HOW TO HIRE · LESSONS & TUTORING

How to hire a history tutor in the UK
The checks, the questions and the paperwork.

No register lists history tutors. Here is the vetting to ask for, how to check module knowledge, and the terms to agree.

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THE 60-SECOND VERSION

Hiring a history tutor in five steps

  1. Name the modules and boardThe periods studied, the board, and whether there is coursework. A history tutor who knows your modules saves weeks.
  2. See the criminal record checkFor history lessons with a child, ask for an enhanced DBS check in England and Wales, PVG membership in Scotland or AccessNI in Northern Ireland. A history tutor applies and shows you.
  3. Ask about recent studentsHow many learners at your level a history tutor teaches this year, and what changed for them.
  4. Start with one lessonOne history lesson online or at home with the set texts to hand tells you more than any profile; commit to a term paid in advance only afterwards.
  5. Get the terms in a messageBefore you pay for a term paid in advance: what coursework help covers, how essays are marked, and the notice to stop. A message on Locufy is enough.

BEFORE YOU BOOK

Check before you book

No register applies

None of the four UK nations licenses or registers history tutors; anyone may advertise history tuition online or at home with the set texts to hand. Degrees, teaching experience and checks are all things you ask about directly. England's Teaching Regulation Agency keeps the record of qualified teacher status, but only employers may use its checking service — not parents. A history degree, QTS or examining experience help; knowledge of your child's exact modules helps most.

Ask the history tutor what they hold, where they trained, and for two people they teach now. Ask a history tutor for the school they teach at, if any, and the levels and boards of their students this year. gov.uk →

Criminal record check for under-18s

For a history tutor teaching your child every week through the course, the England and Wales rule is simple: more than three days of teaching in any 30, or one overnight, makes it regulated activity, and the right check is an enhanced DBS with the children's barred list. From 1 September 2026, supervision no longer removes a role from regulated activity, so a history tutor working under another teacher still counts. Living in Scotland, ask for PVG scheme membership: mygov.scot includes tutors and instructors a parent engages for their child. In Northern Ireland, ask for an enhanced AccessNI check, which a history tutor working alone obtains via an Umbrella Body.

Before the first history lesson, see the certificate itself (a parent cannot apply for one on a self-employed history tutor's behalf) and check the date; in Scotland, PVG proof; in Northern Ireland, the AccessNI certificate shared online. gov.uk →

Written terms for a term paid in advance

Reasonable care and skill is the legal standard for history lessons from a trader (Consumer Rights Act 2015). If the booking with a history tutor is made online or at your home, the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 allow 14 days to cancel; teaching you asked to begin in that time is paid for. Most arguments with history tutors are about coursework help that strayed over the board's line.

Ask for what coursework help covers, how essays are marked, and the notice to stop in writing, and keep the message, before a term paid in advance changes hands. legislation.gov.uk →

Coursework: the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022

In England, a paid service that completes all or part of an assignment a post-16 student must do personally is an offence under the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022 — A level history coursework included. A history tutor may teach, guide reading and give feedback within the board's rules.

Ask the history tutor how they support coursework, and expect them to name the limits. legislation.gov.uk →

VAT

History tuition is exempt when the history tutor gives it personally as a sole trader or partner, history being ordinarily taught in schools and universities; tuition from a company or its employees is standard-rated. A tutor working alone under the £90,000 registration threshold does not charge VAT and has no VAT number to give.

Ask who invoices — the history tutor or a tuition company; a sole trader under £90,000 adds no VAT. gov.uk →

“Will you show me your DBS, PVG or AccessNI certificate?”

A good answer: A straight yes. A history tutor who works with children online or at home with the set texts to hand expects to be asked.

“Do you know these history modules?”

A good answer: The named periods on your child's course, and recent students taught on them.

“How do you teach history source questions?”

A good answer: Provenance, content and context practised on real sources, marked to the scheme.

“How do you teach essay structure?”

A good answer: A clear argument with judgement, built paragraph by paragraph and marked each week.

“How will you help with A level coursework?”

A good answer: Reading lists, planning and general feedback — never writing it.

“If my child is ill, or you are, what happens to that history lesson?”

A good answer: Clear written rules: what notice you give, and that a history lesson a history tutor cancels is rearranged or refunded.

Booking by the hour

  • The rate per hour, and any extra for evenings before the exams
  • The minimum booking — usually one hour — and whether a lesson that ends early is charged in full
  • What the student brings (the specification, essays already marked, source packs) and what the history tutor brings
  • The periods and skills agreed before the first hour: the board, the source questions, essay structure
  • ID checked and the rating, and vetting for a learner under 18

Walk away if

  • No criminal record certificate for regular history lessons with your child, or "it isn't needed for history"
  • Promised grades: no honest history tutor guarantees a top band for the NEA
  • They offer to write coursework or essays for the student
  • A term paid in advance demanded up front, with no written refund terms
LOW
£25
TYPICAL
£37
HIGH
£55

What a history tutor costs: £25–£55 per hour

History tutors charge by the hour; A level and coursework support cost more than GCSE. History 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

History 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.

