Tutor Hunt Review Summary

Tutor Hunt is a well-established and rated UK teacher marketplace. No qualifications are required to join, though they are recommended to gain more exposure and interest from potential students. Tutors set their own pay rate, £15-35 being the recommended range, however, Tutor Hunt charges a commission of up to 33%. 

Tutor Hunt Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Many positive reviews from tutors 
• Short application process, with no interview or teaching demo
• Tutors are able to decide their own pay rate and availability
• Choice of tutoring face to face or online

Cons:

• Commission fee of up to 33% 
• Reliant on your profile ranking to attract bookings 
• Lots of competition for students 
• Must be able to work in the UK on a self-employed basis

What Is Tutor Hunt?

Tutor Hunt, operating in the UK, allows tutors to offer their services for specific subjects, corresponding with parents and students to arrange both in-person and online lessons. Tutors are able to search for potential students, and vice versa, using the Tutor Hunt online search engine. After creating an online profile, tutors can state their hourly rate, the times they are available to teach, and the locus of their educational domain. 

Is Tutor Hunt Legit?

Tutor Hunt has helped connect thousands of students and tutors since being established in 2005. With a registered office in London, England, the company’s legitimacy is supported by its Tutor Hunt Trustpilot rating of 4.9 out of 5, with 3,290 reviews. Tutor Hunt has also been featured in mainstream publications such as The Guardian and the BBC, including an interview with Tutor Hunt’s John Underhill outlining the value of their services. 

How Does Tutor Hunt Work?

Responding to enquiries: Once a Tutor Hunt online profile is live and verified, students will be able to locate and send a message directly through Tutor Hunt’s enquiry system. Additionally, tutors will be able to search for students via location or subject. A text message or email will be sent as soon as any new enquiries are received.

After tutors have received an enquiry, it is important to respond to them as soon as possible, as this will quickly alert students as to the tutor’s availability and suitability. If enquiries are responded to promptly, Tutor Hunt will improve the tutor’s ranking within their search results, allowing more exposure within the algorithm. This will lead to more potential offers in the future. 

Booking lessons with students: Once an enquiry has been confirmed, tutors must book the sessions using Tutor Hunt’s scheduling system. This can only be done by the tutor. Once the booking is made, Tutor Hunt alerts the student in order to confirm the booking. The student can only confirm bookings once they have entered their payment details for the pending lesson. 

Booking through Tutor Hunt: All lessons with students must be booked through Tutor Hunt online. Tutor Hunt will log the number of lessons each student books through their tutor; a higher number of total lessons booked per student will improve the tutor’s search placement, allowing their profile to become more prominent for Tutor Hunt jobs. 

Tutor Hunt Whiteboard

Tutor Hunt have developed an online whiteboard, which acts as a teaching aid. This whiteboard works like a basic graphics editor, such as adobe photoshop. During a lesson, Tutors can draw or type on the whiteboard, with the student seeing their actions in real-time. The whiteboard also allows tutors to upload documents or images during the lesson, or write out text for the student to see.

Tutor Hunt Terms and Conditions

Tutor Hunt’s Terms and Conditions can be found here. 

Tutor Hunt Salary Information

Tutor Hunt jobs allow the tutor to set their own pay rate based on how much they believe their time is worth, while also attempting to remain financially competitive. As outlined on Tutor Hunt’s website, tutors are advised to ascertain the average hourly rate from their competitors on the platform for the subjects they are offering to teach. 

As an example, the suggested Tutor Hunt rates for tuition in a GCSE subject are typically set at around £25-£30 an hour. If a tutor’s subject is more specialised, they will be able to charge a higher amount.

Tutor Hunt Fees/Commission – How Much Does Tutor Hunt Charge?

As is typical for a teacher marketplace, Tutor Hunt will charge the student the set hourly rate plus a commission fee of up to 33%, depending upon the number of hours the tutor has booked through the platform. 

Tutor Hunt Payment Methods

Students will be charged 24 hours after each lesson has taken place. The more lessons that are taught, the higher the tutor’s profile will appear within Tutor Hunt’s search results pages. Cash payments are not to be accepted, and money will be paid directly into the tutor’s bank account each week on the following Friday.

Tutor Hunt Hours

Tutor Hunt tutors can decide their own schedule and how many hours they wish to work. Lesson times are negotiated with the students.

Tutor Hunt Cancellation Policy

Any lessons that are either cancelled after the start time of the lesson, or where the student never informed the tutor that a lesson could not take place, will be charged at full price. Tutors must wait at least 15 minutes for the student in the online classroom, attempt to contact the student via phone call, and be able to provide evidence of this in order for Tutor Hunt to enforce a 100% charge.

