Prompted is the next generation of insurance comparison. It doesn't just compare on price, it reads the insurance policy wording too, working out what each insurer actually covers. To find the right insurance for tutors, Prompted crunches claims, business and complaints data to pinpoint the risks that matter most, then reads insurance policy small print to assess how well each insurance policy protects you as a tutor.
The range of different insurance types available for tutors is confusing, especially as most insurers and comparison sites try to 'upsell' as many different types as possible. This is our analysis of the insurance types that are right for tutors based on the risks they encounter.
If you're working as a tutor, Public Liability (PL) insurance protects you from compensation claims and legal fees if a student or member of the public is injured, or their property is damaged, due to your tutoring business.
If a student suffers an injury, especially in the run up to exams, parents can seek significant compensation. For instance, it a student trips over your laptop charger cable or slips on a wet floor in your teaching space, leading to a compensation claim for physical injury. PL also protects against claims for damage you might cause accidentally to a student's equipment or home. There's also the potential cost of defending yourself against malicious safeguarding allegations - these can be expensive and traumatic to defend. Make sure your policy covers you for this - many have exclusions.
Professional Indemnity (PI) insurance protects you as a tutor from expensive legal fees and compensation claims if a client alleges your teaching, advice, or materials were negligent.
High stakes mean parents can sue for lost tuition fees or damages if you promise a student will pass a crucial exam and they fail, or if you mistakenly prep them for the wrong exam board or an outdated syllabus. You also risk major financial claims if you accidentally use copyrighted worksheets or textbook images in your paid materials, or if you misplace a student’s sensitive digital coursework or personal files, triggering a costly breach of UK data protection laws.
Tutoring runs on email, video calls and shared files, and you hold personal details of students and parents, some of them children. Cyber insurance covers the cost of investigating and fixing your systems after a hack or virus, restoring lost lesson materials and records, and notifying and supporting affected families if their data is exposed.
It can also cover cyber crime aimed at small businesses, such as a fraudster intercepting an invoice and redirecting a term's fees. If you tutor online, cover for lost income while your systems are down keeps a bad week from becoming a bad month.
As a sole trader your income stops when you cannot teach, and there is no employer sick pay behind you. Personal Accident (PA) cover pays a weekly benefit or lump sum if an injury stops you working. Income protection goes further and replaces income if illness, not only accident, keeps you from your students.
If tutoring is your primary income, a few weeks out of action means cancelled lessons, lost students and fees you cannot invoice. This cover keeps money coming in while you recover.
Even a one-person tutoring business can end up in a legal dispute. Legal Expenses (LE) insurance covers legal costs for the situations a tutor is most likely to meet: a fee dispute with a parent, chasing unpaid invoices, an HMRC enquiry into your tax return, or defending a prosecution connected to your work.
Legal costs mount quickly even when you are in the right. LE cover means you can defend your position, or pursue one, without the costs deciding it for you. Many policies also include a legal helpline, useful when a disagreement is still just a difficult conversation.
Employers' liability is only a legal requirement once you take on staff or labour-only help. As a sole trader tutoring alone you do not need it. If you do take someone on, even casually, it becomes a legal requirement with a £5,000,000 minimum limit.
Business interruption replaces income lost after damage to premises, stock or equipment. If you teach in students' homes, online or in hired spaces, your income does not depend on premises of your own, so it does not apply to you.
Directors and officers cover protects company directors from personal liability for management decisions. It becomes relevant if you incorporate as a limited company; as a sole trader it does not apply.
We reviewed insurance policies offered for tutors by leading insurers (Markel, Hiscox and Direct Line).
For this comparison we assumed that the tutor is working as sole-traders with an annual income below £85,000, and with no claims in the last 5 years.
