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Running a tutoring agency in the UK
Practical guides written by people who run a tutoring agency. No fluff, no growth-hacker word salad. Just what we've learned doing the job.
Running an agency
How to run a tutoring agency in the UK: a practical guide from someone who does
An honest, no-fluff guide to running a UK tutoring agency, written by an agency owner. Setup, DBS, software, finding tutors, getting parents, and the mistakes I've watched people repeat.
James Woodhouse·12 May 2026·9 min readRead the guideSafeguarding
DBS checks for tutors: the UK guide for tutoring agencies
Everything a UK tutoring agency needs to know about DBS checks for tutors: basic vs enhanced, the Update Service, third-party validation, and what to actually require of your tutors.
James Woodhouse·12 May 2026·7 min readRead the guideRunning an agency
How to price tutoring services as a UK agency (without leaving money on the table)
Hourly rates, agency margins, trial discounts and group pricing — the practical pricing model I use after years of running a UK tutoring agency.
James Woodhouse·12 May 2026·8 min readRead the guideRunning an agency
How to hire tutors for your UK tutoring agency: the practical checklist
Where to find tutors, what to screen for, how to interview, and the contract terms that actually stick. The hiring playbook I use for our own agency.
James Woodhouse·12 May 2026·7 min readRead the guideRunning an agency
Parent retention for tutoring agencies: keep them past month 3
Most agencies lose 30-40% of parents in the first three months. Here's the operational playbook I use to halve that — concrete moves, not platitudes.
James Woodhouse·12 May 2026·6 min readRead the guideRunning an agency
Invoicing for tutoring agencies: advance-pay, end-of-month, weekly — which works when?
The three billing models UK tutoring agencies use, the cashflow + retention trade-offs of each, and the one I run our agency on.
James Woodhouse·12 May 2026·6 min readRead the guideCompliance
GDPR for UK tutoring agencies: what actually needs doing
Most tutoring agencies are out of compliance and don't know it. Here's the practical GDPR checklist — what you must do, what's optional, and the bits we get wrong.
James Woodhouse·12 May 2026·7 min readRead the guideRunning an agency
Online vs in-person tutoring: which does your agency actually offer?
Online tutoring took over during COVID. Five years on, what's the honest answer for UK agencies — when does in-person still win, when does online win, and what does a hybrid model look like?
James Woodhouse·12 May 2026·6 min readRead the guideRunning an agency
Scaling a tutoring agency past 50 students: what breaks first
There's a predictable failure pattern when a UK tutoring agency crosses ~50 active students. Here's what breaks, in what order, and how to get ahead of it.
James Woodhouse·12 May 2026·6 min readRead the guideSoftware comparisons
Smash Your Tutoring vs TutorCruncher: an honest comparison
If you're choosing between TutorCruncher and Smash Your Tutoring for your UK tutoring agency, here's the practical breakdown. Written by an agency owner who's used both.
James Woodhouse·12 May 2026·8 min readRead the guideSoftware comparisons
Smash Your Tutoring vs TutorBird: which is right for a UK agency?
TutorBird is the long-time veteran for music + academic tutors. Here's an honest, side-by-side comparison from a UK agency owner who's tried both.
James Woodhouse·12 May 2026·7 min readRead the guide