Terms & Conditions
The agreement between you and Tutorise.
Contents
- About us and these terms
- Definitions
- Your account
- Booking lessons
- Fees and payment
- Cancellations and missed sessions
- Your right to cancel
- Tutors, vetting and DBS
- Safeguarding and supervision
- What we do and do not promise
- Online lessons and technology
- Messaging and monitoring
- Engaging tutors directly
- Our materials
- Acceptable use
- Suspension and termination
- Our liability to you
- Events outside our control
- Changes to these terms
- Complaints
- Governing law
1. About us and these terms
Tutorise ("Tutorise", "we", "us", "our") provides online tutoring services and the booking portal available at tutoriseuk.co.uk. These terms form a legally binding agreement between you and us.
By creating an account, booking a session, or allowing a student in your care to attend a session, you confirm that you accept these terms and have authority to do so. If you do not accept them, you must not use our services.
You can contact us at hello@tutoriseuk.co.uk.
2. Definitions
- "Account Holder", the person who registers the account and is responsible for paying our fees. Where the student is under 18, this must be a parent, guardian, or other adult authorised to act for them.
- "Student", the person receiving tutoring.
- "Session", a scheduled tutoring lesson or other service (for example past-paper marking, UCAT preparation or interview preparation).
- "Tutor", an individual providing tutoring through Tutorise.
3. Your account
You must provide accurate, current and complete information when registering, and keep it up to date. We rely on your contact details to arrange lessons and send reports.
You are responsible for keeping your login credentials secure and for all activity on your account. Tell us immediately if you believe your account has been accessed without your permission.
One account per Account Holder. You must not create an account on behalf of another adult without their permission, or register using false details.
4. Booking lessons
Submitting a request through the portal is an offer to book, not a confirmed booking. A contract for a Session is formed only when we confirm that Session to you, whether in the portal, by email or in writing.
Fees, timings and tutor allocation are confirmed as part of that process. We may decline any booking request, and we may need to reallocate a Session to a different Tutor of comparable suitability.
Once a Session is confirmed, it is chargeable. Confirmation creates a binding obligation to pay for that Session in accordance with section 5, whether or not the Student attends, subject only to the cancellation rights set out in sections 6 and 7.
5. Fees and payment
5.1 Our fees
Our fees are confirmed to you in writing before your first Session and are available on request at any time. Unless stated otherwise, fees are quoted per Session and are inclusive of any applicable tax.
We may change our fees by giving you at least 30 days' notice. A change will not affect Sessions already confirmed before the notice period ends.
5.2 Invoicing
Unless we agree otherwise in writing, we invoice monthly in arrears. Each invoice covers Sessions delivered, and Sessions chargeable under section 6, during the previous calendar month.
Invoices are sent by email to the Account Holder and are payable by bank transfer to the account shown on the invoice, quoting the invoice reference.
5.3 Payment terms
| Invoices issued | Within the first 5 days of each month |
|---|---|
| Payment due | Within 7 days of the invoice date |
| Method | Bank transfer, unless otherwise agreed in writing |
Payment obligations sit with the Account Holder. Where a Student is under 18, the Account Holder remains liable for all fees regardless of any arrangement between them and the Student.
5.4 Late payment
If an invoice is not paid by its due date we may:
- charge interest on the overdue amount at 4% per year above the Bank of England base rate, accruing daily from the due date until payment is received;
- suspend further Sessions once an invoice is more than 14 days overdue, having given you notice and a reasonable opportunity to pay; and
- recover our reasonable costs of obtaining payment.
Suspension under this section does not release you from the obligation to pay outstanding invoices, or for Sessions already confirmed and chargeable.
5.5 Queries about an invoice
If you think an invoice is wrong, tell us within 14 days of the invoice date and we will look into it promptly. You should still pay any part of the invoice that is not in dispute by the due date.
6. Cancellations and missed sessions
6.1 If you cancel or reschedule
| More than 24 hours before the Session | Rescheduled or credited at no charge |
|---|---|
| 24 hours or less before the Session | Charged in full |
| Student does not attend | Charged in full |
| Student more than 15 minutes late without contact | Treated as a non-attendance and charged in full |
Notice must be given through the portal or by email so there is a record of it. A message to a Tutor alone is not sufficient notice.
