What Cardiff tutoring pays
A Cardiff University maths or science undergrad tutoring GCSE charges £25-32 an hour and books five to eight hours a week — £125-256 weekly, £4,500-9,000 over an academic year.
A PGCE student or trainee teacher tutoring GCSE and A-level can charge £35-42 an hour and book 8-12 hours a week. £280-500 weekly, £10,000-18,000 over an academic year.
A qualified teacher with a track record of A-grade results charges £45-65 an hour for A-level work. WJEC-experienced teachers earn a small premium because the supply pool is smaller. At 12 hours a week that’s £540-780 weekly or £19,000-28,000 over an academic year, on top of a teaching salary.
Full-time independent tutors typically run 20-25 paid contact hours a week at £55-80 per hour. Realistic gross earnings: £40,000-58,000 a year.
Welsh-medium tutors operate at a small premium because the pool is small — a Welsh-speaking maths or chemistry tutor can charge £45-65 even at GCSE level and is rarely short of work.
Where the demand is
Hot: A-level chemistry (WJEC and English boards), A-level maths (WJEC and AQA), GCSE physics, 11+ for Howell’s, Cathedral School and Cardiff Sixth Form College, Year 5/6 SATs prep in CF14 and CF23.
Steady: GCSE maths, GCSE English (WJEC heavy), A-level biology, A-level psychology, Welsh as a first or second language, KS3 across the board.
Underserved: Welsh-medium tutoring across all subjects, A-level Further Maths, STEP/MAT prep, A-level computer science.
Geographic concentration: Cyncoed (CF23), Penylan (CF23), Whitchurch and Rhiwbina (CF14), Lisvane (CF14), Pontcanna and Canton (CF11), Penarth (CF64). Less in CF24 inner-city — though student-tutor demand exists there.
What separates a busy Cardiff tutor from an empty diary
Profile completeness with WJEC specifics. “I teach maths” is weak. “I prepare students for WJEC A-level Mathematics with focus on Pure topic gaps and the Statistics applied content” converts strongly. Welsh-medium tutors should explicitly state Welsh-medium capability — the search filter is heavily used.
Native or near-native Welsh fluency is a real differentiator. If you’re Welsh-speaking and willing to tutor in Welsh, mention it prominently — Welsh-medium families specifically search for this and the supply pool is small.
Response time. Tutors who reply within four hours convert at 60-70%; 24-hour responses drop to 30-40%. Set notifications.
Reviews. Your first ten clients are the hardest. After eight to ten five-star reviews you start moving up search results.
How to apply, what we charge, and getting started
Sign up at thetutorlink.com/register?type=tutor. Submit your degree or qualification, a 200-word personal statement, your subjects, levels, exam boards (specify WJEC, AQA, OCR, Edexcel separately), Welsh-medium capability if relevant, hourly rate and availability. We verify within 48 hours.
Our fee is 5% per completed session. No subscription, no profile fee, no exclusivity. You can list elsewhere too. Compared to Tutorful (25%), MyTutor (~22%) or SuperProf (20%), you keep an extra £15-20 per £100 of tutoring. Over a year of part-time work that’s typically £700-1,500 back in your pocket.
Free 30-minute trials with prospective students are standard. They protect both sides. Most tutors find their trial-to-paid conversion sits at 70-80%. Treat the trial as a real session — bring a structured plan, identify the gap, demonstrate a teaching technique.
Apply, build the profile, respond fast, and Cardiff’s families will find you. WJEC and Welsh-medium demand is currently outstripping supply.
A practical onboarding pattern that works in Cardiff: launch at slightly below your target rate to build five-star reviews fast, then lift the rate after eight to ten completed sessions. Tutors who try to launch at their long-run target rate often stall because they have no review history yet. The platform’s search ranking rewards completed sessions and review volume — early momentum matters more than early hourly rate.
If you teach a WJEC subject, lead with that on the profile. “WJEC A-level Chemistry — Paper 1, 2 and 3 specialist” is a search-friendly headline. Cardiff parents searching for tutors will type ‘WJEC’ into the filter, and tutors who don’t include the term in their profile won’t appear. The same applies to Welsh-medium: if you can teach in Welsh, say so prominently.
Demand peaks in two windows. September to November as parents plan the academic year, and February to April as mock results roll in and exam panic sets in. Quieter windows are December (Christmas), late June to August (holidays), and the immediate fortnight before exams (students cancel to revise). Plan your availability around this — the tutors who do well take on extra hours in the busy windows and use the quiet ones for personal time, training, or paid alternative work.
Cardiff is a sensibly priced city to tutor in. The combination of WJEC specialism, Welsh-medium demand, the strong university supply, and the relatively low cost of living make tutoring here a viable side income or full-time career path. Apply, build the profile properly, and the platform will route the work to you.