Freelance
Most of us would appreciate more income, so it’s no surprise that Brits are increasingly turning to side hustles to top up their coffers. Almost 40% of us have a side hustle in 2025, which is making us an average extra income of £914 a month.
It can be difficult to decide what side hustle to take up, though. What’s going to make the best money, without involving too much risk or too high a start-up cost?
Well, if you’ve got skills, of almost any sort, passing them on to others through teaching or tutoring can be the ideal side hustle.
In this article, we’ll cover how to make money tutoring or teaching, and how that can be turned into a side hustle. We will also assess whether you’re better off with online or in-person tuition, and how much you can expect to make from your new side hustle.
If you’ve got a skill you can pass on, pretty much!
It does help to be good at working with other people, though, and you’ll need to have extensive experience and knowledge of your field to ensure that you’re capable of teaching it well.
It’s worth noting that you may need a DBS check if you’re intending to tutor children privately, which does have an attached cost.
You should also be aware that it can be harder to teach effectively than you might think. Even if you’re incredibly well-versed in the material you plan to teach, you should consider whether you’re well-suited to tutoring, and whether you can pass on your knowledge effectively to students of varying capabilities.
That’s a good question. In some cases none at all – you don’t legally have to have a specific qualification in order to offer your services as a tutor (although obviously you would need a teaching qualification to actually work in a school).
But that doesn’t mean it isn’t helpful to have qualifications of some sort if you want to tutor. Your prospective clients will feel more confident in a tutor with relevant qualifications, and some agencies or professional organisations may require you to be qualified to join.
It also depends on what exactly you want to teach, with some fields being much more rigorous than others in their requirements. For example, if you want to offer fitness classes in the UK, you’re required to be qualified in order to minimise any risk of injury to your students.
In short, you’ll need to check on the requirements for the exact field you’re looking to tutor in – but regardless of the legal minimums, you’ll certainly find it easier if you do already have a teaching or tutoring qualification.
Tutoring kids in English, Maths or foreign languages may be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of tutors, but there’s actually more variety in teaching or tutoring than you might expect.
We’ve listed some of the most common forms of tutoring below, but depending on your existing skills there may well be other possibilities open to you.
Academic tutoring is what we might consider the ‘default’ form of tutoring. This can come at all levels, from primary school children to teenagers to students at university.
Maths, English and Science are the most in demand subjects for school age children, so if you have experience in those subjects you’re off to a good start as an academic tutor.
You can sign up to be a tutor at online platforms such as MyTutor or Tutorful (neither of which requires you to have a teaching qualification, although Tutorful does ask for teaching/tutoring experience) which will help you find students.
Alternatively, there are in-person programmes across the UK to help children keep up with school, where you may be able to find part time or self-employed work as a tutor.
If you’re more interested in working with older students, such as undergraduates in your subject, you can advertise your services with your university and help younger students through their courses.
TEFL is a well-established programme always in need of native English speakers. You will generally need to complete a TEFL qualification in order to gain work as a teacher of English as a foreign language, but once you have your certificate you’re in an excellent position to find work.
A TEFL qualification allows you to teach English online, from the comfort of your own home, and you’ll be able to work around your existing schedule.
As well as teaching English as a side hustle within the UK, you could consider teaching English abroad, allowing you to earn money while travelling the world.
For a skilled musician, giving music lessons as a side hustle is an obvious choice. You don’t need a specific qualification to give private lessons in an instrument – though it may well be helpful to gain a music teaching qualification to help you teach your instrument effectively.
You’ll be able to set your schedule according to what works best for you, and you can often receive students at your own home, depending on the instrument they play, meaning you don’t even have to set foot outside.
One downside is that many young students have little enthusiasm for their instrument, and are learning it at their parents’ insistence. Teaching unmotivated kids isn’t likely to be much fun – but you will get the odd talented, passionate student who makes it all worthwhile.
It’s not exactly a traditional form of tuition, but offering private fitness instruction or teaching fitness classes is definitely something to consider if you’re a gym bunny or sports enthusiast.
You will need to ensure you’re appropriately qualified to offer fitness instruction, as this is a legal requirement, but once you’re qualified you can make reasonably good money from a fitness instructing side hustle.
The type of fitness tuition you offer will depend on your existing skills and expertise. If you’re experienced in a particular sport you could consider becoming a coach, or perhaps you might decide to offer yoga classes, or be a personal trainer.
Another alternative is to look at offering crafting classes or workshops, if you’re an expert crafter already. You won’t need any sort of qualification to offer classes of this nature, but you will need to be highly skilled.
Depending on your skillset, you might offer pottery lessons, jewellery making, painting, sketching, sewing, rug-making, wood-working, or really anything else you’re already expert in!
Similarly, if you know your way around a kitchen you could consider offering cookery classes. You won’t technically need to be qualified in order to teach cookery, but it would be wise to at least gain a food hygiene certificate, to make sure you keep yourself and your students safe – and to reassure your students that you know what you’re doing.
Offering specialist courses can be particularly lucrative – for example in a certain cuisine, or in baking or cake decorating.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both online and in-person tutoring – although some, of course, can only be done in person (e.g. pottery or cookery classes).
Similarly, although some people do offer lessons in a musical instrument online, you’re likely to find your teaching is much more effective if you’re there in person, and able to manually demonstrate a technique to your students.
For other types of tutoring, it’s less clear cut. It’s quite common for academic and language teaching to take place entirely online, which has the benefit of eliminating transport costs and allowing you to fit more lessons into your schedule.
Some parents may feel more comfortable with you in person, however, and it can be easier to build a rapport with your students when you’re physically present, avoiding the awkward silences of video calls.
This does depend on what exactly you’re teaching, as typical rates vary significantly.
Tutors working on sites like MyTutor or Tutorful, for example, typically charge £25-£40 or more per hour. You’re free to set your own rates, but do bear in mind that the platform will add on a service charge, meaning that the price a student or parent pays will end up being higher than the amount you receive.
If you decide to work as a teacher of English as a foreign language online, your rates will often be set by the agency or platform you choose to work with. You probably won’t make a fortune from your teaching, but you should end up at a rate that’s comfortably above minimum wage.
If you decide to work abroad, you may find that your effective rate of pay is significantly higher, at least when compared to the cost of living in the country in question.
Pricing for classes, such as fitness classes or craft workshops, is structured differently, in that you’re charging each person a fee to attend a class together.
Check the cost of similar classes in your area to help you gauge appropriate charges for your classes, and remember to subtract the costs of materials and equipment when working out your profit.
If you’ve got skills and experience, passing them on through teaching or tutoring can be an exceptionally rewarding and reasonably lucrative side hustle.
That said, depending on the type of tutoring you’re considering, there may be qualifications you need to acquire, or you might simply feel that working with people just isn’t for you.
Another option to consider is Matched Betting, one of the UK’s best side hustles. It can be done entirely online, requires no existing skills or experience, and can make you £300 – £1000 a month – it’s even tax free! To find out more, take a look at the OddsMonkey beginner’s guide to Matched Betting, and make your first step towards your new side hustle today.
*DISCLAIMER: We’re legally required to state that there is no guarantee of specific results each month. The amount of money that you earn can vary dependant on the time and effort that you commit each month.
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