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 is so true

What can you do in this situation?

Learn a harsh lesson to make sure you have a contract from now on?

In the nicest possible way, I'd recommend logging off of MN and going online to find a sample tutoring contract that includes payment up front per month and a notice period of the same time.

@Thatyachtmusicsong If you want to be treated as a professional you need to set your business up as one.

I tutored for 20 years as a specialist in children with special educational needs. I had a contract with parents - half a term's notice or payment in lieu. It was my full time job and I couldn't afford to let parents walk away.

Get yourself a contract, issue it at the start of term, ask for fees a half term in advance.

You do need to start treating your work as a business and on a business footing.

It was tough that this happened to you but like others have said it can be a casual agreement. Happened the other way round for me when I had an amazing tutor for my daughter with dyslexia and dyscalculia, had her for about 4 years from primary school and she brought her on so much. She stopped lessons abruptly because she decided to go back to work full time I got a weeks notice at a time when it was impossible to find someone to replace her.

I don't know where you live but where I am one to one in-person or online tutors are so hard to get so hopefully you will have no problem replacing the hours. Best of luck

Anyone who is a professional ought to be able to compose their own contract.
It's not hard.

Most fees for after school activities including tutoring are invoiced for a half-term. That's 6 weeks. This is how it works for swimming, sport, music lessons, etc.

If tutors work on a 'pin money' basis and don't behave professionally, what do they expect?

Stupidly, I don't have a contract.

From the OP

It IS respected if tutors behave like professionals.

But that means a contract.

I tutored for 20 years (after coming out of schools) and was able to charge the going rate as I taught children and adults with dyslexia, ADHD, and ASD .

I had a waiting list but always had a T&C to give to parents.

I think what SOME parents don't understand is that it IS proper work.
I had to factor in the prep time for each individual lesson - at least 30 mins -
buy printer paper, ink, books, do my tax return, pay NI and tax- all out of the fee.

Some think you just turn up or they come to you and wing it for an hour.

Decent tutoring is hard work. They may choose to pay you 'notice', or not. If they are wise, they will hedge their bets as the online alternative may not turn out well. Decent tutors are also hard to find! So, you know your skills and experience, start filling those gaps in your availability and treat yourself as the professional you aspire to be - get contracts! And think carefully before taking this student back.

Yes and?

You think theyve even given a thought about that?

As far as they are concerned they have no obligation to you as you didn't have a contract. They had no terms and conditions about retention to consider.

You think as it as being a friendship as well as a business arrangement. For them it was purely transactional.

They were never your friends and you have a strange attitude in assuming that the relationship was ever more than just a business one.

But you don’t seem to respect your work either - you don’t have a contract and are now suffering the consequences of not setting up your business properly.

I’m self-employed too. I have contracts and a minimum notice period. If people want to take a break they have to pay a retainer or risk losing their spot. I also have a waiting list in place.

I lost a long-term client three weeks ago and their space was filled within hours. They gave me notice (as per their contract) so I didn’t miss out and wasn’t messed around either.

Many people manage to use the small claims court every year and find it very helpful. Thankfully, they don’t all have the tendency to exaggerate like your posts do. I see another poster has explained to you, so I won’t bother repeating what they have said, but it is very clear you don’t understand the process. If you are genuinely interested, why not start looking it up rather than try to derail OP’s thread.

Why write something when there already exists draft contracts that you can just use as a framework?

I didn’t say it was cheeky but she might think so and badmouth you. She obviously isn’t the most considerate person and wouldn’t think how that could harm your reputation.

That's a different type of claim, and irrelevant to this thread. If you don't think people can apply for enforcement using county court bailiffs, do provide your authority.

Haven't rtft.

OP, there are a number of fb groups for tutors who have experienced and knowledgeable members who ae happy to share their own contracts/T&Cs.

I'm happy to PM you the name of one.

It's a lesson many have learnt the hard way!

I can't believe you had the cheek to ask for payment.

You have run your business terribly and you should pay the price for that, not your customers who have done nothing wrong.

Wow 😔

With respect to everyone on here taking about contracts etc, if a parent wants to walk away, they will. Unless the tutor is prepared to take them to the small claims court, they don't have a lot of alternatives for enforcement.

I've been doing tutoring as my profession for 6 years now. I invoice month end. I've had upwards of 200 students in this time. Only had payment issues twice.

If your service is valued, parents will pay. It helps when you're working from word of mouth referrals, because parents don't want to get a reputation for not paying. But ultimately, other than a 24 hour cancellation fee, nothing you can do.

Incidentally, were you in touch over the summer, to discuss restart date, focus etc?

Hmmmm. Not quite.

Payment for 1 lesson should be made. 24 hour cancellation is standard in tutoring.

Ignore that comment. You had every right to ask for notice payment.

Whilst it's more difficult to enforce if it's not in writing, it is not true that you don't have a contract unless it is in writing.

If you have been supplying services at the same rate for months on end and you have been billing monthly for them then you have a verbal contract to supply those services and the notice period is the payment period, one month.

I don't think that would help in this case, but for other people, you should not assume that you can quit a service you've been using for a long time any time you want with no notice.

I'd expect payment for today, beyond that just unfortunate. Sorry.

That is exactly what I am saying 'at best'. Plus the nerves of claiming, and the nerves of enforcing, a true nightmare.

Some posters have mentioned 24-hour cancellation periods being standard in tutoring, which they are, but ime that's not the best approach from the tutor's pov (or the student's, pedagogically speaking).

I always insist on half-termly payments in advance (so the number of weeks paid for varies from 5 to 8, depending on the length of the half-term). If the student can't make the session, it is rescheduled rather than refunded, regardless of the reason for cancelling. It works really well for both parties: parents are getting what they pay for and I have a reliable income (or as reliable as it can be). Some parents don't like it but they are free to choose another tutor.