Tutor Privacy Notice
How Sophwick uses personal information about tutors, from the application onwards.
Version 2026-10-29.4717a5d0, dated 29 October 2026.
This notice explains how Sophwick uses information about people who apply to tutor with us and the tutors we approve. It replaces the draft Tutor Applicant Privacy Notice at /privacy/tutor-applicants.
1. Who we are and what this notice covers
Sophwick is a trading name of Veritas Gaming Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 14942374). We are the controller of the information described here, and we are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (registration number ZC252945). Contact us at hello@sophwick.com or on +44 7360 680831.
This notice covers you from the moment you apply to tutor with Sophwick, through the checks, and for as long as you tutor with us. You are an independent, self-employed tutor; this notice is not an employee privacy notice.
2. What we collect
| Information | When | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Name, email address, password (stored scrambled), whether you hold Qualified Teacher Status, subjects and key stages | When you apply | You |
| Your declarations: self-employed status, privacy notice, Tutor Agreement version and when you accepted them | When you apply | You |
| Profile: headline, bio, availability, the subjects you add or remove | During the checks and after | You |
| Enhanced DBS: a copy of the certificate, its number, issue date and whether you are on the Update Service; the result of each re-check | During the checks, then at least yearly | You, and the DBS Update Service online check |
| Date of birth | During the checks | You. We use it only to run DBS Update Service checks |
| Identity and right to work: a copy of your document, and the date we checked it | During the checks | You |
| Qualifications: copies of the documents | During the checks | You |
| References: your referees' names and contact details, and what they tell us | During the checks | You and your referees |
| Interview date, outcome and Sophwick's notes | During the checks | Sophwick |
| Your tutor type, your rate and its history, your completed hours | Once approved | You and the portal |
| Lessons, progress reports, cancellations, no-shows, disputes and their notes | Once approved | You, families and the portal |
| Your reliability record and any events Sophwick has excused | Once approved | The portal and Sophwick |
| Requests to end a pairing, and the reasons | Once approved | You |
| Statements, your share of each lesson and where it is (held, sent or paid), the transfers to your Stripe account, and whether that account can receive payments. Your identity and bank details for it are collected and held by Stripe, not Sophwick | Once approved | Sophwick and Stripe |
| Messages and files with families (from messaging launch) | Once approved | You and families |
| Sign-in records, security logs and a record of actions in the portal | Always | The portal |
3. Why we use it, and our lawful bases
| What we use it for | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Assessing your application and deciding whether to approve you | Steps you asked us to take before entering the Tutor Agreement; legitimate interest in safeguarding children |
| DBS, identity, right to work, qualification and reference checks | Legitimate interest in safeguarding children; legal obligation where the law requires a check |
| Recommending you to families, arranging lessons, collecting and paying your rate | Contract (the Tutor Agreement) |
| Your reliability record and the ranking used to recommend tutors | Contract; legitimate interest in a fair, reliable service |
| Acting on safeguarding concerns, suspending tutors, referring to the LADO or the DBS | Legal obligation; legitimate interest in safeguarding children |
| Security, the audit record, complaints and your data protection rights | Legal obligation; legitimate interest |
Criminal records information. Information from your DBS certificate is criminal offence data. We process it only to decide whether you are safe to work with children, and only under the Data Protection Act 2018 condition for safeguarding children and individuals at risk, as set out in our Appropriate Policy Document. Only Sophwick's Designated Safeguarding Lead sees it. Families never do.
We do not ask for special category information about you, such as health or ethnicity. If you share some, for example when telling us you were ill and missed a lesson, we use it only for that purpose and keep it to admin only.
4. Who can see what
| Information | Families you teach | Sophwick |
|---|---|---|
| Your first name, headline, bio and qualifications line | Yes, once you are proposed to them. Your headline and bio are hidden while you cannot take bookings | Yes |
| Your surname, email, phone and address | No | Yes |
| Your rate and Sophwick's fee | No (they see one all-in price) | Yes |
| Lessons, progress reports, your no-show notes and cancellation reasons you write | Yes, for their own lessons | Yes |
| DBS, identity, right to work, references and interview notes | No | Yes, the Designated Safeguarding Lead only |
| Your reliability record | No | Yes, and you see your own counts |
| Your reasons for asking to end a pairing, and Sophwick's notes about you | No | Yes |
| Why you are not taking bookings (for example a suspension) | No. They see only that you are not taking bookings | Yes |
Families never see your contact details, and you never see theirs. We do not share your information with other tutors.
5. How we recommend tutors, and your reliability record
The portal ranks approved tutors for each family using the main factors in clause 7.4 of the Tutor Agreement: fit, availability, hours delivered, reliability and family feedback, with extra weight for new tutors. A person at Sophwick always makes the recommendation. No decision about you is made by a computer alone.
Your reliability record counts late cancellations, missed lessons and late starts over the last 90 days. You can see your own counts and the dated list in the portal, but not the score. If an event was caused by illness or an emergency, tell us: we can mark it as excused, which keeps it on the list but stops it counting. Anything you tell us about your health for this is seen only by Sophwick.
Tutors whose DBS check is not current, or who are suspended, are left out of recommendations automatically, because it would not be safe to offer them.
6. Companies that help us, and transfers
We do not sell your information. These companies process it for us under contracts that require them to keep it secure:
| Company | What they do for us | Where the data is held |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Database, sign-in and private storage for your documents | London, UK |
| Vercel | Hosts the website and portal | UK and EU servers; Vercel is a US company |
| Resend | Sends portal emails | US company |
| Namecheap (Private Email) | Our hello@sophwick.com mailbox | EU |
| Stripe | Runs your Stripe Express account: verifies your identity, holds your bank details and pays your share to your bank once a week; Sophwick never holds your bank details | UK, EU and US; Stripe is a US company |
We check your DBS status through the government's DBS Update Service. We may share information with the police, the Local Authority Designated Officer, children's services or the DBS where safeguarding law requires it, and with HMRC or our accountant where tax law requires it. Microsoft provides Teams under its own terms when you host lessons on your own account.
7. How long we keep it
These periods are drafts until our solicitor confirms them.
| Information | How long | Then |
|---|---|---|
| Copies of your DBS certificate and identity document | No more than 6 months after we decide on your application | The file is deleted; the record of the check stays |
| The record of your checks (DBS number, dates, re-checks, right to work date) | While you tutor with us, then 6 years | Deleted |
| Qualification copies and references | While you tutor with us, then 6 months | Deleted |
| An unsuccessful application | 6 months after the decision | Account and files deleted |
| Your profile, rate history and reliability record | While you tutor with us, then 12 months | Deleted |
| Lessons, reports, statements and payments | 6 years after the lesson or payment, as tax law requires | Deleted |
| Safeguarding records and allegations | As long as safeguarding law and guidance require | Reviewed, then deleted |
| Sophwick's audit record | 6 years | Deleted |
8. Your rights, changes and complaints
You have the right to get a copy of your information, have it corrected, have it deleted where we no longer need it, restrict or object to how we use it, and receive information you gave us in a reusable format. Email hello@sophwick.com; we reply within one month, free of charge. Some information we must keep, such as the record of your DBS check while you tutor with us, payment records for tax, and safeguarding records.
If we change this notice in a way that matters, we will tell you in the portal before the change applies. This version takes effect on 29/10/2026.
If you are unhappy with how we use your information, tell us first. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.