Two things are worth doing soon. Ask the school whether your child is entered for a November GCSE resit, if they're meant to be sitting one. And if you used First Tutors, ask it for a copy of your account data. The rest can go at a calmer pace.
What happened to First Tutors
First Tutors, a UK tutor directory, has closed: its website now carries only a notice saying the company has decided to close after more than 20 years of trading. The notice gives no reason and no closing date. The date you may have seen, 8 May 2026, comes from two competing services, Tutorperch and Sherpa, and rests on their reports alone.
We run a competing tutor directory. The sources are listed at the end, and the main ones are linked in the text. Anything not from a source is our own advice.
For existing queries the notice lists one address, info@firsttutors.co.uk, and warns that replies will probably be slow. It sends questions about your personal data to an online privacy portal, covered below.
Parents
Looking for a tutor for your child?
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Prefer to browse first? Browse the tutor directory
If you already have a tutor
Start with a message to your tutor, if you still have their contact details. Nothing in the notice covers lessons already under way, so it comes down to whether you both want to carry on.
Put the basics in writing
Agree four things in one message: the hourly rate, the regular day and time, how much notice either of you gives to cancel, and how and when you'll pay. A text or an email will do. Nobody then has to remember what was said.
Pay as you go
For lessons you arrange with the tutor yourself, we'd pay after each lesson or at the end of each month, not for a term in advance. There's then little to chase if lessons stop. Pay by a method that leaves a record, such as a bank transfer, and ask for a short receipt each month so you hold a dated record of what you've paid.
Paid for something you haven't had?
Paid a tutor for lessons in advance? Ask them in writing how many are left and whether they'll teach them or refund them. Paid First Tutors itself for something you didn't get? Citizens Advice has a page on what to do when a company stops trading, including how to ask your card provider for a chargeback. It warns that your bank or card provider might not agree.
Ask for a handover note
Ask for half a page: the topics done so far, what's still shaky, the exam board, and any mock or past-paper marks. It's useful if you stay. If you move to someone new, the next tutor can start from what your child actually knows rather than guess.
Can I still get my data from First Tutors?
You can ask. Anyone can request a copy of the personal information a company holds about them, which is called a subject access request. It's normally free, and the company usually has a month to reply (Which?). First Tutors' privacy portal lets you ask for a copy of your data or ask for it to be anonymised. It checks your email address first, so use the one you registered with, and ask for everything they hold, payment records and messages included. Sooner is better, because the notice doesn't say how long the portal will stay open.
If you need a new tutor
Ask your child's teacher or head of department who they'd suggest for your child's exam board, and ask other parents at the school who they'd use again. Then search a directory (ours is one) and shortlist two or three tutors. Our guides to how to choose a tutor and the questions to ask a tutorcover the full checklist. This is what matters most when you're replacing a tutor part-way through the year.
- Work from a real paper. Have a recent mock or past paper to hand, marked if you can, because a tutor can only plan around what the paper shows. When mock results come back, our guide to bad mock results shows how to find where the marks went.
- Check the exam board. Ask which boards and specifications the tutor has taught recently, and make sure yours is one of them.
- Book a trial lesson and stay nearby.One lesson usually tells you more than a profile does. Stay in the house, or in the room if it's online, and watch whether your child asks questions and whether the tutor can explain a point a second way.
- Find out what's been checked.On TutorLab, a profile shows ID confirmed once we have confirmed a tutor's identity, and that's all it means. For DBS and qualifications, ask the tutor to show you the paperwork. Our guide to DBS checks explains what to ask for.
What to look for in a replacement platform
If you're searching for a First Tutors alternative, the useful questions are about the platform, not just the tutor. Take the answers from the platform's own pages, and keep a copy.
- What you pay, and when.Ask for the total before you commit, whether anything is due before you can talk to a tutor, and whether the price on a profile is the price you'll pay.
- Where your records live. This closure left families asking for their data. Find out where messages and lesson records are kept, and whether you can download them.
- What the badges mean.Ask any platform to say exactly what each badge covers and what it doesn't. Our own ID confirmed badge covers identity and nothing else.
- Where reviews come from. Reviews from real lessons tell you more than a rating with no source. On TutorLab, reviews come only from real, paid lessons.
On TutorLab you search by subject and area, read the profiles and message the tutors who fit. One all-in price: the price you see is the price you pay. To compare named platforms side by side, see our platform alternatives hub and UK tutoring platforms compared.
If you were a tutor on First Tutors
You can ask for a copy of your own data through the same privacy portal. We can't import First Tutors reviews, and nobody should promise to: reviews on TutorLab come only from real, paid lessons, so each one you earn is yours.
Create a TutorLab profile with accurate subjects, experience and availability (Free to start, no card needed). It's live as soon as you publish, so parents can find and message you again, and you can add the families you already teach to keep their lessons and invoices in one place. Optional software and payment services have separate current terms on their relevant surfaces.
The dates that matter now
These dates come from the exam bodies, apart from the mocks, which belong to your school. They're JCQ's key dates for the November 2026 and June 2027 series. Our GCSE exam dates for 2027 page lists the maths, English and science papers.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 2 to 11 November 2026 | November GCSE series: English Language and maths resits. The final date for entries was 4 October. |
| 13 January 2027 | Results for the November series go to candidates. |
| Set by your school | Year 11 mocks. The dates differ from school to school. |
| 21 February 2027 | Final date for entries to the June 2027 series. |
| 10 May 2027 | First exam on the summer common timetable. |
| 18 June 2027 | Last GCSE exam on the common timetable. |
| 19 August 2027 | GCSE results day. |
Is it too late to enter the November resits?
The standard deadline has passed: the final date for entries was 4 October 2026 (JCQ). Ask your child's school or college now whether they're entered. A late entry may still be possible, and if it isn't, the June 2027 series takes entries until 21 February 2027 (JCQ). Our GCSE resits 2026 page explains how entry works and who can sit.
Who sets the mock dates?
Your child's school does, and the dates change between schools and from year to year. One school's letter to parentsset its Year 11 mocks from 27 November 2025, while another school's noticestarted its round on 29 January 2025. Both are from earlier years, so look for your own school's letter or calendar, and ask for the marked papers when they come back.
Sources
- First Tutors, closure notice and privacy portal, read on 16 October 2026.
- Tutorperch, First Tutors has closed: what to do next, published 8 May 2026, and Sherpa, What happened to First Tutors?, both read on 16 October 2026. They compete with First Tutors and with us, and we use them only for the 8 May date.
- Which?, How do I make a subject access request?, dated 12 May 2026, read on 16 October 2026.
- Citizens Advice, If a company stops trading or goes out of business, read on 16 October 2026.
- JCQ, key dates in the examination cycle: GCSE November 2026 series (revision one, 3 September 2026) and June 2027 series (final), read on 16 October 2026.
- Two school notices on mock dates, both read on 16 October 2026: waltonstaffs.com, Year 11 mock examinations letter to parents (October 2025), and manchester.coopacademies.co.uk, Year 11 mock exams (January 2025).
Spotted a mistake or something that has changed? Email harry@trytutorlab.uk and we'll correct the page where it's wrong.