  1. Read the courseThe history tutor starts from the specification, the modules and the student's last essays.
  2. KnowledgeTimelines and key events secured first, because judgement needs evidence.
  3. Sources and interpretationsPractice analysing sources and historians' views.
  4. EssaysOne planned essay most weeks, written by the student, marked to the scheme.
  5. Exam timingTimed answers per question type before the exams.

Source question
An exam question asking how useful or reliable a historical source is.
Provenance
Who made a source, when and why.
Interpretation
A historian's view of an event, analysed at GCSE and A level.
NEA
Non-examined assessment: A level history coursework.
Higher history
Scotland's SQA course with an essay and source paper.
Mark scheme levels
Bands describing the quality of an essay, used to award marks.

AFTER

When the job is done

File what you were givenKeep the marked essays and the term invoice, with the written terms.
Test the progressCompare a timed essay at half term with the first one: a clearer argument and more precise evidence should show.
The guarantee, honestlyA top band for the NEA is not something anyone can guarantee; the agreed history lessons, well taught, is.
Leave the reviewReview the history tutor once the block ends; if it went wrong, the make-it-right step gives them the chance to fix it first.

STEP 1Put it to the history tutor in writingSay what went wrong — for example coursework help that strayed over the board's line — and what you want: history lessons made up, repeated or refunded. Where history lessons paid as a term paid in advance were not taught with reasonable care and skill, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 entitles you to a repeat or a fair reduction.
STEP 2Use the make-it-right step on LocufyLeave under four stars and you are asked whether to send it to the history tutor first; we follow it through, then the review is published.
STEP 3Get help from Trading StandardsNo regulator covers history tutors, so a consumer complaint goes to Trading Standards through your nation's helpline: Citizens Advice on 0808 223 1133 in England and Wales, Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 800 9060, or Consumerline on 0300 123 6262 in Northern Ireland.
STEP 4Money still in disputeSmall claims handle a dispute with a history tutor without a solicitor: up to £10,000 in England and Wales (small claims track), £5,000 in Scotland (simple procedure) and £5,000 in Northern Ireland. The marked essays and the term invoice will be your evidence.

Hiring a history tutor: questions people ask

No law makes every history tutor hold one. But teaching a child every week through the course 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.

Not one of the four UK nations keeps a register of people who teach history. Ask about their history background and the modules they know.

£25–£55 an hour, with £37 typical; examiners helping with A level essays and coursework sit at the top. The history tutor price guide breaks it down; search your town above to see history tutors who work near you.

Normally no. History is taught in schools, so a history tutor working as a sole trader or partner is exempt; tuition bought from a company or its employed tutors is standard-rated and carries VAT once over £90,000.

Yes, within the board's rules — teaching, guiding reading and general feedback. In England, completing the work for a student as a paid service is a criminal offence.

Essay technique often improves within half a term; knowledge gaps take longer.

MORE GUIDES

More hiring guides in lessons & tutoring

How to hire: GCSE TutorHow to hire: A-Level TutorHow to hire: Maths TutorHow to hire: English TutorHow to hire: Science TutorHow to hire: Physics TutorHow to hire: Chemistry TutorHow to hire: Biology TutorAll 701 hiring guides →

History tutors near you

History tutors in LondonHistory tutors in ManchesterHistory tutors in BirminghamHistory tutors in GlasgowHistory tutors in BelfastAll history tutors on Locufy →

Sources — checked October 2026

  1. gov.uk (DBS) — regulated activity with children
  2. gov.uk — change to the definition of regulated activity with children from 1 September 2026
  3. mygov.scot — who needs PVG scheme membership (personal employers)
  4. nidirect — AccessNI checks for the self-employed and personal employees
  5. gov.uk — check a teacher's record (England)
  6. gov.uk — Education and vocational training (VAT Notice 701/30)
  7. gov.uk — statement from the qualification regulators on GCSEs, AS and A levels in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
  8. gov.scot — school leaver attainment in National Qualifications (SQA)
  9. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 49 — reasonable care and skill
  10. Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulation 30 — cancellation period
  11. Citizens Advice — deciding whether to make a small claim (England and Wales)
  12. Scottish Courts and Tribunals — guide to simple procedure
  13. nidirect — small claims process (Northern Ireland)
  14. Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022, section 27 — offence of providing a relevant service
  15. Education and vocational training (VAT Notice 701/30) — 6.1 The treatment of private tuition
  16. GOV.UK — VAT rates
  17. GOV.UK — Register for VAT: when to register