How tutors should invoice: a practical guide

At the start of each block, in advance. Invoicing lesson by lesson in arrears generates thirty small invoices a term and makes cancellations somebody else's decision. Itemise labour and materials separately, put a real due date on it rather than "on receipt", and send it as a PDF the client can forward to whoever actually pays. For tutors, the detail that matters most: blocks paid up front are a prepayment — invoice at the start of the block, not lesson by lesson.

How to price the work

Per session, sold in blocks. Blocks reduce cancellations, smooth your income and cut the number of invoices you write by a factor of ten.

What the lines should look like

For a block of lessons, a line that reads well is:

Mathematics tuition, 10 sessions, 1 hour each

Specific enough that the person approving payment — often not the person who hired you — can see what they are paying for. Here is the same job as a finished invoice line:

Mathematics tuition — block of 10 sessions
1 hour each, weekly from 6 September, GCSE higher tier, papers included — £400.00

Deposits

A block paid in advance is the deposit. Invoice at the start of the block, not lesson by lesson.

Materials and markup

Exam papers, textbooks and licences for online platforms should be named in the block price or charged separately at cost — not quietly absorbed.

The mistake tutors make most

Blocks paid up front are a prepayment — invoice at the start of the block, not lesson by lesson.

Cancellations. A 24-hour cancellation policy is standard and completely unenforceable if it first appears on the invoice. Put it on the booking confirmation.

Cancellations belong on the booking, not the invoice

A 24-hour cancellation policy is standard and completely unenforceable if its first appearance is on an invoice after a missed lesson. Put it on the booking confirmation, restate it on the block invoice, and it becomes a term rather than a penalty. The same applies to whether unused sessions in a block carry over to the next term — decide it once, in writing, before a parent asks.

Getting paid, in this trade specifically

Parents are reliable payers who forget. A block invoice with a due date before the first lesson removes almost all chasing, because payment becomes the thing that confirms the booking rather than a task after it.

The rest is the same for everyone: what has to be on the document, how to number it, how to chase it and how long to keep it. If you are registered for tax, the rate and the label depend on your country.

EstimateBill tracks what is unpaid, reminds you on the due date, and writes the follow-up message for you in three tones. See how the reminders work.