HOW TO HIRE · LESSONS & TUTORING · CHECKED OCTOBER 2026
How to hire a chemistry tutor in the UK
The checks, the questions and the paperwork.
No register lists chemistry tutors. Here is the vetting to ask for, what to ask about calculations and organic chemistry, and the terms to agree.
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THE 60-SECOND VERSION
Hiring a chemistry tutor in five steps
- Name the course and boardGCSE chemistry or combined science, A level, Higher or Advanced Higher — and the board. A chemistry tutor plans from that.
- Ask which check they holdA chemistry tutor should name it: an enhanced DBS check in England and Wales, PVG membership in Scotland or an AccessNI check in Northern Ireland — and show the date.
- Ask what they have taught, and to whomWhich levels, how many chemistry students now, and what those students went on to do. Knowing chemistry is not the same as teaching it.
- Try one lesson before a blockA first chemistry lesson should end with a clear idea of where you are and what comes next. If it does not, try another chemistry tutor.
- Write down the termsWhat each block covers, the notice to stop, and any extra exam-season lessons, agreed in writing with the chemistry tutor.
BEFORE YOU BOOK
Check before you book
No register applies
No licence or register applies to chemistry tutors in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, and no qualification is needed to tutor chemistry online with a shared whiteboard for mechanisms, or at home. Degrees, teaching experience and checks are all things you ask about directly.
Ask how long they have taught chemistry, what training they had, and for someone who can vouch for them.
Vetting for lessons with a child
Regulated activity in England and Wales starts when someone teaches or instructs a child on more than three days in a 30-day spell, or overnight; a chemistry tutor teaching every week, more often before exams passes that easily, so the enhanced DBS check with the children's barred list is the one to ask for. Since 1 September 2026, being supervised by someone else no longer takes a chemistry tutor out of that rule. Scotland's system is the PVG scheme — mygov.scot lists tutors and instructors engaged by a parent among the roles to check — and Northern Ireland's is an enhanced AccessNI check with the children's barred list, which a self-employed chemistry tutor gets through an Umbrella Body.
Ask a chemistry tutor to show you the certificate before the first chemistry lesson, and write down its date — there is no official expiry. PVG proof in Scotland; the AccessNI certificate from their nidirect account in Northern Ireland. gov.uk →
Who has a chemistry tutor actually taught?
England's Teaching Regulation Agency keeps the record of qualified teacher status, but only employers may use its checking service — not parents. A chemistry degree, QTS or examining experience help; ask how recently they taught your child's level.
Ask a chemistry tutor for the school they teach at, if any, and the levels and boards of their students this year. gov.uk →
Written terms for a block of lessons
Paying for a block of lessons makes it a consumer contract: the Consumer Rights Act 2015 says a chemistry tutor must use reasonable care and skill. Agree chemistry lessons online, by phone or in your home and you have 14 days to change your mind under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 — less whatever teaching you asked to have before then. Most arguments with chemistry tutors are about calculations promised but never covered.
Before paying for a block of lessons, ask a chemistry tutor to set out what each block covers, the notice to stop, and any extra exam-season lessons in a message. legislation.gov.uk →
VAT
Private chemistry lessons are exempt from VAT when a chemistry tutor gives them personally as a sole trader or partner, chemistry being ordinarily taught in schools; the same lessons sold by a company or its employees are standard-rated. Below the £90,000 registration threshold an individual tutor charges no VAT in any case, and has no VAT number to give.
Ask who the invoice comes from — the chemistry tutor or a tuition business; an individual under £90,000 adds no VAT. gov.uk →
A good answer: A straight yes. A chemistry tutor who works with children online with a shared whiteboard for mechanisms, or at home expects to be asked.
A good answer: Step by step, with the same layout every time and lots of short practice — a chemistry tutor should name this as a priority.
A good answer: Curly arrows drawn and redrawn, built up from simple reactions, with exam questions on each.
A good answer: Yes, the method, the results and the questions papers ask about them.
A good answer: If so, how the chemistry tutor plans for the top grades — and any admissions help priced separately.
A good answer: Short calculation sets and mechanism practice, marked the next week.
A good answer: A notice period both ways, written down, and any chemistry lesson the chemistry tutor cancels made up or refunded.
