Platform Contract

1. Who we are and how to contact us

We are AP Tutoring Limited trading as Sunbeam Education, a limited company (registration number 14617626). We operate online throughout the UK. For information on the best way to contact us, see https://sunbeameducation.com/contact/. You can also email us at info@sunbeameducation.com.

2. When these terms apply

These terms apply to tutors on our online platform, accessible via https://app.sunbeameducation.com/, and our website, https://sunbeameducation.com (together, the Sunbeam Education platform). For previous versions of these terms (and the policies referred to in them) as well as the dates they applied, see our Platform Contracts Changelog.

Terms which appear in bold have specific meanings. For a full list of such terms, see 15 (Defined terms).

These terms cover the following matters:

Becoming a tutor on the Sunbeam Education platform

  • How to apply and our agreement with you
  • The policies which form part of these terms
  • Your warranties about the information you give
  • Our rights to verify the information you give us and your compliance with these terms
  • Our communications with each other
  • Your communications with customers
  • Your use of our systems
  • Creating your tutor profile and listing services on the Sunbeam Education platform
  • Pricing your services (including VAT)
  • How we rank tutors in search results
  • Updating your availability
  • What happens when we invite you to join marketplace promotions
  • We use other channels to market your services
  • Platform availability

Dealing with customer bookings, refunds and complaints

  • What we do when a customer books a session with you
  • What you must do when we tell you about a booking
  • Dealing with customer questions about bookings
  • Dealing with customer cancellations
  • How you must handle customer complaints
  • How customer reviews are collected and displayed
  • Access to and use of data generated through use of the Sunbeam Education platform

Payments

  • How customer payments work
  • How you are paid
  • When you must pay our invoices
  • Interest on late payments
  • How customers are refunded
  • No set-off 
  • Bookings from outside the United Kingdom

Using each other’s branding and other intellectual property rights

  • Your use of our branding
  • Our use of your branding and other intellectual property rights

Suspension of listings, ending this agreement and disputes

  • When we’ll suspend your listings or end this agreement
  • How to complain if you’re not happy with our services including any decisions we’ve taken
  • You or we can request mediation of disputes
  • How you can end this agreement
  • Your obligations after this agreement ends
  • Our obligations after this agreement ends

Limitations on liability

  • Meaning of liability in these terms
  • Liabilities neither you nor we limit or exclude
  • Types of loss you and we exclude liability for
  • Cap on our liability to you

Claims and actions against us in connection with you or your services

  • Dealing with claims against us
  • Compensation for claims against us

Insurance

  • You must have insurance and pass our safety checks

Compliance with the law and our mandatory policies

  • You must comply with the law and our mandatory policies

Data protection obligations

  • How we treat your personal data
  • Your data protection obligations

Changes to these terms and our policies

  • How we make changes to these terms
  • What you can do if you’re unhappy about changes we’ve made

Other important terms

  • Governing law and jurisdiction
  • Assignment of debt
  • Impact of events beyond your or our reasonable control (force majeure)
  • We can transfer our rights and obligations under this agreement
  • What happens if you want to transfer your rights and obligations under this agreement (including by using subcontractors)
  • How we and you must protect each other’s confidential information
  • Neither we nor you are bound by anything said but not included in this agreement
  • Informal changes to this agreement aren’t valid
  • You and we can only waive our rights under this agreement in writing
  • Invalidity of part of this agreement doesn’t affect the rest of it
  • Only you and we have rights under this agreement

Defined terms

  • Terms in bold have the following meanings

Policies

  • Prohibited services policy
  • Refunds policy

3. Becoming a tutor on the Sunbeam Education platform

How to apply and our agreement with you

You can apply to become a tutor on our online platform here. During the application process:

  • Insofar as you have access to our systems you agree to comply with all relevant restrictions in your use of our systems.
  • The provisions in 14 (Other important terms) shall apply to any disputes concerning your application.
  • You must be at least 18 years old to use the platform.

After we approve your application, we’ll ask you to accept these terms in the tutor interface. The agreement between you and us, governed by all of these terms, comes into force when you do so.

The policies which form part of these terms

The policies set out below, which you and we must comply with, form part of these terms and our agreement with you. See 13 (Changes to these terms and our policies) for how and when we tell you about changes and how you can end this agreement if you’re not happy with a change. The policies are:

Your warranties about the information you give

You represent, warrant and agree that:

  • You are, and will remain, established in the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland).
  • The information you provide to us in connection with your application to become a tutor on the Sunbeam Education platform is complete and accurate and you’ll promptly notify us of any changes to it and keep the tutor profile you create on our tutor interface up to date.
  • Any documents you submit to us to support your application or in response to any request from us at any time are either genuine documents or true copies of genuine documents.
  • There are no legal restrictions preventing you from entering into this agreement.
  • We only make available the platform and we are not a party to any agreement entered into between you and your customers, and we have no control over the conduct of your customers and any other users of the platform.
  • You are solely responsible for determining which customers to accept and the type, timing, manner, means, methods and processes of providing your services. You are not our employee and are not entitled to any employment benefits. We do not supervise, direct, or control any of the services you offer. We do not set your work hours, your schedule or your location. We do not provide you with training, equipment or tools or any materials to provide your services.
  • You are appropriately qualified and have any required skills, knowledge, training and experience to provide the services listed on the Sunbeam Education platform.
  • You hold and will maintain all licences, permits and professional qualifications required by law or any relevant professional body to provide your services.
  • You will promptly notify us if any of your qualifications, licences or permits expire, are revoked or are otherwise no longer valid.

Our rights to verify the information you give us and your compliance with these terms 

We may at our option at any time require you to promptly provide us with reasonable evidence that any information you’ve given us is true and up to date and that such information and your behaviour is in compliance with these terms. Such information includes (but is not limited to) information in connection with your application to become a tutor on the Sunbeam Education platform, in your tutor profile and in the listings for your services. We can suspend or restrict individual listings until you’ve supplied this evidence and end this agreement if you don’t comply with this requirement. See 7 (Suspension of listings, ending this agreement and disputes).

