VATEDU40100 - Group 6 Item 2 Private tuition and tutorial colleges: law
Up to when the UK left the EU, the EU legislation supporting this exemption was the mandatory provision in Article 132(1)(j) of the Principal VAT Directive:
(j) tuition given privately by teachers and covering school or university education
The UK legislation
Private tuition may qualify for exemption under Item 2 of Group 6 of Schedule 9 of the VAT Act 1994:
2 The supply of private tuition, in a subject ordinarily taught in a school or university, by an individual teacher acting independently of an employer.