Our home county of Kent is an area of the UK where children still have the option of taking the 11 Plus examination to get into a grammar school. Figures for 2023 suggest that around 100,000 sit the 11 Plus exams annually, representing roughly 14% of the Year 7 cohort in England. In Kent, 17,037 children took these exams.
Parents keen to give their child the best chance of passing this set of exams will often consider engaging a private tutor to mentor them.
Recently, we’ve also seen an increase in tutors supporting families who have chosen to home school their children. In fact, according to government figures, 175,000 children were in elective home education (EHE or being home-schooled) at any point during the 2024/2025 academic year (an increase from 153,000 children in 2023/2024).
On top of that, sometimes families might go down the one-to-one tuition route for students requiring support in one or more subjects. They might be catching up on missed work (for myriad reasons), filling knowledge gaps or, perhaps, getting help for a niche subject or less common exam board where group courses are hard to find.
Typically, these private tutors are self-employed, while others might set themselves up with a limited company. In either case, at Lewis & Co, we are there to assist these clients to complete their accounts in the most tax-efficient manner.
While private tutors will have many of the same business issues as other clients, there are aspects that are different. For a start, their business could be seasonal – with a surge in demand prior to exam season and, potentially, less work during school holidays. To help, we can look at ways of supporting them to write a business plan to take this into account.
In addition, it’s likely they will be travelling between private homes to provide tutoring and we can advise on the tax implications of this travel; while they might need to purchase textbooks and exam papers.
If you’ve got any questions at all, then please do contact us on 01892 513515 or info@lewisandco.biz