We check the documents you give us, such as your DBS certificate, insurance documents and safeguarding training certificate, when you apply and from time to time afterwards. We may use automated tools to help with these checks, but a member of our team makes the final decision on your application. If you think a check has reached the wrong result, please contact us and we will review it.

You permit and instruct us to collect information about you and in connection with your performance of this agreement (including without limitation the services you list on the Sunbeam Education platform) and disclose it to tax or other governmental or regulatory authorities as required by law or for compliance with our legal obligations.

Our communications with each other

When you register to become a tutor we’ll give you access to our tutor interface. We’ll tell you about customer bookings, cancellations and complaints, and other things about our service, by email and in the tutor interface, and about changes to these terms and our policies by email. Customers’ questions reach you through the messages in the tutor interface. We may also contact you by telephone or other methods.

You can contact us at info@sunbeameducation.com or through our contact form at https://sunbeameducation.com/contact/. To make a complaint, follow our Tutor Complaints Policy (see How to complain if you’re not happy with our services including any decisions we’ve taken).

Your communications with customers

You must always use the tutor interface to communicate with customers who have booked with you through the Sunbeam Education platform or enquired about your services through the Sunbeam Education platform. Where this is not possible (for example, where a customer who booked through the Sunbeam Education platform calls you directly), you should send the customer a short message in the tutor interface summarising what was discussed. This helps us to keep a full record of all communications in relation to any transaction, in case there are any disputes.

Until a customer has had a session with you through the Sunbeam Education platform, our system automatically hides phone numbers, email addresses, links and social media names in your messages with them. Our team may read messages when we look into a concern, complaint or suspected misuse.

If a customer contacts you about your services through the Sunbeam Education platform you mustn’t in any way ask or encourage the customer to book those services (or repeat bookings for those or similar services) either directly from you or from another source.

You must not directly or indirectly, for the term of the agreement:

  • solicit or encourage any student or customer to use your services outside of the Sunbeam Education platform;
  • solicit or encourage any tutor registered on the Sunbeam Education platform to leave the platform or provide services in competition with it; and
  • use any data or information obtained through your use of the Sunbeam Education platform to solicit or approach any student, customer or tutor.

You acknowledge that the terms of this clause are reasonable given the nature of our business and platform, and are necessary to protect our legitimate business interests and do not unreasonably restrict your right to carry on your profession or trade. You acknowledge that we may seek legal remedies (including equitable remedies) for a breach of this clause.

Your use of our systems

You may only use our tutor interface and the other computer systems that support, operate and comprise the Sunbeam Education platform (our systems) for listing and selling your services and communicating with us and your customers as envisaged in these terms.

You agree to use all reasonable security practices to prevent unauthorised access or damage to our systems. These practices include but are not limited to:

  • Making sure any devices you use to access our systems have up to date anti-virus protection and not introducing any viruses into our systems.
  • Ensuring that your log-in details and passwords for our systems:
    • Are used only by you and are not shared with anyone else.
    • Are changed no less frequently than every 6 months, or as prompted by our systems (whichever occurs soonest).
  • Telling us immediately if you think that log-in details or passwords are being or may be used in an unauthorised way or that the security of our systems has been compromised in any other way.

Except as permitted by any applicable law which you and we can’t agree to exclude, you mustn’t:

  • Attempt to copy, modify, duplicate, create derivative works from, frame, mirror, republish, download, display, transmit, or distribute all or any portion of our systems in any form or media or by any means.
  • Attempt to de-compile, reverse compile, disassemble, reverse engineer or otherwise reduce to human-perceivable form all or any part of our systems.
  • Access all or any part of our systems to build a product or service which competes with them.
  • Use our systems to provide services to third parties or allow or assist third parties to access our systems.
  • Create multiple accounts to evade punishment or avoid restrictions.

Creating your tutor profile and listing services on the Sunbeam Education platform

You must create a tutor profile on the Sunbeam Education platform. Once you’ve done this you can create listings to sell your services on the Sunbeam Education platform through our tutor interface. You represent and warrant that you’ll:

  • Only create listings for services of the types approved by us in writing and that do not violate our prohibited services policy.
  • Deliver the services with all due care and skill.
  • Include in your listings, or where appropriate your tutor profile, all the information about you and your services and how you’ll deliver the services that is needed to comply with consumer protection law. You’re responsible for making sure you comply with the law.

See also our rights to verify the information you give us and your compliance with these terms.

You must ensure that your tutor profile and the listings for your services:

  • Comply with our acceptable use policy https://sunbeameducation.com/acceptable-use-policy, which bans things such as obscenity and defamation.
  • Only feature high quality images and descriptions, which you have all the necessary intellectual property and other rights to use in this way on the Sunbeam Education platform and to license to us as set out in Our use of your branding and other intellectual property rights.
  • Are in the English language and be clear and comprehensible.
  • Don’t include anything which would encourage or allow customers to contact you other than through the tutor interface, such as email or social media contact details, website addresses or other links. We reserve the right to remove such information.
  • Don’t use any search engine optimisation techniques which breach search engines’ guidelines or involve deception, including but not limited to keyword stuffing.

Pricing your services (including VAT)

By offering your services via the Sunbeam Education platform, you authorise Sunbeam to display and process bookings for your services at the prices shown on our pricing page.

The prices shown to customers are the prices at which you offer your tutoring services through the platform and are inclusive of any VAT or other taxes that you are required to charge.

Paid sessions booked through the Sunbeam Education platform (One-Off, Subscription and Course sessions) last 50 minutes. A double One-Off session is two sessions back to back and lasts 100 minutes. Each customer can also book one free 20-minute introductory session with you, which always takes place online. You are not paid for introductory sessions.

