Tutors Code of Conduct

1. About this code

This Tutors Code of Conduct (the "Code") sets out the operational rules that govern how a tutor presents themselves on Tutorperch, how on-platform reviews are written and submitted, and how messages are exchanged before a finder's-fee unlock has been paid. It complements — and does not replace — the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy.

1.1 The Code applies to every tutor who maintains a profile on Tutorperch. The review and messaging clauses additionally apply to students and parents who use those features.

1.2 Tutorperch operates on a finder's-fee model: the platform earns a single fee from a student when contact details are unlocked, and earns nothing from any lesson, booking, or course of tuition that follows. The Code exists to keep that model fair to everyone using it — students get an honest directory of real tutors, and tutors get a level playing field where no one is permitted to short-cut the system through off-platform branding, contact-detail bypasses, or false claims.

1.3 Acceptance of the Code is required at the points listed in section 12 below. Material changes to the Code re-prompt for acceptance the next time you take an action that would otherwise have been gated by it.

2. Definitions

In this Code:

• Tutor — a user who has set up a tutor profile on the platform.
• Student — any user looking for or messaging a tutor. In practice this is often a parent or guardian acting on behalf of a child.
• Profile — the public listing for a tutor on Tutorperch, comprising the tutor's display name, headline, bio, photo, qualifications, subjects, levels, and any block-discount details.
• Verified Name — the full legal name returned by Stripe Identity at the point of identity verification, as recorded on users.identity_verified_name.
• Display Name — the public-facing name shown on the Tutor's Profile, derived from the Verified Name as set out in section 3.
• Disclosure — a safeguarding disclosure (DBS Enhanced certificate, PVG scheme record, or AccessNI Enhanced Disclosure) submitted under section 8 of the Terms of Service.
• Unlock — the moment a Student pays the finder's fee to access a Tutor's contact details.

3. Identity and display name

3.1 Tutors must complete identity verification via Stripe Identity before publishing a Profile. The name returned by that verification is the Verified Name and is the only basis on which a Display Name may be constructed.

3.2 The Display Name shown on a Tutor's public Profile must be one of:

• (a) the Tutor's first name as recorded in the Verified Name; or
• (b) the Tutor's first name plus the initial letter of their surname, followed by a full stop (e.g. "Sarah H.").

3.3 Tutors may not display their full surname on their public Profile. The platform's finder's-fee model relies on the on-platform introduction being the valuable thing the Student is paying for; full names render that easy to skip with a Google search and undercut the model for everyone. This is a deliberate platform-economics measure rather than a tutor-privacy measure. Where a Tutor has a clear professional reason to use their full name (for example, a published author whose surname is part of their professional identity), they may request an exception under section 11 below; exceptions are recorded and reviewed individually.

3.4 Tutors may include an optional title prefix (Dr, Prof, Mr, Mrs, Ms, Mx, or Miss) on their Display Name — for example, "Dr Sarah H." or "Mrs Jane B.". The title selector at the picker writes the chosen title directly into the Display Name string; there is no separate stored "title" field. The Display Name must still comply with the form rules in clauses 3.2 and 3.3 — title plus first name, or title plus first name and surname initial.

3.5 The Display Name is locked at first publication. A Tutor cannot change their Display Name directly through the profile editor. Genuine changes — for example, following a deed poll, marriage, divorce, or gender transition — are made through the dispute process described in section 11.

3.6 The Display Name must not contain: business or trading names; promotional language; references to other platforms or services; rating, ranking, or award claims; emoji, decorative characters, or non-alphabetic punctuation outside the formats permitted in clause 3.2.

4. Headline (tagline)

4.1 A Profile Headline is a short, plain-text summary of what the Tutor offers (for example, the subjects taught, the level focus, or a defining qualification). The Headline is one of the first elements a Student reads on a Profile and is expected to be informative rather than promotional.

4.2 Headlines must not contain:

• emoji or pictograph characters;
• URLs, web addresses, or social-media handles;
• business or trading names, off-platform brand references, or claims about presence on or transition from another tutoring platform;
• rating, ranking, "top-rated", "award-winning", "best", "number one", or similar superlatives, whether substantiated or not — those claims belong in reviews, not in the Headline;
• contact details (these are auto-redacted; manual bypass attempts are logged);
• zero-width or non-printing characters of any kind.

4.3 Headlines are checked as the Tutor types, with the specific rule shown inline next to the Headline field. Auto-save preserves work in progress regardless of whether the current Headline passes the checks; the rules are enforced when the Tutor publishes or republishes the Profile.

5. Bio and block-discount details

5.1 The Bio is the Tutor's main written introduction. The block-discount details field, where used, sets out the terms on which the Tutor offers a discount for a block-booking of lessons. The same content rules apply to both fields and to any other free-text Profile field.

