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Mum told me on the day of tutoring that there is no more tutoring

280 replies

Thatyachtmusicsong · 02/09/2026 20:37

Can anyone help please?

I do private tutoring and have tutored one student twice per week for three years.
She has had some health issues and we changed from tutoring at her home to online 6 or so months ago.
We tutored over summer until the last few weeks of August when she said she was taking a breaj for summer and would tutor again as always in September.
Today I messaged in the morning checking that all was okay for tutoring in the evening and the mum told me that they decided to take her out of school and have signed up to an online school.
The mum said she doesn't know about the future and how things will go and she would take a pause for our tutoring as it may be too much for her.
I feel sad for her and understand the situation, but this has come as a real shock to me as we rely on those lessons financially. I had done tje planning for September and feel shocked they only let me know on the day of tutoring, which leaves me no time to find something else.

Stupidly, I don't have a contract.

What would you do about this situation?

Would it be fair to ask for a months payment since I had no notice etc?

Feel like I've really been left in the lurch

OP posts:
Sam1000 · 02/09/2026 20:43

Ah balls. Nothing you can do but poor show on their part.

MrsTerryPratchett · 02/09/2026 20:42

It's shit and wrong but it's not contractual. I assume they are overwhelmed and having an awful time too.

Ponderingwindow · 02/09/2026 20:41

Without a contract you can’t ask for any fees. This is a hard lesson. In the future, have your clients sign something agreeing to a reasonable notice period as well as policies about cancelling sessions.

AdjectiveColourNoun · 02/09/2026 20:41

You don’t have a contract so it is de facto a casual arrangement. I’m afraid you can’t realistically ask for anything. I would probably say you are disappointed by the late notice and you had already prepared some work, then hope they feel guilty enough to compensate you even though they have no obligation to

TallulahBetty · 02/09/2026 20:40

You cannot enforce anything without a contract. A very hard lesson learnt for next time.

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