Your laptop, tablet and headset if lost, stolen or accidentally damaged. | Anyone who relies on a laptop or tablet to teach, especially online tutors. |
| Personal accident | A payment if you're injured and can't work, as a self-employed tutor has no sick pay. | Sole traders with no other income to fall back on. |
| Employers' liability | Claims from staff who are injured or made ill at work, such as an employed tutor or receptionist at a tutoring centre. | A legal requirement once you employ anyone, including part-time staff. |
| Premises and contents | A tutoring centre's building, furniture and computers against fire, flood or theft. | Tutoring centres and businesses with their own premises. |
Professional indemnity and public liability insurance for tutors
Professional indemnity insurance for tutors covers claims that your teaching or advice caused a pupil or their family a loss, including your legal defence costs. Public liability insurance for tutors covers injury and property damage during face-to-face lessons. Most tutors who teach in person need both.
When exam results disappoint, some parents look for someone to blame. Typical professional indemnity situations:
- Poor results blamed on your lessons, or a missed grammar school or university place.
- The wrong syllabus or exam board, such as preparing a pupil for AQA when they're sitting Edexcel.
- Missed deadlines for coursework or applications you agreed to help with.
Many of these claims fail, but defending one still costs time and legal fees. Professional indemnity limits for tutors commonly start at £50,000 or £100,000.
| Where you tutor | Public liability: what to watch for |
|---|---|
| Clients' homes | You're responsible for damage you cause, such as a spilled drink on a sofa. |
| Your own home | A pupil or parent who trips on your stairs could claim. Home insurance usually excludes business visitors, so tell your home insurer. |
| Libraries, community centres, schools | Venues and schools often ask to see your certificate, sometimes for £1 million to £5 million. |
Online tutor insurance: data, recordings and cyber risks
Online tutor insurance is usually standard tutor cover, with professional indemnity doing most of the work, plus cyber and data cover and protection for your laptop. Public liability matters less online, but data protection and safeguarding matter more.
- Territorial limits. If you teach pupils outside the UK, check your policy covers them. Pupils in the USA and Canada are often excluded or need special terms.
- Recording lessons. Recordings of children are personal data. Get parents' written consent, store recordings securely and delete them when no longer needed.
- Data and cyber. A hacked email account or lost laptop could expose pupils' names, ages, school details and parents' contact and payment details. Cyber cover helps with the cost of dealing with a breach.
- Platforms. Some tutoring platforms require their own insurance from tutors; others provide limited cover. Read the terms rather than assuming.
- Safeguarding. Use professional accounts, not personal social media, and agree rules for cameras and chat at the start.
Is tutor insurance a legal requirement in the UK?
No UK law says a self-employed private tutor must have insurance. Once you employ anyone, employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement, with at least £5 million of cover. In practice, many tutoring agencies, schools and online platforms will ask for your own professional indemnity and public liability before they put you forward.
Even so, tutoring uninsured carries risk:
- Agencies and schools ask for it. Many agencies want to see your certificates, and schools bringing in external tutors usually do too.
- You're personally liable. A sole trader pays any successful claim from their own money.
Under the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969, employers in England, Scotland and Wales can be fined up to £2,500 for every day they don't have the cover they need. Northern Ireland has its own equivalent law. Self-employed tutors who find work through an agency are usually not the agency's employees, but if you run a tutoring business, whether your tutors count as employees depends on how you work together, so ask your broker.
How much does tutor insurance cost?
Cover for a sole trader tutor costs roughly £40 to £200 a year. Public liability on its own is at the lower end; adding professional indemnity, which most tutors need, takes it to roughly £70 to £200. A tutoring centre with staff typically pays more. These are rough guide figures.
| Typical set-up | Rough guide price per year |
|---|---|
| Sole trader tutor, public liability only | £40 to £90 |
| Sole trader tutor, public liability and professional indemnity | £70 to £200 |
| Tutoring business or centre with staff (adds employers' liability) | £250 to £700 |
What affects your price:
- Your professional indemnity limit. £50,000 costs less than £250,000 or £1 million.
- Your public liability limit, such as £1 million, £2 million or £5 million.
- What and who you teach. Exam preparation, university applications and special educational needs support can carry more professional indemnity risk than general homework help.
- Where you teach, including pupils overseas for online tutors.
- Extras, such as equipment and cyber cover, plus your turnover and claims history.
- Staff and premises, which add employers' liability, buildings and contents cover.
A broker can give you an actual price once they know how you work.
What to check before you buy private tutor insurance
Two private tutor insurance policies at the same price can cover very different things. Check that professional indemnity is included, every way you teach is covered, and the limits match what your agencies, schools and venues ask for.
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Professional indemnity included | Some cheap tutoring insurance is public liability only, which won't cover a claim about poor teaching. |
| Indemnity limits | Agencies, schools and venues may set minimum limits. Check before you buy. |
| Online tutoring and territorial limits | Make sure online lessons are covered, including any pupils abroad. |
| All your subjects and services | Coursework help, university application support, SEN support or music teaching may need to be declared. |
| Defence costs | Check whether legal costs are paid on top of the limit or come out of it. |
| Claims-made basis | Professional indemnity usually only covers claims made while the policy is live. If you stop tutoring, ask about run-off cover. |
| Abuse and safeguarding exclusions | Many policies exclude or limit allegations of abuse. Ask what's covered for legal defence. |
DBS checks, data protection and other rules for tutors
Private tutoring is not regulated in the UK and you don't need a licence or a teaching qualification. A DBS check is not legally required for a self-employed private tutor, but many parents and agencies expect one. If you keep pupils' details electronically, UK data protection law applies and you'll usually need to pay the ICO data protection fee.
