How to hire
Match the tutor to the job first. A solo tutor or small practice suits one-to-one work on a specific gap, a Saturday-class centre suits a steady weekly routine across maths and English, a worksheet franchise suits daily practice habits, and a SEND practice suits screening and school liaison alongside teaching. Pin down your child's stage too, from phonics and SATs through eleven-plus and GCSE to A-level, and ask who will actually teach them.
Put safeguarding before price. No mandatory register covers private tutors, so ask to see an enhanced DBS certificate for anyone who will teach your child alone. Tutors working for themselves request their own check and show you the certificate, so check the identity matches, the level fits work with children, and whether its status can be confirmed through the update service [1]. At centres, ask how children are supervised and who your safeguarding contact is.
Test teaching claims the same way. Several Telford firms state qualified-teacher status or DBS-checked staff on their own sites, and schools and agencies confirm teachers through the Department for Education record service, which covers qualified-teacher status, induction and prohibition from teaching [2]. As a parent, ask what sits behind the claim, and look any Ofsted-registered centre up on the public report finder [3]. Membership of the Tutors' Association is voluntary and signals a tutor who has joined the trade body [4].
Use the trial before you commit. Free skills assessments and free consultations are common in this round, and they tell you more than any brochure. Ask how long sessions run, how large groups grow, where teaching happens, and whether online sessions are an option. For younger children, ask whether you can observe the first session.
Get the quote itemised on one written scope: subjects and levels, session length and frequency, venue, the hourly or monthly figure with what it includes, from materials and marking to mock exams. Prepaid blocks should state the cancellation notice and refund terms, and the figure should say whether VAT is added. Agree all of it before the first paid session.
Keep the paperwork at the end. Booking confirmations, receipts, assessment findings and progress reports should all come to you in writing, with mock-exam results stated plainly. Keep copies through the exam season so any dispute starts from the same page. If a paid service goes wrong and the firm will not put it right, the Citizens Advice consumer service sets out your options [5].
Agree how progress gets tracked before lessons start. Half-term check-ins, marked mock papers and short written updates tell you whether the teaching is landing, and they give the tutor evidence to adjust the plan. If progress stalls across a full term despite the reports, treat that as your signal to change the arrangement, not to buy more of it.
Start with what Telford and Wrekin puts around the tutoring itself. The borough's SEND Local Offer gathers education, health and care support for children with additional needs in one place, and it is worth reading alongside any private assessment offer [7]. For eleven-plus families, Haberdashers' Adams in Newport admits its new intake on an entrance test sat in the September before secondary school, with registration running over the previous spring, so preparation needs to start a full school year earlier [6]. Centres in this round sit in Oakengates, Wellington, Shifnal, Dawley, Donnington and Hollinswood, so weigh the weekly drive against the routine before falling for a distant centre.
A typical arrangement runs through the same stages from first contact to sign-off. First contact names your child's school year, subjects and goal, and the firm answers with the named tutor, the venue and the full cost. Then comes the trial or assessment, which shows whether your child responds to the teaching style. Regular sessions follow with half-term check-ins and marked work, building toward mocks in exam years and a final written report that states plainly what was covered and what comes next.
The written quote should name the tutor, the venue and timetable, the subjects and levels, the session length and frequency, and the total figure you will actually pay each month with materials, marking and mocks either inside it or listed beside it. Prepaid blocks should state the notice period and refund terms, and every figure should say whether VAT is added. At the end, keep the booking confirmation, receipts, assessment findings and progress reports together through the exam season, so any dispute starts from the same page.
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, the clearest published list in the round runs from £26.50 per group hour to £38.50 per one-to-one hour and £48.50 per A-level hour, with driving-theory lessons at £39 per hour. Those figures buy centre teaching with enrolment routes and long weekly phone hours behind them. Treat any hourly figure as meaningless until you know the session length and group size it covers.
Worksheet centres price by the month instead: a £50 one-off registration charge plus £70 per subject per month, covering weekly classes and daily worksheets. Single sittings are priced apart, with an eleven-plus mock exam listed at £60. Monthly pricing suits parents who budget by direct debit, but check what pauses when you go on holiday.
Specialist assessments cost more because you are buying a written report, not a lesson. In this round a learning assessment is listed around £220 and a cognitive assessment around £300, with shorter SPAG sessions from £25 and hourly maths tuition from £40. Ask what the report includes and who it can be shared with before you book.
One-to-one costs more than group, home visits more than centre classes, and exam years more than catch-up years. Ask whether VAT is added to the figure you see, since small providers price differently. Get the full scope — subjects, session length, frequency, venue, cancellation terms — in writing before the first paid session.
For GCSE and entrance-test years, ask how revision blocks are sold. Some firms sell mocks and practice papers as extras on top of weekly hours, while one specialist folds them into its term figure without publishing the total. Get the price of the whole campaign, not just the hour, from the assessment through the final mock, with marking and materials either inside the figure or listed beside it.
Line quotes up by the month rather than the hour, since session length, group size and extras decide what you actually pay. Put the two monthly totals side by side with their cancellation terms before choosing between them, and treat any figure without a timetable as unfinished. Firms that publish nothing should still put all of it on one page before you pay.
Red flags
Will not say who will actually teach your child, by name, before you pay.
Claims qualified-teacher status anywhere but names no qualification you can check.
Meets children one-to-one with no DBS statement and no named safeguarding contact [1].
Asks for a full term of fees upfront with no written cancellation or refund terms.
Promises a particular grade or school place before assessing your child.
Runs classes with no stated venue, timetable or working phone number.
Gives one monthly figure that bundles teaching, materials and exams with no breakdown.
Changes your child's named tutor mid-term without telling you first.
Sells mock exams but shows no sample paper or marking scheme.