Most parents choosing a tutor ask about subject knowledge and price. Both matter, and neither predicts whether your child will improve.
Start with assessment. Ask: how will you find out what my child actually needs? A tutor who plans to start at chapter one of a textbook has already told you they will be teaching a syllabus rather than a child.
Then ask about the plan. Any competent tutor should be able to describe, in plain language, what the first six weeks look like and what should be different at the end of them. Vagueness here is not humility. It is the absence of a plan.
Ask how you will hear about progress, and how often. "I'll let you know if there are problems" is not a reporting system. You should expect to know what is going well, what is not, and what changed as a result.
Ask what happens if it is not working. A good answer involves reviewing the match, changing the approach, or being honest that a different kind of support is needed. A defensive answer tells you what the next difficult conversation will be like.
Finally, ask about consistency. Will this same person teach my child every week? Agencies that rotate tutors are optimising for their own scheduling, not your child's learning relationship.
This is the standard we hold ourselves to, and it is the reason we assess, plan, match by hand and keep tutors consistent. If another provider answers these five questions better than we do, hire them — your child is the point.