Teaching insurance

If you are a UK business and you have any non-family members working for you then by law you must have employers' liability insurance.

Without it, you can be fined up to £2,500 for every day you're not insured^{^} .

If anyone becomes ill or injured because of your work you could be responsible for the associated costs, including expensive compensation claims. This is far from an unlikely scenario: an average 47,000 construction workers are injured each year.^{^}

Employers' liability insurance covers harm caused to employees, contractors, volunteers and anyone else doing any work for you. It's also a legal requirement.

This also included ex-employees. For example, if a worker falls off a set of ladders or electrocutes themselves and has issues years later they could sue their old employer for failing to put adequate health and safety measures in place.

Many people are wary about hiring private tutors who do not have comprehensive insurance policies in place, and some organisations have policies prohibiting them from hiring uninsured private teaching companies.

Government contracts, for example, will usually insist you have a public liability insurance policy of at least £5-£10 million.

Things can unexpectedly go very wrong when you are working with students. If, for example, a student gets injured or sick while you're teaching them, you could be responsible for the associated costs, including expensive compensation claims.

Public liability insurance covers harm to members of the public. It is not a legal requirement, but some clients will insist you have it, especially if you do teaching for commercial clients.

There are many ways you could accidentally cause damage to a client's property while teaching. From spilling a drink on a client's computer to your student tripping over one of your instruments or cables.

These things could end up causing expensive damage that owners may expect you to pay for.

With public liability insurance your insurance provider will pay the costs of accidental damage to other people's property, whether that's a client, supplier or member of the public.

Business contents insurance can help you recover the cost of losing company equipment to fire, flood, theft and other disasters.

You can be taken to court if a client or a member of the public believe they have been physically or financially harmed because of your company's business activities.

Tutoring businesses could be found liable for anything from teaching students incorrectly, to other forms of misconduct such as showing up late or being accused of bullying.

Public liability insurance can cover the legal fees and compensation payouts in the event of a claim.

If you’re a self-employed teacher, income protection can be a useful policy to have. It can provide cover if you’re unable to work, although there are usually restrictions so always read the terms and conditions carefully. 

You may need to take out extra insurance if you’re teaching in a different country. This could be provided for you, with your employer, or you may need to take out your own policy. If you already have insurance, check with your provider to see if you’re covered to teach in a different country. 

Lots of teachers have second jobs but you will need to check your employment contract to make sure this is permitted. You may also have to file a self-assessment tax return to pay tax on your extra income if you have a second job. 

Yes, teachers are generally allowed to tutor privately, but they should check their employment contract for any restrictions.

Yes, private tutoring typically counts as self-employment. When you provide tutoring services independently, either directly or through a company, you are generally considered a self-employed person or freelancer. 

Yes, you can work without business insurance if it's just you teaching as an individual and you have no employees. However, if you employ staff, having employers' liability insurance becomes a legal requirement.