Tutora Safeguarding Policy

Last updated: 6 August 2026

Tutora is committed to keeping every child who uses our service safe. This policy explains how we vet tutors, the rules we set for online lessons, and what happens if someone raises a concern. It applies to everyone connected with Tutora: staff, tutors, parents and students.

1. Our commitment

The welfare of the child is paramount. Every child using Tutora has the right to be safe, and every adult connected with Tutora — staff or tutor — shares responsibility for that. This policy should be read alongside our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

2. Tutor vetting

No tutor teaches a child on Tutora without going through all of this.

  • Enhanced DBS check. Every tutor must hold, or obtain, an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check including a check against the children's barred list before being approved to teach. A tutor with a disclosure that raises a safeguarding concern is not approved.
  • A tutor who is not yet cleared cannot be booked. Approval is what makes a tutor bookable, and approval does not happen while a check is outstanding.
  • References. References are obtained and checked before approval, ideally from a previous tutoring, teaching or other relevant work context.
  • Every application is reviewed and approved by a person. Subjects, levels, grades and teaching experience are checked for suitability. No tutor can teach by simply applying — approval is a deliberate, recorded step, and the platform records who was approved and when.
  • Tutors are personally known to us. At Tutora's current size, tutors are people the founders know directly, and that personal knowledge forms part of the assessment. It is an addition to the checks above, never a substitute for them.
  • Approval can be withdrawn at any time. A tutor's access to bookings can be suspended or removed immediately by the Tutora admin team, including while a concern is being looked into.
  • Ongoing review. After approval, tutors are monitored through the lesson notes they file, the ratings parents leave, and the progress their students make.

3. Rules for online lessons

To keep lessons safe and appropriate, all tutors and families are expected to follow these rules:

  • Meeting links: Lessons take place using the link the tutor sets up in their Tutora meeting room field (Google Meet or Zoom). Tutors must not ask a student to move a lesson to a different, unlisted personal video account or app.
  • Parental presence: A parent or another responsible adult is welcome to sit in on, or be within earshot of, any lesson at any time. We encourage this, especially for younger children or first sessions with a new tutor.
  • Group lessons: where a lesson is taught to a small group (up to five students), every rule on this page applies in the same way. Students in a group are not given each other's contact details, and must not arrange contact outside the platform with each other any more than with the tutor.
  • No private contact: Tutors and students must not contact each other via personal social media, personal phone numbers, personal email, or messaging apps. All communication about lessons — scheduling, questions, feedback — must go through the Tutora platform.
  • Messages are monitored: because all contact must stay on the platform, we review platform messages for safeguarding purposes. A founder, or a team member acting under their direction, checks for signs that a child may be at risk or that these rules are being broken — including attempts to move contact off the platform. Everyone using Tutora is told this in our Privacy Policy (section 11); it is not covert. Attempting to take contact off-platform is itself treated as a safeguarding concern under section 5.
  • No direct parent–child messaging on the platform: Tutora deliberately does not provide a parent-to-child message thread. Conversations run between parent and tutor, or student and tutor, and an administrator can read both.
  • No gifts or private arrangements: Tutors must not offer or accept gifts, arrange to meet a student in person, or arrange private tutoring outside the platform (see also the non-circumvention clause in our Terms and Conditions).
  • Recording: Lessons are not recorded by Tutora. Tutors and families should not record sessions without informing the other party and, for a recording involving a child, without a parent's agreement.
  • Appropriate conduct: Tutors must maintain a professional, appropriate manner throughout every interaction — the language, environment, and materials used in lessons should be suitable for a school-age student.

4. Reporting a concern

If you are worried about a child's safety, a tutor's conduct, or anything that doesn't feel right — please tell us straight away. You don't need to be certain something is wrong to raise it.

  • Who handles safeguarding concerns: Tutora's founders, Dylan Ladwa and Harishan Jenirathan. We are a two-person operation and both of us see every concern raised — there is no separate safeguarding officer to route it through.
  • Contact: tutoratutoringltd@gmail.com (mark the subject line "Safeguarding — Urgent")
  • If a child is in immediate danger, contact emergency services (999) or, in a non-emergency but urgent situation, the NSPCC helpline (0808 800 5000) directly — do not wait for a response from Tutora first.

5. What happens after a report

  1. Acknowledge — we acknowledge receipt of the concern promptly, normally within 24 hours.
  2. Assess — we review the concern, which may include pausing the tutor's access to bookings while the matter is looked into.
  3. Act — depending on the outcome, this may include: no further action, a warning, mandatory retraining, permanent removal from the platform, and/or reporting to external authorities (such as the DBS, the LADO — Local Authority Designated Officer — or the police) where required.
  4. Record — a record of the concern and the action taken is kept confidentially, in line with our Privacy Policy, for as long as necessary for safeguarding and legal purposes.
  5. Follow up — the family who raised the concern is kept informed as far as confidentiality (including the rights of any other individual involved) allows.

6. Contact

Safeguarding questions or concerns: tutoratutoringltd@gmail.com