How We Vet Our Tutors

Why this page exists

Most tutoring companies say their tutors are “vetted,” “handpicked,” or “rigorously screened.” Almost none of them tell you what that actually means.

We think you deserve the specifics. Here is exactly what a tutor goes through before they are allowed to teach your child — and, just as importantly, what our checks can't tell you.

The honest bit first: DBS checks

Our tutors do not have UK DBS checks, and we will never claim they do.

A DBS check searches UK police and barred-list records. It is only meaningful for someone who has lived and worked in the UK. A DBS check on an international tutor searches a database they were never in — it comes back empty and tells you nothing.

Any online tutoring company advertising “DBS-checked tutors” while employing international tutors is either misunderstanding the check or hoping you will.

So we do something else instead. Here it is.

Our five-stage process

Stage 1 — Identity

We verify every tutor's identity against a government-issued photo ID — passport or national identity card — on a live video call. We check that the person on the call is the person on the document.

Nobody progresses past this stage without it.

Stage 2 — Criminal record check

Every tutor provides a police character certificate issued by the official authority in their country of residence. We obtain this beforethe tutor's first lesson with a student — never after.

Stage 3 — References

We take two professional references — and we contact them directly.

We do not accept written reference letters at face value. A letter can be written by anyone. We speak to the referee, confirm they are who they say they are, and ask specifically about the tutor's conduct with students.

Stage 4 — Subject expertise

We ask for certificates for every qualification a tutor claims, and we verify them.
Every applicant delivers a live demonstration lesson, assessed by our team — not just for whether they know the material, but for whether they can teach it to a child.

Knowing A-Level maths and being able to explain it to a fourteen-year-old who has lost confidence are two entirely different skills. We test for the second one.

Stage 5 — Safeguarding

Every tutor, before their first lesson:

Reads and signs our Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy
Completes safeguarding training covering conduct, boundaries, recognising concerns, and how to report them
Agrees to our code of conduct — including an absolute prohibition on contacting a student privately by any means

Training is refreshed annually.

What happens after they're hired

Vetting is the start, not the end. A background check tells you what someone has been caught doing. It cannot tell you what they might do. That is why what happens during lessons matters more than what happened before them.

Control	What it means
Company platform only	Every lesson runs on a company-generated Zoom/Meet link. Tutors may not use personal accounts.
No private contact — ever	Tutors are prohibited from contacting a student by personal WhatsApp, phone, email or social media. All communication goes through our office.
Parents may join any lesson, unannounced	No permission needed. No reason needed. This is our strongest, most immediate safeguard. We do not record lessons.
Tutors see almost nothing about your child	First name, year group, curriculum, subjects. No surname, no address, no school, no photo, no contact details.
Named Safeguarding Lead	One person — Abdul Rauf — who investigates every concern, and never the tutor.

Read the full Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy →

Our tutor files

We keep a documented file for every tutor containing their ID verification, criminal record certificate, reference notes, qualification certificates, signed safeguarding policy and training record.

If you ever want to know what we hold for the tutor teaching your child, ask us.

What our vetting cannot do

We would rather be trusted than impressive, so let us be clear about the limits.

No vetting process makes a person safe. Every check we run is a check on the past. None of them is a guarantee about the future, and any company that tells you otherwise is overselling.

What we can promise is this: we check what can be checked, we design the service so that a tutor is never in an unobservable position with a child, and we act on concerns immediately rather than cautiously.

If anything ever worries you — about your child's tutor, or anything else — tell us. You do not need proof. You do not need to be sure.

abdulr@thelearningmaths.com · We acknowledge every safeguarding concern within 24 hours.

THE LEARNING MATHS LTD · Company No. 16511724 · Registered in England and Wales · 124 City Road, London, United Kingdom, EC1V 2NX