5.2 The following are prohibited in either field:

• contact details of any kind — phone numbers, email addresses, postal addresses, web addresses, or social-media handles. The platform refuses to publish a Profile that contains them; flagged saves are also reviewed by admin;
• rating or ranking claims of any kind — star symbols (★ ⭐), "top-rated", "#1", "five-star", "award-winning", and similar — since the platform's review system is where ratings live;
• false or misleading claims about qualifications, experience, exam-board familiarity, school or institutional affiliations, awards, or rankings;
• content copied from another tutor's Profile or from a Profile maintained on another platform without independent authorship;
• content unrelated to the provision of tuition (for example, unrelated commercial advertising, political solicitation, or links to causes or campaigns);
• off-platform-redirect framing or business / trading-name framing — these are not auto-detected because the patterns false-positive on legitimate prose, but are caught at admin review and are grounds for a compliance action under section 12;
• abusive, discriminatory, or hateful language — including slurs aimed at protected characteristics. The platform runs an automated tripwire on Profile text for the most unambiguous patterns and flags matches for admin review; an admin call always determines the consequence.

5.3 Tutors who hold a current Safeguarding Verified badge auto-publish edits to these fields without per-save admin review. This is a trust arrangement that assumes good faith. Saves that match high-risk patterns (contact details, accounts younger than seven days, slur-list matches) are auto-flagged for admin review without blocking save. The publish action separately refuses to take a Profile live while a flag is present; the Tutor can either amend the flagged field or, where the Tutor believes the flag is a false positive, submit the Profile for admin review via the "Publish for review" option. Submission for review routes through the standard Profile-review queue regardless of Safeguarding-Verified status; admin either publishes the Profile or asks for an amendment. Where a flagged save turns out to breach this Code, the consequences in section 12 apply.

6. Profile photos

6.1 The Profile photo must be a recent photograph (taken within the previous two years) of the Tutor as they currently appear. The photograph must be recognisably of the Tutor and must depict the Tutor's face clearly.

6.2 Profile photos must not contain:

• overlaid text, captions, watermarks, or contact details;
• logos, brand marks, or trading-name references;
• any other person, including children — particularly children whose image use has not been consented to;
• inappropriate content of any kind (this includes nudity, content suggesting romantic or sexual availability, or content that would not be appropriate in a professional or educational context).

6.3 Photos are admin-reviewed before they appear on a published Profile. Photo replacements on an already-published Profile follow the same review path.

7. Qualifications and claims

7.1 Qualifications listed on a Profile must be true, current, and held by the Tutor personally. A Tutor may not list a qualification that was held by a relative, colleague, or business associate.

7.2 Institution names listed against a qualification must be the actual issuing institution. Tutorperch will independently verify high-stakes claims (for example, Oxbridge alumni status) where the public record permits and where an admin sees a reason for that check.

7.3 Claims about external recognition — for example, prizes, fellowships, or academic awards — must be substantiated and must refer to the recognition itself, not to a Tutor's standing on another tutoring platform. References to ratings, rankings, or "top tutor" status earned on another platform are not permitted on Tutorperch Profiles.

7.4 Where a qualification is in progress rather than complete, the Tutor must indicate that clearly (for example, "MSc Mathematics, in progress") rather than listing an unawarded qualification as held.

8. Reviews (for students and parents)

8.1 A review is a public statement about a Tutor's service, written by a Student who has paid the finder's fee for that Tutor and engaged with them. The review window opens seven days after the unlock — see section 6 of the Terms of Service.

8.2 Reviews must:

• be honest and based on actual engagement with the Tutor;
• be written by the Student themselves — not by the Tutor, by a relative or friend acting on behalf of either party, or by anyone other than the Student whose unlock the review concerns;
• avoid contact details and off-platform handles (these are auto-redacted, but the underlying intent breaches this Code).

8.3 Reviews must not be:

• solicited by the Tutor through on-platform messaging;
• solicited off-platform with any inducement attached (a discount, a free lesson, or anything else of value);
• traded between Tutors or between Tutor and Student in coordinated fashion;
• used to retaliate against a Tutor for an unrelated dispute or to manipulate rankings.

8.4 Tutorperch reserves the right to remove reviews that breach this section, to suspend reviewers who breach it repeatedly, and to take action against Tutors who solicit prohibited reviews — see section 11 of the Terms of Service.

9. Messaging conduct

9.1 On-platform messages between users have phone numbers, email addresses, web addresses, and common chat handles automatically removed until the finder's fee has been paid. This protects the introduction model the platform depends on and keeps users from being solicited off-platform before they have decided to engage.

9.2 Tutors may not attempt to bypass the contact-detail filter — for example, by spelling out a number in words, splitting an email address across lines, or asking the Student to search for them outside the platform. Repeated bypass attempts are logged and may result in suspension under section 11 of the Terms of Service.

9.3 Messages must not contain abuse, harassment, threats, or solicitation of illegal services. Tutors may not pressure a Student to move the conversation off-platform, to cancel an unlock, or to leave a review in exchange for a discount.