How we rank tutors in search results

When customers search for tutors on our website, we only show tutors who match the filters they choose: subject, specialisation, the level the learner is working at, online or in person, price and, for in-person sessions, whether the customer is within your travel area. Matching tutors are then shown in the order the customer chooses:

  • “Best tutors” (the default order): tutors are ranked by a score based on their average review rating, the number of their published reviews, and the training and qualifications they told us about. A higher average review rating, and more or higher-level training and qualifications, give a higher score.
  • “Review rating”: tutors are ranked by their average review rating, rounded to the nearest whole star, and then by the number of their published reviews.

On the map view, when a customer searches for a place, tutors near that place are listed nearest first. You can’t pay us to improve your ranking. Keeping your subjects, specialisations, levels and travel area up to date helps the right customers find you.

Updating your availability

You are responsible for keeping your availability in the tutor interface up to date and accurate, including adding events for any times you are busy. If you connect your Google Calendar, we add your Sunbeam Education sessions to it, but we don’t read your calendar, so busy times in it don’t block bookings on the platform. You are responsible for the delivery of your services and for doing so in a timely manner.

What happens when we invite you to join marketplace promotions

We may invite you to participate in promotions on the Sunbeam Education platform, for example, by offering discounts or waiving the travel fee. We’ll tell you the terms of any such promotion by email, and if you choose to take part you agree to those terms.

We use other channels to market your services

We may use other channels, such as online advertising and social media, to market the Sunbeam Education platform and the services offered on it. We only feature you personally on our social media if you have ticked the box about social media promotion when you applied or in your tutor profile. If you have, we may share your profile picture, first name, a summary of your biography and reviews of your services (showing the reviewer’s first name only) on our social media, such as Meta. You can change your choice at any time in your tutor profile or by contacting us, and we’ll then stop using your profile in new social media posts. To learn more about the personal data we use for marketing, see our privacy policy https://sunbeameducation.com/privacy-policy.

Platform availability

We aim to make the tutor interface available to you and the Sunbeam Education platform available to customers on a 24/7 basis. We reserve the right to take some or all of our systems offline as reasonably required for routine and emergency maintenance or repairs. We’ll give you as much notice of such downtime as is reasonably possible. All communications using the internet may be affected by events outside our reasonable control (see Impact of events beyond your or our reasonable control (force majeure)).

4. Dealing with customer bookings, refunds and complaints

What we do when a customer books a session with you 

Customers booking services from the Sunbeam Education platform must tick a box at checkout to confirm that they have read and agree to our Terms of Service https://sunbeameducation.com/terms-of-service/ and our standard Tutoring Services Contract Terms https://sunbeameducation.com/tutoring-services-contract-terms/. Both are linked to from the checkout page.

When a customer books one of your services via the Sunbeam Education platform, we, acting as your agent in your name and on your behalf:

  • Accept the booking for you as soon as the customer’s payment card has been set up at checkout (or, for a free introductory session, as soon as the customer books it), and send the customer a booking confirmation email in our standard format. This forms a direct contract for you to supply your services to the customer on our standard Tutoring Services Contract Terms. That contract is between you and the customer. We provide the platform and act as your agent as set out in these terms.
  • Tell you about the booking by email. You can also see it in the tutor interface.
  • For a Subscription, book further sessions automatically, on a rolling basis up to about 14 weeks ahead, on the days and at the times the customer chose, until the Subscription ends or is cancelled. If you aren’t available for one of these sessions, we tell you and the customer, and the session is cancelled automatically if the clash isn’t resolved more than 24 hours before it starts.
  • Place a hold on the customer’s payment card up to 72 hours before each paid session and take the payment about 23 hours before the session starts. If the hold or payment fails, we ask the customer to pay and try their card again. If a session is still unpaid about 22 hours before it starts, we cancel it and you aren’t paid for it. If this happens to 3 sessions in a row in the same Subscription or Course, we cancel the rest of that Subscription or Course.

Our booking confirmation email doesn’t show VAT and we don’t issue VAT invoices or receipts on your behalf. If you are registered for VAT, you are responsible for deciding whether VAT applies to your sessions and for giving customers any VAT invoice they are entitled to. Contact us at info@sunbeameducation.com and we’ll give you the booking details you need.

What you must do when we tell you about a booking

When we tell you about a booking you must:

  • If you can’t deliver a booked session, cancel it in the tutor interface as soon as possible. We’ll tell the customer, and they won’t pay for the session or, if they have already paid, will be refunded in full (see 17 (Refunds policy)).
  • If you need to move a session, reschedule it in the tutor interface as early as you can. We’ll tell the customer. If the new time doesn’t suit them, they can ask us to cancel the session and they will be refunded in full.
  • In all other cases, deliver the service to the customer in a timely manner.
  • Comply in full with our standard Tutoring Services Contract Terms https://sunbeameducation.com/tutoring-services-contract-terms.

Dealing with customer questions about bookings

You must deal promptly and professionally with any customer questions about bookings using the tutor interface. You must liaise with us if the question relates to any part of the process we’re involved in. You and we will co-operate with each other in trying to resolve any such questions. All your interactions with customers must comply with the customer care policy https://sunbeameducation.com/customer-care-policy. See also How you must handle customer complaints.

Dealing with customer cancellations

We’ll tell you by email if a customer cancels a booking. Customers cancel sessions in their online account. During their 14-day cancellation period, they can also cancel by telling us in any clear way, for example through our contact form, by email or by post. If a customer contacts you directly to cancel, ask them to cancel in their online account, or tell us straight away at info@sunbeameducation.com and we’ll deal with it. You must comply with 17 (Refunds policy), and refunds are made as described in How customers are refunded.

How you must handle customer complaints

We’ll tell you if a customer complains to us about you or one of your services, including any complaints that services have not been delivered, and provide you with all relevant details about the complaint.

You must deal with complaints we tell you about, and any complaints you receive directly from customers, in a way that complies with consumer law. You must also comply with our customer care policy https://sunbeameducation.com/customer-care-policy when dealing with customer complaints.

