Using a tutoring or model-answer service is legal in the UK. The Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022 made it a criminal offence to provide or advertise contract cheating services for students in England, but the offence sits with the provider, not the student, and it applies to work sold for submission rather than to teaching, feedback or model answers.
What the 2022 Act Actually Says
Sections 116 and 117 of the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022 created two offences in England: providing a contract cheating service for financial gain, and advertising one. A contract cheating service is defined as completing all or part of an assignment on a student's behalf where that work is then submitted as the student's own.
Two details matter and are almost always missed. First, the offence attaches to the provider, not the student — a student who buys an essay has not committed a criminal offence, though they have almost certainly breached their university's regulations. Second, the Act carves out an explicit exemption for services that are provided for the purpose of teaching or assisting a student's own learning.
The practical test: if the output is designed to be handed in as-is, it is contract cheating. If the output is designed to teach you how to produce your own answer, it is tutoring. Same subject, same tutor, entirely different legal position.
What Is Still Completely Legal
- Tutoring and 1:1 teaching — explaining a framework, working through a method, checking your understanding before you write.
- Model answers — a worked example on a different question or dataset that shows the standard expected, which you then apply yourself.
- Proofreading and feedback on a draft you wrote, within your institution's proofreading policy.
- Referencing support — checking your citations against Cite Them Right Harvard or OSCOLA.
- Turnitin similarity review before submission so you can correct citation problems yourself.
What Your University Prohibits, Regardless of the Law
The criminal law and your university's regulations are separate systems, and the regulations are stricter. Every UK university's academic misconduct policy prohibits submitting work you did not write, whether you bought it, borrowed it, or generated it. A student who is never prosecuted can still be excluded.
Most policies also prohibit unauthorised collusion and, increasingly, undisclosed use of generative AI. Check your programme handbook rather than relying on a general rule: several Russell Group institutions now require a declaration of any AI tool used, even for proofreading.
Why the Law Was Changed
Before 2022, essay mills operated openly in the UK and advertised on campus. The Quality Assurance Agency had lobbied for a ban since 2017, and the change followed similar legislation in Australia in 2020 and New Zealand earlier. The stated aim was to shut down the supply side, on the reasoning that students under pressure will always exist but a legal marketplace should not.
The result is that reputable providers have moved decisively toward tutoring models, and that a service which still offers to write your assignment for submission is telling you something about how it operates.
How to Tell a Legal Service From an Illegal One
Ask one question before you pay: will this work be written for me to submit? A legal service answers no, and its terms say so in writing. Three further signals:
- It has a published academic integrity policy that states what it will not do.
- It is contactable — a registered company, a real address, a named channel for complaints.
- It teaches rather than delivers — you receive explanation and feedback alongside any model material.
A site that promises a guaranteed grade, offers to sit an online exam, or advertises "plagiarism-free custom essays" for submission is describing an offence under the 2022 Act.
If You Are Already in Trouble
If you have been referred for academic misconduct, engage with the process rather than avoiding it. Read the allegation carefully, request the evidence, and prepare a factual account of how the work was produced — drafts, notes, search history and version history all help. Most institutions weigh a first offence with a credible explanation very differently from a repeated one with none.
Frequently asked questions
Is it illegal for a UK student to buy an assignment?
No. The Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022 places the criminal offence on the provider who sells or advertises contract cheating services, not on the student who buys. However, the student almost certainly breaches their university’s academic misconduct regulations, which can result in a capped mark, a failed module or exclusion.
Does the 2022 Act apply across the whole UK?
The Act applies to England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own arrangements, and universities across all four nations apply their own academic misconduct regulations regardless of the criminal position.
Is using a tutor for my dissertation allowed?
Yes. Tutoring, supervision support and feedback on your own drafts are explicitly outside the scope of the offence and are permitted by universities, provided the writing and the argument are yours. Many institutions run their own academic skills tutoring for exactly this reason.
Can I be prosecuted for using an essay mill?
A student cannot be prosecuted under the 2022 Act, because the offence applies to providers. The realistic risk to a student is academic, not criminal: a misconduct hearing, a mark of zero, or in serious or repeated cases removal from the programme.
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