Announced 8th May 2026
Published 8th May 2026 · Updated 26 May 2026 · Authored by Robert S., checked by Fiona H. (former First Tutors user)
First Tutors has closed.
Here's what to do next.
First Tutors closed permanently on 8th May 2026 after more than nineteen years of trading. The directory and tutor profiles are no longer accessible. Below: a short guide for parents looking for a new tutor and for tutors who had reviews on the platform.
What happened
What happened to First Tutors?
First Tutors is operated by EduNation Limited, registered at Companies House under number 06071367 and incorporated on 29 January 2007. The company traded as firsttutors.co.uk for more than nineteen years before publishing the closure notice on 8th May 2026.
No reason for the closure has been published. The notice thanks customers and tutors but does not explain the decision. Several theories have circulated on Reddit and tutor forums; none of them is sourced, and we won't repeat them here. If First Tutors publishes a reason, we'll update the page.
EduNation remains the controller of First Tutors user data while the company exists, and the named DPO address remains live. UK GDPR rights are intact for now, which matters for tutors looking to recover their reviews and message history.
The announcement
What First Tutors said.
"After more than 20 years of trading, First Tutors has made the difficult decision to close. We'd like to thank all of the customers and tutors who have used the platform to facilitate private tuition services for their support over the years.
If you have an existing query, please contact info@firsttutors.co.uk, and we will do our best to respond as quickly as possible under the circumstances; however, responses will likely be delayed.
If you have a data privacy enquiry, please contact dpo@firsttutors.co.uk."
Source: firsttutors.co.uk , retrieved 8th May 2026.
For parents
Looking for a new tutor?
Six UK platforms are credible alternatives to First Tutors today. The deep-dive walks through each platform's pricing and how they rank tutors, with a decision framework for choosing between them. The short version is below.
- Tutorful: per-lesson service fee added on top of the tutor's rate.
- MyTutor: per-lesson commission, up to 49% per their published terms.
- Tutor Hunt: lead fee bundled into the displayed rate.
- Superprof: monthly subscription unlock; tutors can pay for higher placement.
- TutorDex: scaled finder's fee from £9.99 to £39.99 per introduction.
- Tutorperch: flat £9.99 per tutor unlocked, once. No commission. Ranking formula published.
For tutors
Tutored on First Tutors?
There are two ways to recover what you had on First Tutors: claim your old profile from our archive (fast), and file a Data Subject Access Request to recover anything the archive didn't catch. We recommend you do both. The full walkthrough is on the next page.
Our commitment
Why this won't happen with us.
The reason this page exists is that First Tutors closed without publishing a structured export tool for tutor reviews. We didn't want to be in a position to leave our own users in that spot.
If Tutorperch ever closes, we give 30 days' written notice and trigger an automatic data export for every user. Section 13 of the terms of service: in the contract, not on a forum post. If a marketplace that doesn't bin its own users when it closes matters to you, browse tutors above or list as a tutor at /list.
Questions
Common questions.
- Has First Tutors actually closed?
- Yes. The closure notice was published on 8th May 2026 after more than nineteen years of trading (EduNation Limited incorporated 29 January 2007). The directory is no longer accessible; the homepage shows the announcement.
- Why did First Tutors close?
- No reason has been published. The closure notice thanks customers and tutors but does not explain the decision. Several theories have circulated on Reddit and tutor forums; none of them is sourced, and we won't repeat them as fact. If First Tutors says more, the page will be updated.
- Who owns or operates First Tutors?
- First Tutors is operated by EduNation Limited, registered at Companies House under number 06071367 and incorporated on 29 January 2007. EduNation's ICO registration number is Z1938712. That's the reference an ICO case officer will look up if you escalate a DSAR complaint.
- How can I contact First Tutors?
- Two addresses are named in the closure notice and both remain live as of 11 May 2026: info@firsttutors.co.uk for general enquiries (the notice warns of delayed responses during the wind-down) and dpo@firsttutors.co.uk for data privacy enquiries. The DPO address is the one used in the data-recovery template at /first-tutors-closing/recover.
- I was a parent or student looking for a tutor. Where do I go now?
- Read the full alternatives guide at /first-tutors-alternative. It covers the six live UK platforms parents are moving to (Tutorful, MyTutor, Tutor Hunt, Superprof, TutorDex, plus Tutorperch), with pricing detail, vetting comparisons and a decision framework for choosing between them. Tutorperch is one of them: a flat £9.99 per tutor unlocked, no commission, with manually-reviewed safeguarding.