If a customer asks for a dispute with you to be mediated, you must take part in the mediation in good faith, as set out in our customer care policy https://sunbeameducation.com/customer-care-policy/.

You must keep detailed records of how you’ve dealt with customer complaints and share them with us if requested.

If, in relation to any dispute with a customer, you don’t engage in dispute resolution, as required by these terms and in good faith, then we may refund and/or compensate the customer on your behalf. We can also do this if you don’t abide by any commitment you’ve made during dispute resolution, any settlement reached through mediation or any ruling made by a court or other competent authority. Refunds will be handled as set out in How customers are refunded. You must reimburse us for payments made in compensation, see When you must pay our invoices.

See also 9 (Claims and actions against us in connection with you or your services).

How customer reviews are collected and displayed

We and you agree to use our best efforts to make sure that reviews on the Sunbeam Education platform are genuine: that each one comes from a customer who has had sessions with you through the Sunbeam Education platform, or from a genuine former student (or their parent or carer) whom you taught outside the platform, and that no review is posted by anyone connected with you (such as friends, family or colleagues) or by anyone who has been offered anything, or otherwise encouraged, to post a favourable review.

We invite customers by email to review your services after their 5th session with you, and send one reminder 7 days later. Customers can also review you from their online account once they have had a session with you. Published reviews appear on your public profile with the name the reviewer gives, their star rating, the review and its date.

You can also use the tutor interface to invite a genuine former student (or their parent or carer) whom you taught outside the Sunbeam Education platform to review you. We email the review link to the address you give us. Our team checks each of these reviews before it is published.

You mustn’t ask anyone who isn’t a genuine current or former student of yours (or their parent or carer) to review you, including friends, family and colleagues, and you mustn’t write reviews of your own services or offer anything in return for a review. Apart from the invitations described above, you mustn’t directly or indirectly contact customers (whether through the tutor interface or using any other contact details you have for customers) either to encourage them to submit any review or a favourable review or to change or withdraw a review. You must not encourage customers to submit reviews of services they have purchased on the Sunbeam Education platform anywhere other than on the Sunbeam Education platform.

Access to and use of data generated through use of the Sunbeam Education platform 

Your own and your customers’ use of the Sunbeam Education platform will generate data (including personal data), about tutoring sessions, customer queries, ratings and reviews for your services and other matters. We process your customer’s personal data, and you, as a tutor, process customer personal data (for example, the customer’s name and email address), as separate and independent controllers. This means both we and you are responsible for the personal data of customers that we each process. While this agreement is in force, you can see in the tutor interface the data you need to deliver your sessions: the details of your bookings, your messages with customers, the information customers give when booking you (including, where the customer has given their explicit consent, information about the learner’s needs and health) and the reviews of your services. Further information about how we process personal data relating to tutors is set out in our privacy policy https://sunbeameducation.com/privacy-policy/. This also describes your data protection rights including rights to object to certain types of processing activity.

We don’t give other tutors access to data about your bookings, customers or messages, and we don’t give you access to data about other tutors’ customers. We use data generated on the platform, including in aggregated form, to run, improve and market the Sunbeam Education platform, and we share it with third parties only as described in our privacy policy.

5. Payments 

How customer payments work

Customers pay for your sessions directly into the Stripe account you connect in the tutor interface. We never receive or hold customer payments for you. Our commission and any VAT on it are deducted from each payment as our application fee, at the same time as the payment is taken. We pay Stripe’s card processing fees on these payments, so they aren’t deducted from your share.

We don’t deduct anything else from customer payments. Any other fees (and any VAT applicable to them) or other sums you owe us, including sums owed to us in connection with any third party claim under Compensation for claims against us, are payable as set out in When you must pay our invoices.

We charge customers in pounds sterling, and payments are made to your Stripe account in pounds sterling.

Our commission is the difference between the price the customer pays for a session, as shown on our pricing page https://sunbeameducation.com/prices/, and the rate for your tutoring level. For in-person sessions, you receive £10 of the £15 travel fee. Any discount we give customers, for example on Subscriptions and Courses, comes out of our commission and doesn’t reduce your rate.

You must account to HMRC for any VAT due on UK sales of your services on the Sunbeam Education platform and fully comply with your tax obligations in connection with the use of our services and the offer and sale of your services on the Sunbeam Education platform including the collection, reporting, filing and payment of any and all applicable taxes (such as VAT) and other governmental assessments.

You appoint us as your limited agent to take payments from customers for your services, and to make refunds to them, through your Stripe account in accordance with these terms.

How you are paid 

Stripe pays the balance of each customer payment (after our commission) into your bank account in line with your Stripe payout schedule.

When you must pay our invoices

We don’t invoice you for our commission, because it is deducted from each customer payment. We may invoice you for other sums you owe us under these terms, such as refunds we have paid to customers for you (see How customers are refunded), compensation we have paid to customers on your behalf (see How you must handle customer complaints) and sums due under 9 (Claims and actions against us in connection with you or your services). You must pay any invoice we send you within 30 days of receipt.

Interest on late payments

If either of us fails to make a payment due to the other under these terms by the due date, then, without limiting the other party’s remedies, the defaulting party shall pay interest on the overdue sum from the due date until payment of the overdue sum, whether before or after judgment. Interest under this clause will accrue each day at 4% a year above the Bank of England’s base rate from time to time, but at 4% a year for any period when that base rate is below 0%.

How customers are refunded

Refunds are paid from your Stripe account. When a refund is due under 17 (Refunds policy) or under a customer’s legal right to cancel, or when you ask us to refund a customer, we issue it on your behalf through your Stripe account, to the payment method the customer used. Our commission on that payment is refunded to you with it, in proportion to the amount refunded. Most of these refunds are made automatically when a session is cancelled. Others, such as a refund because you were late or didn’t turn up, we make when the customer tells us.

If a customer has the right to cancel a booking during their 14-day cancellation period under The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, you agree to facilitate the cancellation and any refund in accordance with those regulations (see 17 (Refunds policy)).

