Is it cheeky to ask to be paid over the holidays?

Which exams?

unfortunately it’s on you if you haven’t been crystal clear re your terms of engagement. Qi pay a lot out re different classes and don’t have a formal contract as such but have very clear dates and notice periods.

My daughter’s music is term time only and very clear re term dates and policies re missed lessons.

We use an online tutor club which has a 45 week term so slightly longer than term time only. The dates are clearly set. If I can’t make them, it’s my problem. I’m not sure I’d use a tutor expecting 52 weeks of the year as I think kids need a break from learning.

from the new term start you need a standardised contract with a cancellation notice period OP.

if she is able to decide as and when you need a buffer for this sort of instability. especially as it seems its a pretty regular occurrence.

OP, I can't see that you have answered the contract question, so maybe you don't have one, or you do and it doesn't cover everything.

Either way, you now need to have a contract with each client, that specifies payment terms, what happens in holidays, sickness (on both sides) etc. If you want a retainer over the summer holidays, then you put that in the contract. This is the only way that you can hold somebody to payment if they don't pay you.

Otherwise, as a self employed person, you will have to accept that for several weeks of the year, you won't have any other work, or you will have to find seasonal work to cover those gaps.

My Tutor client has watertight contracts with her clients. She also does exam invigilating to earn extra money . Not many people want lessons all year round.

Well most people I know have only had tutoring of a couple or few subjects by tutors who have a range of other kids they're tutoring too.

I can't believe that so many people have tutoring for many or all subjects nowadays!! Goodness.

Yes where parents wanted the tutor to be available in September (as we are really talking about the Summer hols). Either they charge a retainer through non teaching periods or they charge a higher rate per hour during term time. (Tutors are excessively in demand around here as well).

Sorry re 1:2:1 - that is the standard model around here. Sometimes tutors will take children in pairs but individual is commoner. I’m talking about private tutoring of regular school subjects rather than elective subjects outside of school.

You need to draw up contracts. Bizarre to assume you would be paid year round as a tutor. With no contract in place, of course they can drop you when it suits. It also means you are free to drop them in favour of a family who will honor the new contract you are going to draw up, if you wish to.
If you don't want to draw up a contract like this, you need increase your fees and budget for void periods.

Never seen that with tutors and I'm in tutor land here with grammars and selective schools galore.

Have you seen this in place with tutors (unless they're working on a 1-2-1) I certainly never have?

Except the PP was incorrect.

Its quite common for service providers to require retainers during prolonged breaks taken by clients who then expect your availability on their return. That isn’t a “perk” its providing a guarantee of availability in return for a fee. Clients who don’t want to pay a retainer don’t get to assume access to the service on their return.

😂You've spectacularly missed my point. You don't know how how to use a basic form of punctuation; you use it incorrectly to demarcate a very common plural (GCSEs). It's not about the specific qualification, but the lack of comprehension more generally.

I’m saying this with kindness, but I think you need a more robust and professional contract to outline all of this from the start. You can then either charge more per session so that you cover yourself over a “dip” in the summer OR you can charge a retainer fee for the summer sessions. Clients will then know up front what the expectation is.

You’re freelance. You don’t get paid when you don’t work. I understand that this is tough but I’m surprised you didn’t think of this before going in to tutoring. It’s the nature of it, surely.

I’ve employed tutors at various times and if any of them asked to be paid to do nothing, I’d politely decline.

They are taking you for granted.

They're not taking her for granted - she's doing casual work for them as a tutor with no contract in place. They're entitled to cancel at short notice or stop using her altogether whenever they like.

Why don't you have a contract in place?

They are dropping you but on the assumption they can pick you up again at their convenience, just as they did last year. They are taking you for granted. Also a child too young to be taking formal exams is not your client and should not be telling you when the sessions will stop. Your arrangement is with their parents.

When you are self employed you need to practice difficult conversations around services and billing with clients. The easiest way to do this as PPs say is with a formal contract which lays out sessions to be provided, optional extras such as revision sessions, notice periods for cancellation of sessions and fees applicable, retainers for extended breaks etc.

I’m also surprised at parents paying for tutoring where there is no specific need or problem to address with extra lessons. When does the child learn to manage their own work?

Yes, this is what I and all my friends have experienced as well with tutors.

Well it’s plain and not open to interpretation language which is probably something you should take on board! Stop pussyfooting round, you can’t not advocate for yourself in case someone takes offence that’s their issue.

It's possible to be employed year round as a tutor, but you do need to have more than one element to your work.

If you work online, internationally, academic years around the world vary. For example, India goes back to school just as Europe is breaking up for the summer vacation. Aus and NZ have their long holiday over Nov/Dec and are in school for July / August.

Also working as an examiner keeps your training up to date AND gives you an extension to the school year. And actually, if you teach international students, you can pick up extra exam marking. There are exam series in May/June, October, November, March. And with examining, you can work as slowly or as hard as you like and since you get paid per paper, the faster you work, the more you earn.

Also, there will be students (China and S Korea) that want summer holiday online tutoring.

So by diversifying, you'll hugely increase your income.

I think this, as they may realise and decide to keep you on a retainer.

Yes, so they dropped you for months without notice. And now they are dropping you with no notice again, because you didn't say anything! You said they unexpectedly left you without pay last year, but it's only now that you're considering whether you should say something or not. You need to put on your big girl pants and discuss money with them!

You should offer some sort of summer school during the holidays. Try to get 4 or 5 kids for each session and have it at your own home. It’s really popular in my town; one of the high school kids does it and makes a loud during the summer holidays.

It seems to me that you have been a bit casual about it all and they are then setting their own terms. You need to get a bit more formal about it.

You have two choices really wrt the summer. Either have a 12 month contract and have them pay each term, including summer, upfront, or increase your prices so you are effectively charging for the summer. I would suggest having a chat with the parents and seeing what their plans are going forward. If they want to keep their place you can tell them your tutoring year starts in June (or whenever) and they need to pay by the term in order to ensure a place. If they don't want to pay for the summer term, tell them to contact you again in august and if you have space, they can book you for the next term then but you can't make any guarantees.

One of mine had tutoring for a couple of years. We paid by the term and tough luck if we missed a week. She was obliging if we needed to reschedule a time and equally, we were obliging if she wanted to reschedule for another child. We never paid for the summer but, given her prices, she had built that in to her pricing. I think that can be more palatable for a lot of people than paying when they are not using the service.

If they are going away over the summer you could suggest online during the summer.

Im guessing you don’t have a contract? So you will want to bump up your fees to cover the payg nature downside of not giving them a contract that allows you to cover downtimes better or get a proper contract of you need minimum amount of sessions etc. I’d really recommend getting a proper contract sorted especially if this is the family you’re really relying on, I work freelance and it doesn’t cost too much and you can get boiler plate type ones