How Much Should You Pay A Tutor?

So you’re thinking about supporting your child’s learning and are looking around the web for a tutor. One of the first questions you might ask yourself is how much should you pay. Rates on the web seem to vary from £15 to £50! To make the search even more confusing, there doesn’t seem to be a strong link between a tutor’s qualifications and the amount they expect to be paid.

What determines a tutor’s charges? First, will they be supporting the key stages, GCSE or A-Level? Generally, A-Level is going to be more pricey compared to a tutor who is supporting younger ages. Second, if you’re going to take on an experienced and qualified teacher, you may expect to pay more. Finally, once you have found a good tutor, say through a recommendation, are they going to be travelling from further afield? The tutor may ask for a little more.

Trying to find out the facts is difficult. The Times recently reported families in London are charging between £72 and £135 an hour,! These asking hourly rates seem to lack some credibility and online claims made by the ‘super tutor’ may be on the bullish side – a tutor can help but they can only achieve so much.

A look around the web shows many tutor sites are quoting costs starting at around £20. You may wonder if many of these tutors have a relevant teaching qualification so a much more credible guide is the charges expected for the National Tutoring Programme (government support for disadvantaged pupils). These rates work out at around £19 an hour for face-to-face tuition. The Sutton Trust believes parents are paying rates that start at £25. At Shires Tutors, we’ll often be contacted through a recommendation and parents are expecting to pay around £20 to £30. A higher cost often reflects the experience needed to tutor A-Level.

Are there any final considerations when thinking about cost? Do you need the support every week? Is the tuition needed at exam time only? A tutor is likely to be charging an hourly rate but is an hour too long? Primary school children probably won’t benefit from longer sessions.

In conclusion, an hourly rate of between £20 to £30 is probably a reasonable rate but do your research and make sure the money is well spent. At Shires Tutors, we are classroom teachers, and feel our experience and knowledge can give tuition an extra edge. However, that does come at a little more cost but we still want to keep it affordable.