This update is mostly about what it means to be a verified tutor on Tutorperch. We've added new ways for a parent to check a tutor's credentials, and a reference check every tutor now completes before a profile goes live. Around them sits a broad rework of the profile editor and the public profile page.
Qualification verification
A tutor adds a qualification in the profile editor and uploads the certificate. Our team checks it against the identity already verified at sign-up. There are two outcomes:
- Certificate checked. We matched the certificate to the tutor's verified identity. This tells a parent the document is genuine and belongs to the tutor. We don't confirm results with the awarding body.
- Qualified Teacher. A badge for tutors who hold Qualified Teacher Status. We accept QTS or equivalent from all UK nations. It isn't a live registration check, so it confirms the status was held rather than that the tutor is in a school classroom today.
Parents see the Qualified Teacher badge on profiles, on tutor cards in the directory, and on the homepage. There's a new filter on the find page to show only Qualified Teachers, for a parent who specifically wants one.
Any tutor with a teaching qualification and proof of QTS can submit one from the Credentials section of the profile editor.
Two references before a profile goes live
From this week, every tutor is asked for two references before their profile can be published.
You name two people who know you and aren't related to you. Each one gets a private email from us with a short form. It takes them a couple of minutes, there's no account to create, and what they write stays with our team. You don't see the reference yourself. We ask the referee how they know you and whether they consider you suitable to tutor, including tutoring people under 18. Identity verification tells us who a tutor is, and a safeguarding check covers what's on record. A reference adds the part neither of those can reach: the view of someone who has actually worked with the person.
If you're an existing tutor, your profile stays live for now. You have 30 days to add two references, and we'll remind you as the date gets closer. If they aren't in by then, your profile is hidden from search until you add them. It isn't deleted, nothing else about your account changes, and it comes back automatically the moment both references are confirmed.
To the tutors who joined before this change and now have a small task to do: apologies. The reasoning is the same as it was with display names and the Code of Conduct last month. A clear and consistent bar is fairer on the tutors who already clear it, and clearer for the parents reading down the directory.
You can invite your referees now from the Profile area of your dashboard.
A tidier public profile
A change parents will notice. On tutors who teach a lot of subjects, the profile page had grown long enough that the reviews were sinking below a wall of subject and pricing rows. A parent often had to scroll past everything a tutor offers to reach what other parents had said about them.
There is a table of contents at the top of the profile that parents can use to skip to different sections. In addition, subjects and pricing now fold up by default on those longer profiles, with the first couple shown and the rest a tap away. Reviews sit higher up as a result. Subjects also now appear in the order the tutor arranged them in their editor, so the qualification a tutor leads with is the one a parent sees first.
The profile editor, reworked
Every section saves as you go. There's no Save button to remember; a small "Saving" then "Saved" status appears as you type, the same pattern the bio editor has used for a while. Your public profile keeps showing its last published version while you work, and an "Edits pending" marker plus a "Publish changes" step make it clear when a change is still a draft and when it has gone live. The old editor left people unsure whether an edit had actually been published.
The subjects and rates editor has been rebuilt around a grid. Exam boards are ticked inline per row instead of through a separate dialog, group and one-to-one rates sit side by side, and adding a subject is a type-to-search box like the languages picker. The qualifications editor was rebuilt alongside it to carry the new Qualified Teacher upload. Underneath, the editor loads faster, and various bugs were fixed.
Trust badges on the homepage
The row of tutors on the homepage rotates daily and now carries the trust badges under each face: Qualified Teacher where it applies, and the safeguarding badge (DBS, PVG or AccessNI verified) where a tutor holds a current one. A parent gets the signal before clicking through rather than after.
Small things
- Identity checks are steadier. A tutor who started the identity check and stepped away partway through could end up stuck on a half-finished session. Returning now resumes it properly. Attempts are counted when a check actually finishes rather than when it begins, and the payment and identity hand-offs that a few browsers were quietly dropping now go through as ordinary form submissions.
- Guest unlocks ask for a name. A parent who pays to unlock a tutor without an account is now asked their name before landing in the conversation, closing a state where someone could be signed in with no name attached and become stuck.
- A scattering of mobile fixes across the profile and certificate screens, clearer icons, and arrows back on the homepage's find-a-tutor buttons.
If something's broken, missing or just awkward, get in touch. We read every message.
Robert & Fiona