Policies and Procedures

Safeguarding and child protection

We believe that all children and young people have the right to learn in a safe and caring environment.  This includes the right to protection from all types of abuse. Trustees, staff, tutors, and those in a position of trust who represent the organisation, have to do everything possible to foster these rights. We take seriously our responsibility towards safeguarding all young people who engage with us, with the focus being on their safety and welfare.

We have a comprehensive set of training and procedures in place (see links below), including a robust safeguarding policy created in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024 (KCSiE2024). We have a dedicated guidance document for the delivery of online tuition, to reflect the importance of safeguarding mechanisms when working with young people using online platforms. As well as being accessible to all interested parties on this page, the policies are also readily available to tutors and staff via the relevant internal training/resource platforms.

We work closely with schools and colleges to ensure our tuition is delivered safely. All staff and tutors receive an Enhanced DBS check and training in safeguarding and child protection before being allowed to represent Tutor Trust in an educational setting. We hold introductory meetings with all our partner education providers, before tuition begins, where the safeguarding policies and procedures of that school, college, or alternative provision setting are outlined.

We ensure that all new staff undergo safeguarding and child protection training at induction. Training is updated regularly. In addition, all staff receive regular safeguarding and child protection updates as required (for example, via email, every staff or trustee meeting), and, at least annually, we provide them with updated training to enable them to safeguard children effectively.

We ensure that all tutors have undertaken and completed the relevant training before placement in their roles. Safeguarding training is delivered online, and Tutor Trust awaits evidence of completion before tutors can take on work. Training covers, as a minimum:

• Safeguarding and Child Protection – tutors complete training supplied by TES/Educare, in addition to training on our safeguarding procedures
• Prevent Duty, covering extremism and radicalisation, which is also provided by TES
• Annual refresher training is compulsory for all returning tutors, the training incorporates all relevant changes to KCSIE for that academic year. This must be completed before a tutor takes on new work.

The trustee overseeing safeguarding is Lucy Crompton. Any questions or concerns about safeguarding can be directed to Tutor Trust's Designated Safeguarding Lead, Jason Heaford

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Statement on the EU General Data Protection Regulation

The Board of Trustees recognise their roles in ensuring that Tutor Trust's compliance with the requirements of the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Trustees have:

1. Appointed a Data Protection Officer
2. Approved a Data Protection Policy, which will be reviewed annually
3. Ensure that a full data audit for Tutor Trust activity has been undertaken
4. Ensure that all colleagues complete appropriate GDPR training and know how to report data breaches.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and take advice from the ICO website on best practices for protecting data.

Modern Slavery Statement

This statement applies to Tutor Trust, the information included in the statement refers to the financial year 2023/24. 

Organisational structure

We are a registered charity that aims to tackle educational inequality uniquely. Our mission is to 'transform lives through tutoring’ by making sure every child who needs some additional academic support can access a great tutor. We recruit and train bright university students as tutors in the core subjects of maths, English, and science and place them in state schools.

Tutor Trust directly employs around 60 staff and is not in any category that is generally seen to be vulnerable to modern slavery in the UK. Tutor Trust will seek to influence its partners and supply chain by sharing its policy on Modern Slavery and requiring providers to confirm their arrangements to uphold the fundamental principles of human rights.

Definitions

The organisation considers that modern slavery encompasses:

• human trafficking
• forced work, through mental or physical threat
• being owned or controlled by an employer through mental or physical abuse or the threat of abuse
• being dehumanised, treated as a commodity or being bought or sold as property
• being physically constrained or having restrictions placed on freedom of movement

Commitment

We acknowledge our responsibilities in tackling modern slavery and commit to complying with the provisions of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Tutor Trust understands that this requires an ongoing review of both our internal practices concerning our labour force and our supply chains.

We do not enter into business with any other organisation, in the United Kingdom or abroad, which knowingly supports or is found to involve itself in slavery, servitude, and forced or compulsory labour. 

No labour provided to Tutor Trust in the pursuance of the provision of its services is obtained using slavery or human trafficking methods. Tutor Trust strictly adheres to the minimum standards required concerning its responsibilities under relevant employment legislation in the UK and in many cases exceeds those minimums for its employees.

Potential exposure

In general, Tutor Trust considers its exposure to slavery/human trafficking to be relatively limited, it has taken steps to ensure that such practices do not take place in its business nor the business of any organisation that supplies goods and/or services to it. 

Steps

Tutor Trust carries out due diligence processes to ensure slavery and/or human trafficking does not take place in its organisation or supply chains, including conducting a review of the controls of its suppliers.

Tutor Trust has not, to its knowledge, conducted any business with another organisation which has been found to have involved itself with modern slavery.

Under section 54(4) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, Tutor Trust undertakes the following steps to ensure that modern slavery is not taking place:

• a regular review of supplier contracts to include termination powers if the supplier is, or is suspected to be, involved in modern slavery
• implementation of measures to identify and assess the potential risks in our supply chains

Slavery Compliance Officer

Tutor Trust has a Slavery Compliance Officer, to whom all concerns regarding modern slavery should be addressed, and who will then undertake relevant action concerning our obligations. 

This statement is made in pursuance of Section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and will be reviewed for each financial year.

Complaints, Appeals & Grievances

Customer Satisfaction

Any school or tutor who makes a complaint will be treated with courtesy and in accordance with Tutor Trust’s Equal Opportunities Policy. For complaints about any aspect of the activities of Tutor Trust or arising from a service provided by The Tutor Trust, every effort will be made to diffuse a situation informally. This is referred to as a stage 1 complaint. If this is not possible the complaint will be escalated. The procedure for managing complaints is provided below. Where a complaint is raised by a school, they should report this directly to The Tutor Trust rather than via a tutor, unless the school believes the complaint can be swiftly resolved informally with the tutor. 

Note: the timeframe set out below will commence from when a complaint becomes formal.

My complaint has not been resolved

The Tutor Trust will seek to resolve complaints as quickly as possible. Timescales for resolving complaints will vary depending on the nature of the complaint made. Employees of the Tutor Trust responsible for handling complaints will be made aware of this procedure and the importance of providing complainants with anticipated timescales for investigation activity or resolution.

However, if after having spoken to us you feel we have not resolved your complaint to your satisfaction, you can contact the Charity Commission by calling 0300 066 9197 or following the link below to raise a concern:

Charity Commission

Your details

We maintain a log of all complaints raised to manage our complaints process effectively. This includes information about you as the complainant. If you would like further information, or have any concerns, about the data we hold about you, please refer to our Privacy Policies

We will seek to resolve complaints as quickly as possible. Timescales for resolving complaints will vary depending on the nature of the complaint made. The employees of the Tutor Trust responsible for handling complaints will be made aware of this procedure and the importance of providing complainants with anticipated timescales for investigation activity or resolution.

Complaints can be submitted via one of the below methods

Write to us: Tutor Trust, Virginia House, 3rd Floor, 5-7 Great Ancoats Street, Manchester M4 5AD or

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