9.4 First-message acceptance: the Code is shown in full the first time a user sends an on-platform message in a conversation. Subsequent sends carry a micro-disclosure beneath the composer.

10. Off-platform conduct

10.1 Tutors must not represent themselves as Tutorperch or as employees, agents, or partners of Tutorperch. The relationship between Tutor and platform is set out in section 7 of the Terms of Service.

10.2 Tutors may not direct Tutorperch Students to other tutoring platforms — for example, by suggesting a Student "find me on [platform]" or "we can do this cheaper through [platform]" — within on-platform messaging or on the Profile itself. After unlock, what the Tutor and Student agree off-platform is between them; before unlock, the platform's introduction model must be respected.

10.3 A Tutor who has been engaged off-platform through a Tutorperch introduction may not then encourage that Student to bypass Tutorperch when introducing the Tutor to a third party. The finder's fee covers a single introduction; onward referrals are between the Student and the Tutor.

11. Reporting and disputes

11.1 Reporting another user. Any user can report a Profile, a review, or a message thread that they believe breaches this Code. Reports are reviewed by an admin within 48 hours; outcomes are communicated to the reporter where appropriate.

11.2 Disputing a default name selection. Where a Tutor disputes the name returned by Stripe Identity — because the verification scanned the name incorrectly, because the Tutor's legal name has since changed (for example, following a deed poll, marriage, divorce, or gender transition), or because the naming format does not fit the way the Tutor goes by their name (for example, a name in family-name-first order that the verification has parsed wrongly) — the Tutor may submit a name-dispute request from the Display Name picker (at first publication) or from /me (at any later point). The request creates an internal incident which is reviewed by an admin within three days. Outcomes include: approval of a different derived name, approval of a full-surname exception under clause 3.3, a request to redo identity verification, or rejection where the request is not supported by evidence.

11.3 Appealing a takedown or compliance action. Where Tutorperch takes a moderation action that affects a Profile, the affected Tutor receives an outcome email setting out which clause was breached and what is required to resolve it. The Tutor may reply to that email to appeal; appeals are reviewed by an admin not involved in the original decision.

11.4 Supporting documentation. Documents submitted with a name dispute (for example, a deed poll, marriage certificate, or updated identity document) are stored only until the admin decision is recorded, and are then purged. The same retention discipline applies to documents submitted in support of any other appeal.

12. Consequences and enforcement

12.1 Most edits to Profile content by Tutors with a current Safeguarding Verified badge auto-publish without per-save admin review. The platform trusts verified Tutors not to misuse that arrangement; the rest of this section sets out what happens when that trust is broken.

12.2 Auto-flag (no immediate consequence). Saves that match high-risk patterns are flagged for admin review without blocking the save itself. Where the flagged content turns out to comply with this Code, no further action is taken; the auto-flag itself is not a consequence. Where a flag is present at publish time, the Tutor may either amend the flagged field or submit the Profile for admin review via the "Publish for review" option; the latter routes the publish through the Profile-review queue regardless of Safeguarding-Verified status.

12.3 Compliance incident (seven-day grace). Where an admin identifies a breach, an internal compliance incident is opened and the Tutor receives an outcome email quoting the offending field and citing the specific clause of this Code. The Tutor has seven days to bring the Profile into compliance. Where the breach is corrected within that window, the incident is closed without further action.

12.4 Takedown. Where a breach is not corrected within the grace window, the Profile is unpublished pending the Tutor's response. Unpublication does not delete the Profile; it removes it from search and the public directory. The Tutor can republish once the breach is resolved.

12.5 Suspension and ban. Severe breaches — including fraud, false credentials, repeated bypass of contact-detail redaction, harassment, or breach of safeguarding requirements — may result in immediate suspension and, at the platform's discretion, a permanent ban. The procedure is set out in section 11 of the Terms of Service.

12.6 Refunds and continuing obligations. Where a Tutor is suspended or banned, in-flight unlocks remain valid and Students who have paid the finder's fee retain their access to the Tutor's contact details. Where the Tutor is unable or unwilling to fulfil the introduction following suspension, affected Students may apply for a refund under section 5 of the Terms of Service.

13. Versioning and updates

13.1 The version of this Code in force is the date shown at the top of this page. Tutorperch may update this Code from time to time; the version posted here is the version that applies.

13.2 Acceptance of the Code is required at the following points:

• at first publication of a Profile;
• at each republication after the version shown above has been updated;
• at submission of a review by a Student;
• on the first message a user sends in any on-platform conversation. Subsequent sends in the same conversation carry a brief reminder beneath the composer rather than a full prompt.

13.3 Where the version is updated, the next time you take a gated action — publishing or republishing your profile, sending the first message in a new thread, submitting a review — you will be shown the change in-app and asked to re-accept before the action proceeds. The prompt names the previously-accepted version and the new one so the update is unambiguous.

13.4 Questions about this Code can be sent to hello@tutorperch.com.