We are not obliged to refund more than the customer paid. If a refund can’t be fully made from your Stripe account (for example because your balance is too low), Stripe may recover the shortfall from you under your Stripe account terms, or we may pay the refund to the customer ourselves. If we pay it ourselves, you must repay us the part of it that was paid to you, that is the refund less our commission on it. See When you must pay our invoices.

We don’t charge you commission on sums paid by customers and refunded to them.

No set-off

Apart from our commission being deducted from each customer payment (see How customer payments work), you and we shall each pay all amounts due under this agreement in full without any set-off, counterclaim, deduction or withholding (other than any deduction or withholding of tax as required by law).

Bookings from outside the United Kingdom

The Sunbeam Education platform only displays information to customers in the English language, only accepts payment in pounds sterling and in-person sessions are only delivered within the United Kingdom, and we make this clear to customers. Despite our taking these steps, customers from outside the United Kingdom may succeed in booking your services from the Sunbeam Education platform. Customers from outside the United Kingdom may have rights under their local laws which apply as well as or instead of their rights under UK law and our standard terms for consumers. If you don’t wish to accept such bookings, you can cancel them as described in What you must do when we tell you about a booking.

6. Using each other’s branding and other intellectual property rights

Your use of our branding

You may publicise your listings on the Sunbeam Education platform outside the Sunbeam Education platform, for example, on social media. In doing so you must take care not to in any way suggest that you or your listings are endorsed, controlled or created by the Sunbeam Education platform. You can share the URLs for your listings and tutor pages and state that your services can be bought on the Sunbeam Education platform. However, you can’t use the Sunbeam Education platform stylised name or logos either on their own or in combination with another word or use the Sunbeam Education platform name in your social media profile name or photo. You also can’t create content with the same look or feel as that of the Sunbeam Education platform.

As soon as reasonably possible after this agreement ends, you must remove any content that suggests you sell on the Sunbeam Education platform from any places you control and use your best efforts to remove such content from any places owned by any third parties.

Our use of your branding and other intellectual property rights

You grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, reproduce, display and publish any content, data or information (including your profile picture and listings) you provide to us in connection with you and your services (your materials) for the purposes of listing and selling your services on the Sunbeam Education platform and through the channels described in We use other channels to market your services, and operating, improving and marketing the Sunbeam Education platform (featuring you personally on our social media only if you have ticked the box about social media promotion when you applied or in your tutor profile).

7. Suspension of listings, ending this agreement and disputes

When we’ll suspend your listings or end this agreement 

We can suspend or restrict any individual listing you make on the Sunbeam Education platform if we become aware, or have reason to believe, that what you’ve told us about yourself or your services, or said about yourself or your services in the listing for it is not true or up to date or that the listing doesn’t comply with these terms, including our policies (see The policies which form part of these terms) or is otherwise unlawful.

We can end this agreement and your rights to use the Sunbeam Education platform for any of the following reasons:

  • You’ve not complied with these terms, including the policies referred to in them and your non-compliance is more than trivial or is repeated.
  • You’ve not paid one of our invoices by the due date (see When you must pay our invoices).
  • You’ve become insolvent or you suspend, threaten to suspend, cease or threaten to cease to carry on all or a substantial part of your business or your financial position deteriorates to such an extent that we think your ability to fulfil your obligations under this agreement is at risk.
  • We reasonably consider that our continuing to provide services to you could expose the Sunbeam Education platform to disrepute, contempt, scandal or ridicule, or would tend to shock, insult or offend the public or reflect unfavourably on the Sunbeam Education platform’s reputation or the other tutors selling on the Sunbeam Education platform.
  • We decide to stop providing the Sunbeam Education platform or to stop selling your type of services on the Sunbeam Education platform.
  • We reasonably determine, or receive information or notice from HMRC, that you are not meeting your tax obligations.

We’ll give you at least 30 days’ notice that we are ending this agreement unless:

  • Our legal, tax or regulatory obligations require us to end this agreement without such notice.
  • It’s imperative for us to end this agreement either immediately or on shorter notice. For example, we may end this agreement with immediate effect if you become insolvent or we reasonably suspect you of fraud or of using the Sunbeam Education platform to spam others.
  • You’ve repeatedly broken this agreement.

If we’re suspending or restricting an individual listing or ending this agreement, we’ll normally give you a written statement of the specific facts or circumstances which led to our decision and which of these terms we consider you’ve broken. If we’re acting in response to a notification from someone else, we’ll also share the contents of that notification with you. However, we won’t give you such a statement if:

  • We’re subject to a legal, tax or regulatory obligation not to provide the specific facts or circumstances or to set out our reasons.
  • We’re ending this agreement because you’ve repeatedly broken it.

We’ll send our statement to you via email or another durable medium. Where we’re suspending or restricting an individual listing, we’ll send the statement before or at the time of the suspension or restriction. If we’re ending this agreement, we’ll send the statement at the same time that we give notice that we are ending this agreement.

See also Your obligations after this agreement ends and Our obligations after this agreement ends.

How to complain if you’re not happy with our services including any decisions we’ve taken

If you want to complain about our services or the way we’ve treated you, including because you disagree with us refunding or compensating a customer, restricting or suspending a listing for your services, cancelling your bookings or ending this agreement, please contact us and follow the Tutor Complaints Policy https://sunbeameducation.com/tutor-complaints-policy.

If we tell you about a decision by email (for example a decision to suspend your listings, to reject a document you have given us, or to cancel your sessions after a DBS status check), you can reply to that email or write to info@sunbeameducation.com and a member of our team will review the decision.

You and we agree to try our best to resolve all complaints by following the steps set out in our tutor complaints policy https://sunbeameducation.com/tutor-complaints-policy. If we can’t resolve your complaint in this way, either of us can request mediation (see You or we can request mediation of disputes). In addition, we are both able to bring legal action at any time (see Governing law and jurisdiction).