Booking by the hour
- The rate per hour, and any higher rate for evening sessions before the exams
- The minimum booking — one hour is common — and whether an early finish is charged in full
- What the student brings (the specification, practical write-ups, a calculator) and what the chemistry tutor brings
- The work agreed before the first hour: the board, the required practicals, calculations or organic chemistry
- ID checked and the rating, and vetting for a learner under 18
Walk away if
- They brush off the DBS, PVG or AccessNI question for chemistry lessons with your child
- Promised grades: no honest chemistry tutor guarantees the grade a medicine offer needs
- They skip calculations because "you can pick them up"
- A large upfront payment beyond a block of lessons, with nothing in writing
What a chemistry tutor costs: £30–£60 per hour
Chemistry tutors charge by the hour; A level and medicine-focused tutoring cost more than GCSE. Chemistry Tutor price guide →
Guide prices compiled by the Locufy team from published Irish and UK provider price lists and 2026/27 cost guides. Updated 2026.
KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR? NOW FIND ONE
Chemistry tutors near you, with the badges that matter shown
ID checked, trader status and one score from every review — on the card, before you message anyone. Nearest first. No account needed to look.
Or post the job free and let them come to you, or book by the hour.
- DiagnosticAtomic structure, bonding, calculations and, at A level, organic chemistry tested briefly.
- Calculations earlyMoles, concentrations and yields taught early because every later topic uses them.
- Topic teachingEach topic explained, then applied to exam questions from the board.
- PracticalsRequired practicals, titration results and errors practised on past questions.
- Exam run-inFull timed papers and the most-missed question types taught again.
- Mole
- The unit chemists use for the amount of a substance; the base of most calculations.
- Titration
- A practical measuring how much of one solution reacts with another.
- Organic mechanism
- A diagram of how a reaction happens, drawn with curly arrows.
- Required practicals
- Experiments listed in the specification and examined in the papers.
- Combined science
- A double GCSE covering chemistry alongside biology and physics.
- Higher chemistry
- Scotland's SQA course, sat in place of A level.
AFTER
When the job is done
Hiring a chemistry tutor: questions people ask
No law makes every chemistry tutor hold one. But teaching a child every week, more often before exams becomes regulated activity in England and Wales once it passes three days in 30, and a barred person must not do it — so ask for the enhanced DBS check with the children's barred list, PVG membership in Scotland, or an enhanced AccessNI check in Northern Ireland.
There is nothing official to look up for this kind of teaching. Ask for their chemistry background, the levels and boards they teach, and references.
£30–£60 an hour, with £46 typical; A level organic chemistry with an examiner sits at the top. The chemistry tutor price guide breaks it down; search your town above to see chemistry tutors who work near you.
Usually not. Chemistry is taught in schools, so a chemistry tutor working as a sole trader or partner is exempt; chemistry tuition from a company or its employed tutors is standard-rated, with VAT added once that business passes £90,000.
At the first sign of trouble with calculations — usually Year 10 at GCSE or the first term of Year 12 at A level.
Online works well for chemistry theory and exam practice with a shared whiteboard for mechanisms.
MORE GUIDES
More hiring guides in lessons & tutoring
Chemistry tutors near you
Sources — checked October 2026
- gov.uk (DBS) — regulated activity with children
- gov.uk — change to the definition of regulated activity with children from 1 September 2026
- mygov.scot — who needs PVG scheme membership (personal employers)
- nidirect — AccessNI checks for the self-employed and personal employees
- gov.uk — check a teacher's record (England)
- gov.uk — Education and vocational training (VAT Notice 701/30)
- gov.uk — statement from the qualification regulators on GCSEs, AS and A levels in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
- gov.scot — school leaver attainment in National Qualifications (SQA)
- Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 49 — reasonable care and skill
- Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulation 30 — cancellation period
- Citizens Advice — deciding whether to make a small claim (England and Wales)
- Scottish Courts and Tribunals — guide to simple procedure
- nidirect — small claims process (Northern Ireland)
- Education and vocational training (VAT Notice 701/30) — 6.1 The treatment of private tuition
- GOV.UK — VAT rates
- GOV.UK — Register for VAT: when to register