Terms and conditions for a private tutor

A private tutor needs terms that deal with the things that actually cause arguments: the lesson cancelled the night before an exam, the block of lessons half used when the family moves, the parent who booked but the pupil who attends, and the advertised rate that did not mention travel. I draft customer terms around your practice for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Private tutors and small tutoring businesses in England and Wales teaching in the family home, from your own premises or online, at primary, secondary, university entrance or adult level. Almost all of your customers are consumers: a parent or an adult learner acting outside any business. Some tutors also invoice schools, agencies or employers, which is a business contract and is treated differently.

What matters in a private tutor's terms

Who the contract is with, and who is in the room

The person who pays is usually not the person taught. Your terms should name the parent or guardian as the customer, responsible for the fees, the cancellations and the pupil's conduct, with the pupil as the person receiving the tuition. That parent is a consumer under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and so is an adult learner paying for their own lessons. The same section should set out where lessons take place, whether an adult is required to be present or contactable, what happens if a pupil is left unsupervised, and the arrangements you expect when you teach in someone's home.

Missed lessons, late cancellation and rescheduling

This is the clause that earns its keep. Set a notice period for cancelling or moving a lesson, say what is charged inside it, and say what happens when you have to cancel. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 treats disproportionate default charges as suspect, so a charge should be framed as payment for a reserved slot you cannot refill rather than as a penalty, and should be prominent before booking, not discovered afterwards. I also deal with repeated no-shows, illness, school trips and the exam-season weeks when your diary is full and a gap cannot be replaced.

Block bookings, termly commitments and prepaid lessons

Tutors who sell blocks or take payment by the term need terms that say when the money is earned. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 keeping a prepayment on cancellation without a matching obligation on you is on the list of terms that may be unfair, as is a one-sided right to change the price or the arrangements mid-term. So say how long a block remains valid, what happens to unused lessons, how much notice a family gives to stop, and how and when your rates change. If travel, materials or exam papers are charged on top, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 means your advertised rate must include anything mandatory.

Online lessons, home visits and the fourteen-day cancellation right

Bookings agreed by website, email, phone or message are distance contracts under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, and lessons arranged at the family's home are off-premises contracts, though an off-premises contract of £42 or less falls outside the rules. The customer has fourteen days to cancel. You may teach within that period only at the customer's express request, and a customer who then cancels pays a proportionate amount. Where the cancellation information is missing the period can extend by up to 12 months. If you supply recordings or downloadable material, that is digital content and needs its own consent wording.

What you promise about progress and results

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 you must perform with reasonable care and skill, and information the customer relies on becomes binding, so a grade promise on your website or in a first-lesson email is a contractual commitment whether or not it appears in your terms. Your terms should describe what the service actually is: lesson time, preparation, feedback, reports, contact between lessons, and what is not included. They should make clear that no particular grade, school place or offer is guaranteed. You cannot limit liability for the service to less than the price paid, and you cannot exclude liability for personal injury caused by negligence.

Your materials, recordings and any tutors you use

The worksheets, schemes of work and question banks you write are yours. The terms should give the pupil a licence to use them for their own study and prohibit copying, sharing in group chats or reselling them, and should say whether pupils may record lessons and what they may do with the recording. If you engage associate tutors as freelancers, the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 leaves the copyright in what they create with them unless it is assigned in writing, which matters if their resources go into your library. Introductions you make to families should be protected too.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted around your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want to know how much of a problem they are. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of terms drafted around your business, not a template with your name inserted
• A covering note in plain English explaining every commercial choice I made and why, so you can defend the terms in a negotiation without ringing me
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions set at a level that will survive a procurement review
• Consumer-facing wording drafted to be enforceable where you sell to consumers
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly, which is where most businesses actually fail
• One round of amendments after you have read them

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country

Questions I am often asked

Most of my pupils come through a tutoring platform. Do I still need my own terms?

Bookings made on a platform are governed by that platform's terms, which are written for the platform rather than for you. The pupils you take directly, by recommendation or through your own website, are yours to contract with, and those are the arrangements that run for years. Check what the platform says about teaching families off-platform before you do it.

I also invoice schools and employers. Does that need different wording?

A school, agency or employer buying tuition is a business customer, and the protections written for parents do not apply. That side of the terms deals with purchase orders, invoicing, cover arrangements and payment, and can claim statutory interest and fixed compensation on late payment under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. One document can carry both.

How do I make sure parents are actually bound by my terms?

Incorporation is where most tutors fail. The terms must be given before the first lesson is booked and accepted in a way you can evidence, not attached to an invoice afterwards. The Provision of Services Regulations 2009 also require you to make available your name, legal status, address, contact details, terms and details of your insurance or professional body. I explain how to do all of that.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Terms and conditions for a personal trainer

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.