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

[Thatyachtmusicsong]

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

This post isn't about you.

The OP is unable to pay her mortgage because she has lost four hour's work a week.

You can ask. But don’t depend on it.

Totally agree, I do think many assume it's a bit of extra pocket money

80K! Good for you. I may pm you tomorrow for sone tips if that's ok? You're obviously doing very well for yourself

I don't think they will either.

Did you look at your local Facebook pages? There are so many parents looking for tutors on my local pages.

And I fully expect they will pay you for the week if their interpretation of starting lessons again was the same as yours.

@Thatyachtmusicsong Yes, you're very welcome to PM me! I'd be really happy to give you some tips.

So are you working through an agency?

As a professional and freelancer, I’m cringing so badly that you worked for 3 years for a customer without a written contract. It’s so unprofessional and the fact you’ve been blindsided by them not doing anything you don’t have written down in your non-existent contract, is even more cringey.

Contracts exist to mitigate against the exact scenario you’ve found yourself in.

Small claims court issues a judgement to pay - the debtor refuses to pay - who the fuck will arrange for enforcement? Small claims court do not organise enforcement. So, the claimant is out of pocket again? Finding bailiffs and paying them upfront. Yeah, that is very helpful for the claimant. Thank you for explaining what a debtor is...

There's a procedure whereby you apply for enforcement using the court bailiffs. The claimant doesn't have to find them or pay them directly, though they do have to pay a court fee which will be added to the debt and can also be enforced against the judgment debtor.

If its as easy as you think, perhaps you can kindly go and tell all the single parents whose ex partner doesn't pay them a dime, how to go about getitng the money owed to them. They will have a wonderful Christmas thaniks to your insights.

You have to have at least some business sense, not just be good at tutoring, in order to succeed as a self employed person. If you're not able to be professional and business like by having contracts in place, a business plan, etc., then the likelihood of earning a decent income is drastically reduced.

Being self employed can be stressful and hard work. I agree with a pp that teaching would be a better option with reliable pay, if running a business is not really your thing. Would you consider finding a teaching job, so you wouldn't have to worry so much about your finances? Or are you willing to change by approaching your job in a more business like, less casual manner? It's madness to continue tutoring in the way you have been so far.

There’s nothing you can do really. Just wish them well and move forwards. Focus your energy on finding new clients. If they did ask to come back, say you’re fully booked.

I think you're in a bit of an unusual situation - tutoring is your only income but you only do 4 hours per week. My DH does a bit of tutoring and we have used a tutor for one of our DC. They both only work a few hours a week but this is on top of their main jobs. Something that you do privately for a few hours a week I would generally have thought of as being a casual job. My DH has never used a contract and neither did the tutor we used. It was all arranged over whatsapp and paid by session.

I would think that most people who do tutoring as their sole job would usually be working more hours per week and set themselves up as self-employed, therefore more likely to have contracts etc. Your position is also unusual as it is a long-term position but without a contract. If it's a regular weekly role then I think they would legally be considered unreasonable to not have given you at least one week's notice and they certainly should have paid this session if it had been confirmed that you would start back in September.

I don't think it hurts that you sent the message, although I wouldn't expect any more than payment for one session.

Depending on what you tutor in, have you considered looking at the Local Authority jobs website? There are often tutoring jobs for children who can't attend school which might suit if you are available during the day when many other tutors wouldn't be.

That's what i would do too OP. If they are decent people they may simply not have realised that you would have put in quite a lot of preparation. After all you were told that tutoring would continue in September. Make a polite request explaining that. As you say, if they don't pay - its worth a try.

You probably need to get a regular job if one client cancelling means you can't survive financially. They are not your employer.

Good luck with that. The most the parent owes them is the cost of the lesson cancelled at short notice.

I have tutors for my DD and tbh I’ve always just assumed the tutors do it on the side of their main job to bring in easy cash. It wouldn’t cross my mind that they actually relied on it. This parent may just be the same and no you can’t ask for a goodwill payment. She no longer requires your services, you need to find a new pupil.

