Writeboard
Sign in
Start free
Guide
Tutoring for several agencies at once
Tutoring for several agencies at once usually means being self-employed with each of them: each pays you, nobody takes tax off, and everything they pay you, with any private students' fees, goes on one Self Assessment return as one tutoring business. What changes from agency to agency is the contract, the checks and how they pay you, so keep one record of every lesson and check each agency against it.
Updated 24 October 2026. The rules are HMRC's, checked against GOV.UK on 24 October 2026, each with its source; this is a guide, not tax advice.
Tax: one business, one return
Self-employed work for several agencies, and your own private students, is one self-employment: tutoring. It goes on one Self Assessment return, and the dates, allowance and payments on account apply to the total. The exception is an agency that employs you and takes tax through PAYE: that pay is employment income, shown on your return separately if you file one. If you are unsure which an agency is, its contract and its payslips (or their absence) say. Source: GOV.UK, working for yourself.
One DBS certificate for every agency
Agencies that tutor children usually ask for an enhanced DBS certificate. Register it with the DBS Update Service within 30 days of it being issued, for £15 a year, and each agency can check online, with your permission, that it is still current, so one certificate can serve them all. An agency may still ask for a new one, or for a different level. Source: GOV.UK, DBS Update Service.
The contract clauses to read
- Non-solicitation: whether you may teach an agency's clients privately, during and after your time with it.
- Cancellations: who is paid when a family cancels late, and how much.
- How you are paid: an invoice from you, or a statement from them, and how long after the month.
- Whose the work is: where the lesson notes and the student's work live, and what happens to them when you stop.
One week, whoever the lesson is for
The thing that goes wrong with three agencies and a few private students is the week: two calendars, a lesson forgotten, a statement that does not match. Keep one record of every lesson (when, which student, which agency or private) and check each agency's statement against it before you accept it. Invoice your private students from the same record; our guide to invoicing tutoring clients says what each invoice needs.
Where Writeboard helps
One Writeboard account holds your own students and every team you are on: an agency that runs its lessons on Writeboard adds you to its team, you say yes, and the place menu switches between them. Your calendar shows every lesson in one week, each saying which agency it came from, or nothing for your own students. An agency's students, books and lessons stay the agency's, and yours stay yours: each agency sees only its own. On Tutor Plus, the lessons you answer Done for your own students become the month's invoices. For agencies thinking of using it, see Writeboard for agencies.
Questions tutors ask
Can I tutor for more than one agency at once?
Usually, yes. Most agencies engage tutors as self-employed, and nothing stops a self-employed tutor working for several. Read each contract first: some restrict teaching an agency's clients privately, or for a time after you stop working with them.
How do I pay tax when several agencies pay me?
If you are self-employed with them, everything they pay you, with your private students' fees, goes on one Self Assessment return as one tutoring business. If an agency employs you and takes tax through PAYE, that income is employment income and is reported separately.
Do I need a new DBS check for each agency?
Not always. Join the DBS Update Service within 30 days of your certificate being issued, for £15 a year, and each agency can check online, with your permission, that it is still current. An agency can still ask for a new one, or for a different level.
How do I keep track of which lessons are for which agency?
Keep one record of every lesson: when, which student and which agency, or private. It is what you check each agency's statement against, and what you invoice your private students from.
Do agencies need me to invoice them?
Some ask for an invoice each month; others pay from a statement they draw up of the lessons you taught. Either way, check it against your own record of lessons before you accept it.