You or we can request mediation of disputes 

Either you or we can request that any dispute between us be referred to our preferred independent mediator, the TCM Group (https://thetcmgroup.com/). Any such requests should be sent to us at info@sunbeameducation.com. Both you and we must act in good faith when considering any requests for mediation and engaging in any mediation.

We may refuse mediation of a dispute which has previously been mediated if the mediator determined you weren’t acting in good faith in that mediation. We may also refuse mediation of any dispute connected to other disputes in which a mediator has repeatedly found in our favour.

We’ll bear a reasonable proportion of the total costs of any mediation, taking into account all relevant elements of the dispute, as determined by the mediator.

How you can end this agreement

You may stop using the Sunbeam Education platform at any time. To end this agreement, request account deletion in the security settings of your tutor account. You can do this once you have no upcoming sessions or active Subscriptions, so complete or cancel these first (customers are refunded in full for any session you cancel). If you need help, contact us at info@sunbeameducation.com. This agreement ends when you request deletion. Your profile is then removed from the platform straight away, and we tell customers you have taught in the last 90 days that you have left. We also close the Stripe account you connected through the tutor interface once any balance on it has been paid out, so download any records you need from Stripe first.

Your obligations after this agreement ends

After this agreement ends (for whatever reason) you must (unless we tell you otherwise):

  • Continue to comply with these terms for sessions booked through the Sunbeam Education platform before this agreement ended, including dealing with complaints and refunds about them. You need only comply with the version of these terms which applied when this agreement ended.

Our obligations after this agreement ends

After this agreement ends (for whatever reason) we:

  • May remove your tutor profile from the Sunbeam Education platform, if it hasn’t already been removed, and cancel any of your upcoming sessions. Customers are refunded in full for any session we cancel.
  • Will continue to comply with these terms for sessions booked through the Sunbeam Education platform before this agreement ended. We’ll comply with the version of these terms which applied when this agreement ended.
  • Will no longer give you access to the tutor interface, so please keep a copy of anything you need before you request account deletion. You can still ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you under your data protection rights (see our privacy policy). We keep data (including personal data) generated by your use of the Sunbeam Education platform only for the periods set out in our privacy policy.

8. Limitations on liability

Meaning of liability in these terms

When we talk about liability in these terms we mean every kind of liability arising under or in connection with this agreement including but not limited to liability in contract, tort (including negligence), misrepresentation, restitution or otherwise.

Liabilities neither you nor we limit or exclude

Nothing in these terms limits any liability (whether yours or ours) which can’t legally be limited, including but not limited to liability for:

  • Death or personal injury caused by negligence.
  • Fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

The limitations and exclusions set out in this agreement don’t apply in respect of:

  • Your liabilities to us under 9 (Claims and actions against us in connection with you or your services).

Types of loss you and we exclude liability for

Except in respect of Liabilities neither you nor we limit or exclude, we won’t be liable to you and you’ll not be liable to us for any Consequential Loss.

A party’s liability for any liabilities under this agreement will be reduced proportionately to the extent the relevant liabilities were caused or contributed to by the negligent or unlawful acts or omissions of, or breach of this agreement by, the other party.

Cap on our liability to you

Except for liabilities which cannot be legally limited, our total aggregate liability to you for any and all liabilities arising from or in connection with this agreement will be limited to 100% of the commission and fees we received in connection with your services in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim.

9. Claims and actions against us in connection with you or your services

Dealing with claims against us

We’ll pass on to you any complaints we receive about you or one of your services as described in How you must handle customer complaints. However, if anyone, including (but not limited to) a customer, any regulator, HMRC, couriers or any third party rights holder, makes a claim or takes any kind of action against us in connection with:

  • Your services and their supply through the Sunbeam Education platform.
  • Content you’ve uploaded to or otherwise distributed through our systems, including but not limited to your tutor profile, your service listings, your communications with customers, advertising, and any omissions or inaccuracies in such content.
  • Things we have or haven’t done in reliance on information you’ve provided (or omitted to provide) to us, including our exercise of rights you’ve granted to us.
  • Things you have or haven’t done including but not limited to any breach of these terms and our policies.

(a third party claim), then you must, at our option and as we request, either help us defend or deal with the third party claim or defend or deal with it on our behalf, in each case at your own expense. If we ask you to defend or deal with a claim on our behalf, you must get our prior written agreement before settling or compromising it or attempting to do so.

Compensation for claims against us

You must pay us an amount (calculated on a full indemnity after-tax basis) equivalent to all liabilities we incur arising out of or in connection with any third party claim, including (but not limited to) fines, costs, expenses, damages and losses (including any direct or Consequential Losses, loss of profit, loss of reputation and any tax liabilities or third party charges such as brokers’ fees) and all interest, penalties and legal costs and all other reasonable professional costs and expenses. See When you must pay our invoices.

10. Insurance

You must have insurance and pass our safety checks

You must maintain public liability insurance with cover of at least £2,000,000 and professional indemnity insurance with cover of at least £1,000,000, with a reputable insurer, for as long as your services are listed on the Sunbeam Education platform and for two years after they stop being listed. You must upload your insurance certificates, and renewed certificates before they expire, and provide proof of payment of the current premium when we ask for it.

You must also hold an Enhanced DBS certificate for the children’s workforce, be subscribed to the DBS Update Service, and hold a safeguarding training certificate at level 2 or equivalent that is no more than two years old. You agree that we can check the status of your DBS certificate through the DBS Update Service while you are listed on the Sunbeam Education platform. If you don’t provide any of these documents when we ask, if a document you give us is rejected, or if your insurance or safeguarding certificate expires, we may suspend your listings (this can happen automatically). While your listings are suspended you don’t appear in search results and can’t take new bookings, but sessions already booked aren’t cancelled. If a DBS status check shows information we haven’t already reviewed and accepted, we also cancel your upcoming sessions. Customers are refunded in full for any session we cancel, and we tell them that their sessions with you can’t go ahead, without giving the reason. In any of these cases we may also end this agreement. See 7 (Suspension of listings, ending this agreement and disputes).