Yes, I do. I don't understand why other posters are telling you you can't enforce or demand. You can still explain your pov nicely and ask.

You could soften it more as essentially it's a request not a demand.

Hi I'm sorry to hear blah blah blah. Look this is awkward as you've been a really good client of mine but I'm left in the lurch here. I don't have any time to back fill her slot and I rely on the income. It's a lesson learned for me - I appreciate i should have had a contract in place with mandatory notice period so legally speaking I cannot demand any cancellation fees. However I am asking you nonetheless to pay a month's notice as a goodwill gesture to allow me to replace the student. If I replace sooner than that I will issue a partial refund."

I think you left it too open and really should have confirmed a week or so ago before the new term started to see if they would like to continue with the tutoring. Things can change over summer - the parents probabley assumed given you had not been in touch that lessons were not due to begin yet. You did not give them a contract and therefore they do not owe you anything - I think it is mad to have asked for a months payment.

I also think if four hours pay a week makes such a stressful impact on your life then it is time to maybe sub, take on a teaching role or more tutoring students. You need to let go of this and be proactive now in gaining more students - if you spent an hours effort on advertising you should be able to fill your slots - esp in September?

Unfortunately you do not have a contract, and if you were to get a bit uppity with the parent, they could do you a lot of damage with a poor review.

I am not a tutor but I am a coach to a kids activity. One thing I have learnt is that parents think you should bend yourself inside out and upside down for their child, and act as loco parentis whether you professionally need to or not, and in return they do not give a singular toss about you as a person. Or you do 99 great things, and one day you under run by a minute and then they are writing stroppy emails, despite the amount of times you have gone the extra mile.

I have coached DC one on one and made a lot of difference to what they were doing, only to find that they move the next week and don't even have the courtesy to tell you.

My point is, as a tutor you need to make sure your end is covered and have a contact. When I have used a tutor the contract said I had to give X weeks notice and X hours notice to cancel or there would be a charge of Y.

Sorry OP, but you’ll have to suck this one up. Use the time between now and finding new clients to write contracts which include clause for short notice cancellation charges for want of a better description……I am sure some wise MNetters will describe that better.

You can’t ask someone that 😳

I'm a full-time tutor. While it's harsh to have been given no notice, other than that day's fee, there isn't much you can do. The nature of tutoring is that parents use us for their needs. We are not teachers, on annual contracts. It's casual work.

It is never a good idea to depend on one specific student. Because students and parents are fickle (fair enough, they make decisions for them, not for us).

This may seem off topic but stay with me for a mo… there’s a local hair salon that has won awards etc. for it making really good wigs (especially for cancer patients) had and still has A LOT of positive publicity. I was using them for different reasons but still illness hair loss. It became apparent that if I had to cancel an appointment at the last minute because I was too unwell or hospitalised or whatever else- they still charged me!
now I’m not saying this is the same business model as you have- but when you’re dealing with any members of the public- let alone young/vulnerable/unwell ones- you DO NOT want to go down the path of charging people because their plans have changed last minute. On a human level- it’s insensitive. On a business level it’s bleak. You best know I posted all over my socials as did my friends and family of how they operate. Not sure it made a difference or not but I went from highly recommending them and letting them use my photos on their socials to highly NOT and never using them again. I’m just saying. Maybe strike this one up to experience and move on

Because tutoring "is not real work", it's not respected. I used to do a lot of tutoring, and people were outraged at my prices - about half of what they would happily pay to have nails done, a haircut +shampoo, or for having lawns mowed. Two degrees and a Post Grad Diploma, 6 years to be fully qualified, and my time is worth way less than a nail technician (no disrespect intended). Knowledge, education, training, experience and (tbh) the best teacher I've ever seen in action = worth next to nothing. I should explain that one of my roles was to visit teachers, initiating a new curriculum and to give help and support,.over a wide part of the country..so I can rate quality...