The Tutor Department customer privacy notice

This privacy notice tells you what to expect us to do with your personal information.

  • Contact details

  • What information we collect, use, and why

  • Lawful bases and data protection rights

  • Where we get personal information from

  • How long we keep information

  • Who we share information with

  • How to complain

Contact details

Email: info@thetutordepartment.co.uk

ICO registration number: ZB938537

What information we collect, use, and why

We collect or use the following information for student education and welfare:

  • Names and contact details for students/children

  • Names and contact details for parents and carers

  • Date of birth

  • Payment details and financial information including transactions

  • Welfare information relevant to tutoring (includes family and home life circumstances shared with us by parents or carers)

  • Attendance and reason for absence data

  • Exam results and qualifications

  • Progress reports

  • Information relating to compliments and complaints

We collect or use the following personal information for dealing with queries, complaints or claims:

  • Names and contact details

  • Address

  • Payment details

  • Financial transaction information

  • Attendance and reason for absence data

We collect or use the following information for information updates or marketing purposes:

  • Names and contact details

  • Address

We collect or use the following information for recruitment and vetting of tutors:

  • Contact details (e.g. name, address, telephone number or personal email address)

  • Date of birth

  • National Insurance number

  • Copies of passports or other photo ID

  • Employment history (e.g. job application, employment references or secondary employment)

  • Education history (e.g. qualifications)

  • Right to work information

  • Details of any criminal convictions (e.g. DBS checks and DBS Update Service status)

  • Bank details for payment

We collect or use the following information to comply with legal requirements:

  • Identification documents

  • Health and safety information

  • Criminal offence data (including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks)

Lawful bases and data protection rights

Under UK data protection law, we must have a "lawful basis" for collecting and using your personal information. There is a list of possible lawful bases in the UK GDPR. You can find out more about lawful bases on the ICO's website.

Which lawful basis we rely on may affect your data protection rights, which are set out in brief below. You can find out more about your data protection rights and the exemptions which may apply on the ICO's website:

  • Your right of access — You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.

  • Your right to rectification — You have the right to ask us to correct or delete personal information you think is inaccurate or incomplete.

  • Your right to erasure — You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information.

  • Your right to restriction of processing — You have the right to ask us to limit how we can use your personal information.

  • Your right to object to processing — You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data.

  • Your right to data portability — You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you.

  • Your right to withdraw consent — When we use consent as our lawful basis, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

If you make a request, we must respond to you without undue delay and in any event within one month. To make a data protection rights request, please contact us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.

Our lawful bases for the collection and use of your data

For student education and welfare:

  • Contract — we have to collect or use the information so we can enter into or carry out a contract with you.

  • Legal obligation — we have to collect or use your information so we can comply with the law.

  • Legitimate interests — we collect or use your information to run our tutoring service effectively and to safeguard the children we work with. Our legitimate interests are matching students with suitable tutors and monitoring the quality and safety of lessons.

For dealing with queries, complaints or claims:

  • Legal obligation — we have to collect or use your information so we can comply with the law.

  • Legitimate interests — our legitimate interest is resolving queries and complaints fairly and keeping appropriate records of them.

For information updates or marketing purposes:

  • Consent — where you have signed up to receive updates from us. You can withdraw consent and unsubscribe at any time.

  • Legitimate interests — for service updates to existing clients about their lessons and our services. You can opt out at any time.

For recruitment and vetting of tutors:

  • Contract — to enter into and manage our engagement with tutors.

  • Legal obligation — including right-to-work checks and criminal records (DBS) checks appropriate to working with children.

  • Legitimate interests — our legitimate interest is ensuring every tutor we introduce is suitably qualified, experienced and safe to work with children.

For complying with legal requirements:

  • Legal obligation — we have to collect or use your information so we can comply with the law.

Where we get personal information from

  • Directly from you

  • Parents or carers

  • Referees and previous employers (for tutors)

  • The Disclosure and Barring Service (for tutors)

How long we keep information

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for legal, accounting or reporting requirements.

  • Email enquiries are kept for 12 months.

  • Client data is kept for 6 years (for tax/legal reasons).

  • Tutor vetting records are kept for the duration of engagement plus 6 years.

  • Newsletter subscribers are kept until unsubscribed or inactive for 2 years.

For more information on how long we store your personal information or the criteria we use to determine this, please contact us using the details provided above.

Who we share information with

Tutors: We share with tutors the information they need to teach effectively — the student's name, year group, subjects and levels, relevant learning information shared by parents, and the lesson address or online lesson link.

Data processors:

  • TutorCruncher — processes enquiries and stores client and tutor information, and manages lesson scheduling and invoicing.

  • Stripe — processes card payments on our behalf. We never see or store full card numbers.

  • Squarespace — hosts our website and processes enquiries submitted through our website forms.

Others we share personal information with:

  • Parents and carers

  • Authorities where required by law or where necessary to protect a child

How to complain

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal data, you can make a complaint to us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.

If you remain unhappy with how we've used your data after raising a complaint with us, you can also complain to the ICO.

The ICO's address:

Information Commissioner's Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

Website: https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

Last updated: July 2026