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.

Do you use contracts OP? Because if you don't, your clients can drop you anytime they like with no notice. Which is what it seems like this family is doing.

I understand if they don’t want to pay over summer, but the abrupt announcement from the student that lessons would be done v shortly and not the end of term is not very fair, imo.

But they did it last year and you said nothing! This is really something you should have discussed after they did it the first time.

As you keep avoiding the question, it's very obvious to everyone that you don't have a contract with them. You need to put one in place BEFORE you tutor them again next year and you need to discuss summer plans with them this week.

Your contractual terms need to build in your expectations. Eg either;

• you charge a rate that earns you enough to cover holiday/low work periods
• you ask for notice periods that help you replace clients without gaps
• you warn parents you won't hold spaces for people who don't pay through the summer
• you sign people up for 12 month contract commitments

You need to expect that demand for your business will fall in school holidays so thats when you are best planning to take your own holidays, and its poor business to take them in term time.

Its also to be expected that exam students won't want your services after the end of May or so when they've sat the exam. As a pp said you need to diversify - start summer revision sessions for the year below from June to fill out your schedule.

Most tutors I know charge a very high hourly rate to cover that the work is often term time only.

I'm also a tutor. Of course you cannot ask a family to pay you for work you aren't doing!

They’re not dropping me, we will continue in September

It's not 'cheeky' to set out your terms. You can just say that from now on you want X amount every term, or a retainer over the holidays, or whatever works for you. Then it's up to them if they want to carry on. I used to run an evening class and charged per session. But sometimes lots of people were absent and I hardly earned anything then so I changed to one fee per term. Not only was my pay guaranteed, but also people turned up more often because they'd paid for all the classes.

No, they did it with summer last year, but I still worked until the end of summer term

If it was not part of your contract you need to tell them you are changing your contract and require payments whenever you are available, and perhaps they get X weeks non-payment holidays a year. Or tell them you need a retention payment over summer.

There is a risk you will lose them if they don't want to pay, but there is no other way to make it happen.

They go to school, but have help after school, I don’t think that’s unusual?

Does the child have additional needs/learning disabilities? A child shouldn't need constant private tuition throughout secondary school. Its not usual to have this. Its actually not great for their independent learning skills to have so much scaffolding with homework, it tends to lead to a collapse at university when they can't study for themselves.

But you've said they dropped you last summer with no notice and that the child has told you she's stopping soon when you expected to finish the end of term. So that is dropping you without notice if you are expecting to get paid all year round regardless of the fact they will pick you up again in September.

They’re not dropping me, we will continue in September

Well no you don't have to accept this. Just politely explain if they stop, their space will be offered to someone else, and its unlikely they'll get it back in september.

It feels like you wanted to be paid, but don't want the effort of finding a replacement pupil if they aren't willing to pay to keep their space.

Not a tutor but our childminder charged half price over the school holidays and wasn’t available for childcare during that time. Her other families were teachers so didn’t need childcare anyway but I had to pay half price to her along with full price for a “holiday” childminder. That was what was stated in her contract so it was pay it or find another childminder. I think you need to sort out a contract with a retainer fee stipulated and they either pay it or you find new clients.

I am a self-employed tutor and I don’t work for families on my terms: I work for them on mine. Going forwards, you need to let them know your terms & conditions, and then stick firmly to them. If you are only working for three families, you are quite a precarious position regardless. I’d suggest taking on at least one other family. If the family who have disappeared for the summer want you back later then it will need to be on your terms and you probably need to alert them to the change.

I know that you say you are worried about losing them, but their child is going to leave your tutelage eventually, and this is business, not a friendship. The problem is that the boundaries can get very blurred especially with long term students and their parents, but you need to be the one to set the terms, not them!

There are plenty of Facebook tutoring groups that can give you support with this.

Not all curriculums follow GCSEs. They aren't monolithic. There are other qualifications.

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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

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?

Why don't you have a contract in place?