11. Compliance with the law and our mandatory policies

You must comply with the law and our mandatory policies

You must at all times when doing anything in connection with this agreement comply with:

  • All applicable laws, statutes, regulations and codes from time to time in force including without limitation the CAP Code.

12. Data protection obligations

How we treat your personal data

We’ll process your personal data in accordance with our privacy policy https://sunbeameducation.com/privacy-policy.

Your data protection obligations

You and we each process customers’ personal data as separate and independent controllers (see Access to and use of data generated through use of the Sunbeam Education platform). You agree to:

  • Comply with all your obligations under UK data protection law when processing customer personal data.
  • Only process customer personal data that you receive through the platform for the purpose(s) for which you received it under or in connection with these terms, which is normally to prepare for and deliver your sessions with that customer.
  • Keep customer personal data secure, using appropriate technical and organisational measures. Take particular care with any information about a learner’s health or special educational needs, which customers only share with you with their explicit consent.
  • Delete all customer personal data you receive in connection with the platform or these terms as soon as the purpose(s) for which you received it have been fulfilled, except to the extent you are legally required to keep it.

Subject to 8 (Limitations on liability) but despite anything to the contrary, to the maximum extent permitted by law, you are liable for, and agree to indemnify us and hold us harmless in respect of, any liabilities that we may suffer, incur or otherwise become liable for, arising from or in connection with your breach of this clause or of UK data protection law.

13. Changes to these terms and our policies 

How we make changes to these terms 

We’ll let you know via email or another durable medium about any changes we’re making to these terms (including the policies referred to in them), unless they’re just editorial changes which don’t alter the terms’ content or meaning.

Normally we’ll give you at least 15 days’ notice before such changes take effect.

We’ll give you more notice if a change we’re making impacts on the way you do things, either technically or commercially (a significant change). For example, you might need more notice if we entirely remove a feature from the Sunbeam Education platform, add a new feature or if you need to materially reprogramme your services to continue using the Sunbeam Education platform.

We won’t give you advance notice if we have to make a change with immediate effect, whether for legal or regulatory reasons or to protect the Sunbeam Education platform, our tutors or our customers from fraud, malware, spam, data breaches or other cybersecurity risks.

If you list new services on the Sunbeam Education platform after we’ve told you about any changes (other than a significant change), you will be deemed to have agreed to those changes and they will take effect immediately.

What you can do if you’re unhappy about changes we’ve made

If you’re unhappy with any changes we tell you about, you can end this agreement. See How you can end this agreement.

14. Other important terms

Governing law and jurisdiction 

This agreement and any dispute or claim (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with it or its subject matter or formation shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales.

Each of us irrevocably agrees that the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with this agreement, its subject matter or formation.

Assignment of debt

You agree that we may assign or transfer any debt owed by you to us, arising under or in connection with these terms, to a debt collector, debt collection agency, or other third party.

Impact of events beyond your or our reasonable control (force majeure)

Neither you nor we (the affected party) shall be in breach of this agreement or otherwise liable for any failure or delay in performing their obligations if such delay or failure results from events, circumstances or causes beyond the affected party’s reasonable control. The time for performance of such obligations shall be extended accordingly. If the period of delay or non-performance continues for 3 weeks, the party not affected may end this agreement by giving 30 days’ written notice to the affected party.

We can transfer our rights and obligations under this agreement

We may at any time assign, mortgage, charge, subcontract, delegate, declare a trust over or deal in any other manner with (transfer) any or all of our rights and obligations under this agreement.

What happens if you want to transfer your rights and obligations under this agreement (including by using subcontractors)

You need to get our consent before you can transfer any of your rights and obligations under this agreement, including by using subcontractors. You can ask us for approval by emailing info@sunbeameducation.com. We can decide whether to give consent by assessing the person you want to transfer to, using the same criteria we use to assess new applicants to the Sunbeam Education platform. If you want to transfer all your rights and obligations to someone else, the proposed transferee will need to apply using our application form https://app.sunbeameducation.com/become-tutor.

How we and you must protect each other’s confidential information

Neither you nor we (the recipient) shall at any time during the term of this agreement, and for a period of two years after it ends (for whatever reason) disclose to any person any confidential information concerning the business, assets, affairs, customers, clients or tutors of the other (the discloser), except:

  • To the recipient’s employees, officers, representatives, contractors, subcontractors or advisers who need to know such information for the purposes of exercising the recipient’s rights or carrying out its obligations under or in connection with this agreement. The recipient shall ensure that its employees, officers, representatives, contractors, subcontractors or advisers to whom it discloses the discloser’s confidential information comply with this clause (How we and you must protect each other’s confidential information).
  • As may be required by law, a court of competent jurisdiction or any governmental or regulatory authority.

The recipient shall not use the discloser’s confidential information for any purpose other than to exercise its rights and perform its obligations under or in connection with this agreement.

Neither we nor you are bound by anything said but not included in this agreement

This agreement (comprising these terms and the policies referred to in them) constitutes the entire agreement between you and us in relation to our services. It replaces all previous discussions, communications, negotiations, understandings and agreements between you and us about its subject matter.

Both you and we acknowledge that in entering into this agreement neither of us relies on any statement, representation, assurance or warranty (whether made innocently or negligently) that is not set out in this agreement. Both you and we agree that neither of us shall have any claim for innocent or negligent misrepresentation or negligent misstatement based on any statement in this agreement.

Informal changes to this agreement aren’t valid 

Except for changes made as described in How we make changes to these terms, no variation of this agreement shall be effective unless it is in writing and signed by you and us.

You and we can only waive our rights under this agreement in writing

A waiver of any right or remedy is only effective if given in writing and shall not be deemed a waiver of any subsequent right or remedy.

