Call to tighten law enabling sex abusers to work as tutors

Jane (not her real name) found out that the man who had tutored her daughter had touched her sexually.

He had been tutoring her and a number of other children in his own home for several years.

Jane only found out after her daughter finally broke down and told her.

She felt she had failed as a parent in the most basic duty of keeping her child safe: “It was one of those ‘bottom falling out of your world’ moments.”

“I guess I kind of assumed there was some sort of protection in place,” says Jane.

Teachers in schools must undergo what are known as enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) background checks. These reveal details of any spent or unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings held on the Police National Computer.

However, there is no legal obligation for private tutors to undergo any background checks or be qualified to teach.

The Tutors Association, which represents more than 50,000 tutors across the UK, does require all its members to have enhanced DBS checks and follow a strict code of conduct.

But its president, John Nichols, says the current legal situation can’t be allowed to continue: “Anyone could call themselves a tutor, in any subject, and advertise themselves as such, regardless of their suitability.”

Mr Nichols says he has written to the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, to ask that DBS checks become mandatory for anyone seeking to operate as a professional tutor.

Unless a tutor is registered with an agency requiring background checks, parents have no easy way to check if they have previous convictions.

One mother told us she had been advised to go to her local police station to consult the Sex Offenders’ Register.