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

[Dogswimmingcompetition]

I work as a tutor. I work for three different families.
Over the summer holidays, one family like me to keep working, one family don’t have tutoring at all over the summer, but pay me year round. The final family is the family I work with the most, I’ve taught their child for almost three years. For the first year it was year round, last year they went away last minute for summer (I didn’t realise this was the plan) and I wasn’t paid all summer. I get the majority of my income from them and found it a real struggle for a couple of months.
Their child finishes their exams in a couple of weeks and mentioned something about our last lesson being in a couple of weeks (much earlier than I expected) This will leave me without pay for 3 months, which will set me back a lot.
I’m unable to commit to other families who have asked for tutoring as they would want all the time, not just in the holidays.
Would it be cheeky to put this to the father and ask if there’s any way they can pay me over the holidays and explain the situation?
I enjoy working with this family and would rather stay with them if possible, I know that i’m valued there also as the mum has told me in the past that they’re keen to keep me/continue with me.

I think the issue is that you haven’t been clear about your terms with your clients.

Do you have a formal contract with your clients? If so, you should expect them to honour the terms under which you agreed to supply your services- whatever that is. If you don’t have one then you are a bit stuck.

As a start point, I would expect self-employed contractors (as you are) to build holiday costs into their fees, OR to have a contract explicitly stating a retainer/full fees to retain their services during holiday periods. If I did not have the latter agreement in place, I would simply have assumed that the former applied and would not expect to pay during times I am not using their services. If you have not stated your terms explicitly, then that is your error, I’m afraid.

I think you perhaps have to approach them and explain if they don’t need/want their slots over the summer, you will have to fill them with other clients and cannot guarantee them their current slots come the start of the next academic year. They will either offer to pay a retainer/full fees to keep your services or will be happy to take their chances that you will have space come September. You’ll have to deal with whatever their decision is, and if they chose not to pay, you fill their slots if you can, and in turn they’ll have to deal with the outcome if you can’t fit them in during the next academic year.

The only alternative is to introduce a new contract between you and your clients which outlines the fees you charge during school holidays and ask them to agree to your new terms. If they say no, then that’s that.

Referring to the OP's punctuation and how she signs off her messages are irrelevant to the OP. It's just being bitchy.

How mean.

She's literally asking for business advice. She's getting advice from people with businesses. If she was asking about how to speak to her mate or her boyfriend about something, fair enough, but this is a professional relationship.

This is exactly what I said to them

I'm very familiar with the parents of some of my students. People that I didn't know at all prior to working for them. One of the mums told me about finding a possibly cancerous lump before family. Another mum tried to arrange an interview for me at her DS's school (I'm not interested but it was kind of her).

It's a strange relationship, parent, child, tutor. Blurs the boundaries at times. But then, so does teaching. Some of my ex school students are now friends (all grown up with families of their own).

100% this

I don't care about the kisses. The inaccurate grammar would put me off though given what your are paid to do.

Why do you think it will be awkward?
I'm trying to understand where your mind is at, can you explain why you think it will be awkward?

What are your current plans for the summer, now that you know this particular family won't be paying you?

Lots of posters have been trying to help you and I'm sure are still willing to help you but you actually have to engage with posters. To date you've been ignoring important advice because you've only been focusing on getting summer pay from this family.

I’ve taken all advice on board and appreciate it.

I’m wondering if it will be awkward *If I still have space available, as though i’m coming crawling back?

It shouldn't be awkward. If you have space you say something like:

"Hi X, I hope you all had a fabulous summer. Term is starting soon and I have some spaces left if X would like to resume tutoring from X date? Let me know asap and I'll get them booked in and will email a copy of the contract for the new term."

If you don't have space, just say:

"Hi, I hope you had a good summer. Unfortunately, I don't have any spaces at present, but if you would like, I can let you know when one opens up?"

Easy!

I agree with this. Have a contract ready, if they want to accept, that's great. If not, their loss. You're not going to crawl back to them, because any future work you do with them will be because they've accepted your terms and conditions.

Let them know you have some hours available and what they are. In future, don't be so flexible with your time when working with this family. You have to take back some power here. From what you've described, they've had all the power so far (because you've allowed them by not setting out your terms at the start). This has to stop.

To date, it seems they've been treating you more like a casual babysitter. I think you've allowed it because you've been so fearful of losing their income. It's a terrible idea to rely so heavily on 1 client. Over the Summer take on more clients and put yourself in a position where any future income from this particular family is welcome but not an absolute necessity. Because you have adequate income from your other clients.

When working with clients don't expect holiday pay. Many, many posters advised you not to ask for summer payment. It's not the norm for tutors to get paid over holidays.

A lot of great advice has already been given here, take a read through it again. Ask if there's anything in particular you're unsure of regarding setting out reasonable terms and conditions. You might be a great teacher but to be successful in self employment you also need some business sense including the ability to communicate clearly how you operate. Everyone makes mistakes, you have the chance here to get free advice from more experienced tutors and other self employed posters, so that you can avoid any more.