Lessons which are not confirmed 12 hours before the lesson will be cancelled. Tutor Hunt emphasizes that Tutors should not turn up to any cancelled or unconfirmed bookings.

Tutor Hunt Requirements

According to the Terms & Conditions, the tutor must also be at least eighteen years of age, and have the legal right to work in the UK on a self-employed basis.

While no formal qualifications are required to create an account, Tutor Hunt’s Terms & Conditions state that a tutor should have ‘the necessary qualifications and/or experience to provide tuition in the subjects specified by the Tutor on the Tutor Hunt Website’.

In order to verify your account, Tutor Hunt’s mandatory requirements are as follows:

• Photo ID
• Enhanced DBS
• Proof of address
• References
• Profile image

Application Process – How Do I Become a Tutor in Tutor Hunt?

The Tutor Hunt sign up process can be completed in 20–45 minutes. To create a profile, you must first provide:

• Your account type (from the selection of Tutor, Student or Parent)
• Unique username 
• Email address
• Password

After agreeing to Tutor Hunt’s Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy, applicants must complete their personal information:

• Title 
• Gender
• First name
• Last name 
• Address
• Phone number
• Date of birth

The third step will require you to fill out your profile information, including:

• Distance willing to travel (from ‘Home only’ to ’50 miles’) 
• Native language 
• Bio 
• Experience 

Before completing your profile, you must accept Tutor Hunt’s Safeguarding Policy and confirm the following statements:

• I agree to have online lessons recorded, and that they will be made available to my students. Tutor Hunt may review recorded lessons at their discretion or if any safeguarding concerns are reported. 
• I am over 18 years old and have the right to work in the UK
• I do not have another Tutor account with Tutor Hunt, and I have never had an account removed from Tutor Hunt in the past. 
• I have never been convicted of a criminal offence, and have not received a caution, reprimand, warning or any unspent convictions. 

Once you agree to these conditions, you will be directed towards a page outlining how Tutor Hunt works, including information regarding:

• Responding to enquiries within a timely manner 
• Booking lessons with students
• Getting paid 
• How much do I get paid?

Before activating your account, you must check boxes stating: 

• I agree that for all students introduced to me through Tutor Hunt, I will book all lessons through the Tutor Hunt booking system.
• I understand that, with more lessons booked through my account, I will appear higher on Tutor Hunt search results pages.
• I agree never to take payments from students directly. All payments must go through Tutor Hunt. Tutor Hunt will pay me directly, as they have collected lesson payment from the student.
• I understand that if a lesson is not confirmed I should not attend the lesson, as Tutor Hunt won’t be able to collect the money from the student to pay me. 
• I understand that if I cannot attend a lesson, or if I need to rearrange the lesson time/date, I must do so within the Tutor Hunt booking system. The student will automatically get notified as to any scheduling alterations.

You will then be directed to your Tutor Hunt online dashboard. To make full use of the service and to maximise your exposure to tens of thousands of students, you will be prompted to verify your Tutor Hunt account. This will allow you to feature more prominently in students’ searches and recommendations. Mandatory items for verification include:

• Photo ID
• Enhanced DBS (a Tutor Hunt DBS check costs £42)
• Proof of address
• 2 references
• Profile image 

Once these Tutor Hunt sign up steps have been completed, your profile will be live and ready to receive enquiries. 

Tutor Hunt Reviews

The Tutor Hunt Glassdoor page gives the company an overall score of 3.9 out of 5, with 68% willing to recommend them (at the time of writing). Here is the summary of these Tutor Hunt employee reviews:

While the most common complaint addresses Tutor Hunt’s competitive nature, the company’s recent decision to instate a commission fee is frequently outlined as a concern. Due to Tutor Hunt originally promoting the company as a service that disagrees with commissions, such fees have acted as a deterrent for pre-existing and new employees. However, a majority of reviews are still positive, praising Tutor Hunt’s collaborative nature and the tutor’s ability to create a well-structured profile.

The Tutor Hunt Indeed page provides significantly fewer reviews (just 7 currently), providing an average rating of 4.3 out of 5, and only one that has been left since 2020:

Conclusion – Is Tutor Hunt Worth It?

Depending on qualifications and experience, Tutor Hunt is an option for those who value flexibility of hours and the ability to set their own pay rate. However, the commission fee they charge is rather high, and it is important to recognise the competitive nature of the platform and be prepared to create a profile that stands out to attract potential students. 

You can join Tutor Hunt here.

A full list of online teaching companies can be found here.