A delay or failure to exercise, or the single or partial exercise of, any right or remedy shall not waive that or any other right or remedy, nor shall it prevent or restrict the further exercise of that or any other right or remedy.

Invalidity of part of this agreement doesn’t affect the rest of it

If any provision or part-provision of this agreement is or becomes invalid, illegal or unenforceable, it shall be deemed deleted, but that shall not affect the validity and enforceability of the rest of this agreement.

Only you and we have rights under this agreement

This agreement does not give rise to any rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of this agreement.

Neither you nor we require the consent of any other person to rescind or vary this agreement.

15. Defined terms

Terms in bold have the following meanings

appropriate technical and organisational measures

has the meaning set out in UK data protection law.

controller 

has the meaning set out in UK data protection law.

Consequential loss

includes any consequential loss, indirect loss, real or anticipated loss of profit, loss of benefit, loss of revenue, loss of business, loss of goodwill, loss of opportunity, loss of savings, loss of reputation, loss of use and/or loss or corruption of data, whether under statute, contract, equity, tort (including negligence), indemnity or otherwise. Both parties acknowledge and agree that your obligation to pay us any fees under these terms will not constitute “Consequential Loss” for the purposes of this definition.

UK data protection law 

means all applicable data protection and privacy legislation in force from time to time in the UK including the UK GDPR; the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) (and regulations made thereunder); the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/2426) as amended and all other legislation and regulatory requirements in force from time to time which apply to either you or us relating to the use of personal data (including, without limitation, the privacy of electronic communications); and the guidance and codes of practice issued by the Information Commissioner or other relevant regulatory authority and applicable to either you or us.

insolvent

means, in relation to either party that it has taken any step or action in connection with:

  • Entering administration, provisional liquidation or any composition or arrangement with its creditors (other than in relation to a solvent restructuring).
  • Applying to court for, or obtaining a moratorium under, Part A1 of the Insolvency Act 1986.
  • Being wound up (whether voluntarily or by order of the court, unless for the purpose of a solvent restructuring).
  • Having a receiver appointed to any of its assets.
  • Being made bankrupt (or, in Scotland, having its estate sequestrated), or proposing or entering into an individual voluntary arrangement, a protected trust deed or a debt relief order.
  • Ceasing to carry on business.
  • If the step or action is taken in another jurisdiction, in connection with any analogous procedure in the relevant jurisdiction.

liabilities

means any expense, cost, liability, loss, damage, claim, notice, entitlement, investigation, demand, proceeding or judgment (whether under statute, contract, equity, tort (including negligence), misrepresentation, restitution, indemnity or otherwise), howsoever arising, whether direct or indirect and/or whether present, unascertained, future or contingent and whether involving a third party or a party to these terms or otherwise.

our systems

means our tutor interface and the other computer systems that support, operate and comprise the Sunbeam Education platform.

permitted recipients 

means your and our employees and the entities you and we use in connection with this agreement.

significant change 

means a change to these terms which impacts on the way you do things, either technically or commercially. Examples of significant changes might be our entirely removing a feature from the Sunbeam Education platform, adding a new feature or a change which means you need to materially reprogramme your services to continue using the Sunbeam Education platform.

third party claim

means a claim or any kind of action against us made by anyone, including (but not limited to) a customer, any regulator, HMRC, couriers or any third party rights holder, in connection with:

  • Your services and their supply through the Sunbeam Education platform.
  • Content you’ve uploaded to or otherwise distributed through our systems, including but not limited to your tutor profile, your service listings, your communications with customers, advertising, and any omissions or inaccuracies in such content.
  • Things we have or haven’t done in reliance on information you’ve provided (or omitted to provide) to us, including our exercise of rights you’ve granted to us.
  • Things you have or haven’t done including but not limited to any breach of these terms and our policies.

transfer

means assign, novate, transfer, mortgage, charge, subcontract, delegate, declare a trust over or deal in any other manner with any or all of a party’s rights and obligations under this agreement.

VAT

means value added tax chargeable under the Value Added Tax Act 1994 of the United Kingdom and legislation supplemental thereto or replacing, modifying or consolidating it and including any similar, substitute, or replacement tax on, inter alia, the supply of goods or services in the United Kingdom.

your materials

means any content, data or information (including trade marks and branding) you provide to us in connection with you and your services.

16. Prohibited services policy

You may not list for sale through the Sunbeam Education platform any services which:

  • Violate the intellectual property, confidentiality or privacy rights of others.
  • Violate any laws, including those governing export control and consumer protection.
  • Contain any material that is obscene or pornographic.
  • You don’t have authority to sell.

17. Refunds policy

You agree that a customer won’t pay for a session or, if they have already paid, will receive a full refund for it, made by us on your behalf from your Stripe account (see How customers are refunded), if:

  • you cancel the session, or we cancel it under these terms (for example under 10 (Insurance) or 7 (Suspension of listings, ending this agreement and disputes)), or because we have ended our contract with the customer under our Terms of Service, for example for a serious or repeated breach of our Acceptable Use Policy;
  • you move the session to a new time that doesn’t suit the customer, and the customer asks us to cancel it;
  • you are at least 15 minutes late to the session, or don’t turn up;
  • the customer cancels the session more than 24 hours before it starts; or
  • the customer cancels the session during their 14-day cancellation period under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, and it hasn’t been delivered yet. For a Subscription or Course, the 14 days run from the day the Subscription or Course was booked.

If the customer cancels a session 24 hours or less before it starts (outside their 14-day cancellation period), doesn’t attend it or is more than 10 minutes late, or if you can’t access the customer’s premises for an in-person session, the session isn’t refunded, as set out in our Terms of Service and the Tutoring Services Contract Terms.

Customers cancel sessions in their online account. If a customer tells us that you were late, didn’t turn up or moved a session to a time that doesn’t suit them, we may ask you about it, and we refund the customer within 14 days of being told.

You can review the previous versions by following this link: Platform Contracts Changelog.

Archived Version

Platform Contract – in force until 3 November 2026