Private tutors
More than one in four secondary school students in the UK have private tutors. Source: NeONBRAND/Unsplash

Hampshire is the most expensive place to hire private tutors in the UK, a new study has found.

Tutors in this county on the southern coast of England charge an average hourly cost of £39.56, according to the report by online tutoring platform TutorHouse. London and Surrey rounded up the top three most expensive regions, with average hourly rates of £39.01 and £38.89 respectively.

Below are the top ten most expensive regions to hire a tutor in the UK:

Region Average hourly rate
Hampshire £39.56
London £39.01
Surrey £38.89
Manchester £38.77
Warwickshire £38.10
Somerset £37.35
Buckinghamshire £37.12
Oxfordshire £37.02
Sussex £36.97
Wiltshire £36.55

Alex Dyer, founder of Tutor House, said:

“For thousands of students every year, private tuition is the difference between obtaining the results they want and being disappointed. Being privately tutored is becoming ever more common and affordable, but what many people don’t consider is how much the cost of tuition can vary, and like with most things, location plays a big part in what is charged. So, we decided to show people just how much the price fluctuates based on where in the UK you are.”

“Our findings were somewhat surprising, as we expected London to be at the top of the list, however, Hampshire is an affluent area, so it’s logical that tuition will be on the pricier side. What is very clear from the data is that there is a North/South divide, and like house prices, tuition costs more in the south of England.”

In regions with a high concentration of private and grammar schools, the research also found that private tuition is more expensive by around £5.80 an hour on average.

More secondary students in the UK are hiring private tutors when compared to previous years. In a poll by Sutton Trust published this September, more than one in four (27 percent) of students in UK secondary schools have had private tutoring in the past two years, an increase from 18 percent when the survey started back in 2005.

Most expensive subjects

Location isn’t the only factor varying private tuition costs in the UK. Certain subjects one takes can make it even pricier than hiring tutors in the most expensive UK regions.

Mandarin is the costliest subject for private tutoring in the UK, according to the study, which was based on the platform’s internal data.

Tutors charge an average hourly rate of £53 for this subject, which is £13.44 or around 33 percent more than the average hourly rate charged at Hampshire. Physics and Chemistry are the second and third most expensive subjects, costing £47.50 and £45.80 an hour on average respectively. History was found to be the cheapest, at £32 an hour on average.

(£1 = US$1.30 at the time of writing)

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