- DBS checks (England and Wales). A self-employed tutor can apply for a basic DBS check themselves on GOV.UK. A standard or enhanced check can only be requested through a registered body, such as an agency, school or umbrella body you work with. Many parents and agencies prefer an enhanced check.
- Scotland. Disclosure Scotland runs basic disclosures and the PVG (Protecting Vulnerable Groups) scheme for people working with children.
- Northern Ireland. Checks are made through AccessNI.
- Data protection. The UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 apply to pupils' and parents' details. Keep only what you need, keep it secure, and get parents' consent before recording lessons.
- ICO data protection fee. Tutors who hold pupil details electronically will usually need to pay an annual fee to the Information Commissioner's Office unless an exemption applies. The ICO website has a short self-assessment.
- Safeguarding. Have a parent at home where possible, use professional communication channels, and know who to contact if you're worried about a child.
Common tutor insurance claims
Most claims against tutors involve a parent blaming disappointing results on your teaching, a mistake over a syllabus or deadline, an accident at your home or in a client's home, a data breach or a lost or broken laptop. These are realistic examples.
- The failed 11+. A pupil you tutored for a year doesn't pass the grammar school entrance exam, and the parents demand a refund plus compensation. Professional indemnity pays a solicitor to respond and the claim is dropped.
- The wrong exam board. You teach set texts from the wrong GCSE specification for a term, and the parents claim the cost of catch-up tuition. Professional indemnity handles it.
- The trip on the stairs. A pupil arriving at your home trips on a loose stair rod and breaks a wrist. Public liability pays.
- The coffee and the laptop. You spill a drink over a family's laptop during a lesson. Public liability covers the replacement.
- The hacked inbox. Your email is hacked, exposing pupils' details and lesson recordings. Cyber and data cover helps with expert support and notifying families.
Starting out as a private tutor: checklist
Before you take on your first paying pupil, register with HMRC, sort out insurance, check your data protection position and decide how you'll show parents you're safe to work with children.
- Decide what and where you'll teach: clients' homes, your home, a hired room or online.
- Register as self-employed with HMRC, or set up a limited company.
- Get insured: professional indemnity and public liability, with online tutoring included if you teach remotely.
- Tell your home insurer if pupils will come to your home.
- Get a DBS check: a basic check yourself, or an enhanced check through an agency or umbrella body. Use PVG in Scotland and AccessNI in Northern Ireland.
- Check the ICO data protection fee using the ICO's self-assessment, and write a short privacy notice for parents.
- Write simple terms covering fees, cancellations and that you can't guarantee results.
- Add employers' liability before you take on any staff, and premises cover if you open a tutoring centre.
Tutoring insurance: use a broker or buy online?
Buying online suits simple set-ups, such as a sole trader tutoring GCSE maths in clients' homes. A broker helps when your work doesn't fit a standard box, such as a tutoring centre with staff, pupils overseas, SEN support or higher professional indemnity limits.
An online policy can work well, as long as it includes professional indemnity. A broker who arranges cover for tutors can check every subject and setting is covered, compare insurers and help if a parent makes a claim.
For an overview of every type of business cover, see our small business insurance guide.
Related guides
Tutor insurance: frequently asked questions
Do tutors need insurance by law in the UK?
No. A self-employed private tutor is not legally required to have insurance. Employers' liability becomes compulsory once you employ anyone. In practice many agencies, schools and tutoring platforms ask for professional indemnity and public liability before they work with you.
How much does tutor insurance cost?
Cover for a sole trader tutor costs roughly £40 to £200 a year. Public liability only is roughly £40 to £90, public liability with professional indemnity roughly £70 to £200, and a tutoring centre with staff roughly £250 to £700. These are rough guide figures including Insurance Premium Tax.
Do private tutors need professional indemnity insurance?
It isn't a legal requirement, but it's usually the most useful cover for a tutor. It deals with claims that your teaching or advice caused a loss, such as a parent blaming you for a failed exam, and pays your legal defence costs.
Can parents sue a tutor if their child fails an exam?
They can try, although such claims are hard to prove because many things affect exam results. Even a weak claim can mean legal costs, which professional indemnity insurance covers.
Do I need insurance for online tutoring?
There's no legal requirement, but professional indemnity still applies to online lessons, and cyber and data cover is worth considering. Check your policy covers online tutoring and any pupils outside the UK.
Does my home insurance cover pupils coming to my house?
Usually not. Most home insurance policies don't cover business visitors and may be affected if you run a business from home without telling the insurer. Tell your home insurer and get public liability cover.
Do private tutors need a DBS check?
It's not a legal requirement for a self-employed private tutor, but many parents and agencies expect one. You can apply for a basic DBS check yourself. An enhanced check has to go through a registered body, such as an agency. Scotland uses the PVG scheme and Northern Ireland uses AccessNI.
Do tutors need to pay the ICO data protection fee?
Most tutors who keep pupils' or parents' details on a phone, laptop or online system will need to pay the annual ICO data protection fee, unless an exemption applies. The ICO website has a short self-assessment to check.
Does a tutoring agency's insurance cover me?
Not usually. Most agencies treat their tutors as self-employed and expect them to hold their own insurance. Check the agency's terms and ask what, if anything, its policy covers.
Do I need employers' liability for my tutoring centre?
Yes, if you employ anyone, including part-time staff, you must have employers' liability insurance with at least £5 million of cover. Fines can be up to £2,500 for each day without it.