Where a Student arrives late but the Session still goes ahead, the Session ends at its scheduled finish time and is charged in full. Tutors are not obliged to extend a Session to make up lost time.
6.2 If we cancel
If we or a Tutor cancel a Session, we will offer you a rearranged Session at a mutually convenient time or, if you prefer, credit the Session in full. You are not charged for a Session we cancel.
6.3 Exceptional circumstances
We understand that illness and emergencies happen. We may waive a late-cancellation charge at our discretion. Doing so once does not mean we will do so again.
6.4 Ending regular lessons
Either of us may end an ongoing arrangement by giving one week's notice in writing. Sessions already confirmed within that notice period remain chargeable unless cancelled in line with section 6.1.
7. Your right to cancel
Because you are contracting with us at a distance, you normally have a legal right to cancel within 14 days of entering into the contract, without giving a reason. This is separate from, and in addition to, the arrangements in section 6.
To exercise it, tell us in writing at hello@tutoriseuk.co.uk within that 14-day period.
If you want lessons to start straight away, you must ask us to begin during the 14-day period. If you then cancel, you remain liable for a proportionate charge covering the Sessions already delivered up to the point you told us. If all the Sessions you contracted for have been delivered within that period at your request, the right to cancel no longer applies.
Nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights.
8. Tutors, vetting and DBS
We want you to have an accurate picture of what our vetting does and does not establish. Please read this section carefully.
8.1 Our policy
It is our policy that Tutors hold a valid enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate, and we ask Tutors to provide evidence of one.
8.2 What we do not guarantee
- We do not guarantee that every Tutor holds a current DBS certificate at all times. While most do, some certificates may have expired, and a minority of Tutors may not hold one.
- Where a Tutor holds a DBS certificate, it may have been obtained for other employment or another organisation rather than specifically for Tutorise, and may be subject to that organisation's checks rather than ours.
- A DBS certificate reflects records held at the date it was issued. It is not a prediction of future conduct and does not remain accurate over time unless it is re-checked or registered with the DBS Update Service.
- We do not independently verify every qualification, grade or experience claim a Tutor makes to us.
If a current DBS check matters to you, ask us before booking and we will tell you the position for the Tutor allocated to your Student, and offer an alternative Tutor where we can. You should not assume any particular Tutor has been checked.
8.3 Tutor status
Tutors may be engaged as self-employed contractors rather than employees. We remain responsible to you for arranging the service under these terms.
9. Safeguarding and supervision
Where the Student is under 18, the Account Holder is responsible for supervising their participation. We strongly recommend that:
- lessons take place in a shared family space rather than a bedroom, with an adult nearby and able to see or hear the session;
- the Student uses the Account Holder's device or an account the Account Holder can access; and
- contact with Tutors happens through the Tutorise portal, not through personal phone numbers, personal email or social media.
Tell us immediately at hello@tutoriseuk.co.uk if you have any safeguarding concern about a Tutor or a Session. We will take it seriously and act promptly. Where we consider a child may be at risk, we may report the matter to the police, local authority or other appropriate body, and may do so without your consent where the law permits or requires it.
10. What we do and do not promise
We will provide our services with reasonable care and skill, and will use reasonable efforts to match each Student with a Tutor suited to their subject, level and goals.
We do not promise, and you should not rely on us promising:
- any particular grade, mark, exam result, predicted grade or improvement;
- any particular university, apprenticeship, school or course offer, or success in any admissions test or interview;
- that a specific Tutor will remain available for the duration of your lessons; or
- that our services are suitable for a particular special educational need, unless we have confirmed that in writing.
Outcomes depend heavily on the Student's own effort, attendance, prior attainment and circumstances, and on decisions made by exam boards and institutions we have no control over. Examples of past student progress shown on our website are illustrative and are not a promise of similar results.
11. Online lessons and technology
Sessions are delivered online. You are responsible for providing a suitable device, a stable internet connection and a quiet environment. We are not responsible for problems caused by your equipment or connection.
If a Session is disrupted by a technical fault on our side or the Tutor's, we will make up the lost time or credit the Session. If the disruption is on your side, the Session runs to its scheduled finish time and is charged in full.
You must not record, photograph, stream or otherwise capture any Session without our prior written consent and, where relevant, the Tutor's. Where we record a Session, we will tell you in advance and explain why; see our Privacy Policy.
12. Messaging and monitoring
The portal includes messaging between Account Holders, Students, Tutors and Tutorise administrators.
Messages are not private between you and a Tutor. Tutorise administrators can read messages sent through the portal. We do this to protect students, investigate concerns, resolve disputes and meet our safeguarding obligations. Messaging is not end-to-end encrypted. Please do not use it for anything you would not want us to see.
We may retain messages after a conversation ends, and may disclose them where we are required or permitted to do so, see our Privacy Policy.
13. Engaging tutors directly
We invest in finding, checking, training and matching Tutors. In return, for as long as you use our services and for 12 months after your last Session, you agree not to arrange or accept tutoring from a Tutor introduced to you by Tutorise otherwise than through Tutorise.
This applies to the Account Holder, the Student, and members of their household. If you do arrange lessons outside Tutorise with a Tutor we introduced, an introduction fee equal to the value of 10 Sessions at our then-current standard rate becomes payable, which the parties agree is a genuine estimate of the loss we would suffer.
You must not ask a Tutor for personal contact details, or accept them if offered, for the purpose of arranging lessons outside the portal.
14. Our materials
All worksheets, notes, question banks, mark schemes, lesson reports, recordings and other materials we or our Tutors provide remain our property or that of their respective owners.
You are granted a personal, non-transferable licence to use them for the Student's own study. You must not copy, share, publish, resell or upload them to any file-sharing, tutoring or revision platform, or use them to provide tutoring to anyone else.
Third-party materials such as past papers remain subject to the rights of the relevant exam board.
15. Acceptable use
You and the Student must not:
- behave abusively, threateningly, discriminatorily or inappropriately towards a Tutor or member of staff;
- attempt to obtain work that the Student will submit as their own where doing so would breach the rules of a school, exam board or institution;
- share account access with anyone outside the household, or use the service on behalf of an undisclosed third party;
- attempt to gain unauthorised access to the portal, other users' data, or any part of our systems; or
- use the portal to send unlawful, harassing or commercial content.
We support students in producing their own work. We will not knowingly complete coursework, controlled assessments or admissions submissions that are required to be a student's own.
16. Suspension and termination
We may suspend or close your account, and cancel any confirmed Sessions, if:
- you breach these terms, including section 15;
- an invoice remains unpaid as set out in section 5.4;
- you have given us false information; or
- we reasonably consider it necessary to protect a Student, a Tutor or our staff.
Where the reason is a safeguarding concern or a serious breach, we may act immediately and without notice. Otherwise we will give you notice and, where appropriate, an opportunity to put things right.
Termination does not affect any amount you already owe us, or any right or remedy either of us has accrued.
17. Our liability to you
We do not exclude or limit our liability where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, for breach of your statutory rights in relation to services supplied, and for any other liability that cannot legally be excluded.
Subject to that:
- our total liability to you arising out of or in connection with these terms is limited to the greater of £100 and the total fees you paid us in the 6 months before the event giving rise to the claim;
- we are not liable for loss of opportunity, loss of expected grades or results, loss of a place on a course, or any indirect or consequential loss; and
- we are not liable for loss arising from your failure to keep account credentials secure, or from your equipment or internet connection.
We supply our services for domestic and private use. We are not liable for any business loss.
18. Events outside our control
We are not liable for failure or delay in performing our obligations caused by events outside our reasonable control, including illness, bereavement, power or internet failure, industrial action, epidemic, or the failure of third-party platforms. Where such an event occurs we will contact you and rearrange or credit affected Sessions.
19. Changes to these terms
We may change these terms from time to time. We will publish the updated version on this page with a new "last updated" date, and where the change is significant we will tell you by email at least 14 days before it takes effect.
If a significant change is not acceptable to you, you may end the arrangement by telling us before it takes effect, and we will not charge you for Sessions cancelled for that reason.
20. Complaints
If something has gone wrong, please tell us at hello@tutoriseuk.co.uk and we will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and aim to give a full response within 20 working days.
21. Governing law
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. Both you and we agree that the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction, except that if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland you may also bring proceedings in your local courts.
If any provision of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in force.
These terms were prepared for Tutorise and have not been reviewed by a solicitor. Before taking payment from customers, have them checked by a qualified legal professional, particularly sections 5, 8, 13 and 17.