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.

IMO, if you find a really good tutor, it is worth paying them for holidays. My DC has a tutor that has an astronomical hourly rate.

She picks her hours. We fit in with her. If she wanted holiday pay, I'd pay it. DC has SEN and she is one of the only teachers that's been about to help them, so I'll do whatever it takes to keep her. She's worth her weight in gold.

Unless it's agreed upfront I don't think you can suddenly expect to be paid.

DD had tutors and we paid per session with one and with another we paid monthly in advance the number of sessions per month. The one we paid monthly didn't cover school holidays unless we agreed prior like to cover upcoming mocks for example.

I assumed that the tutor took holidays into account when pricing the sessions like most self-employed people do.

Before the summer holidays the tutor would check if we would like to continue and we did a deposit payment of 1/2 of the September invoice.

I wouldn't tutor without a contract - what happens if the child is sick, the child is unavailable, you are sick/unavailable? How much notice either side? Holiday retainer? What if you tutor on a Monday and it's a bank holiday, etc. You can't retrospectively ask them for something different, you need to be clear at the outset. Get a contract in place for the next academic year.

@Dogswimmingcompetition I'm amazed at the amount of tutoring that goes on that doesn't cover 11+, GCSE or A-level from reading on here and your experience.

May I ask, is this mainly kids from certain cultural backgrounds? I have seen the intense pressure some kids are under. Not sure it results in the best doctors, engineers etc if these kids have been tutored to an inch and perhaps way beyond their natural ability.

It's quite sad but obviously I have noted that tutoring more broadly even at A-level/GCSEs have mushroomed.

I take it you don't have a proper formal contract (you don't want to pay taxes) which is your choice, but you must realise, surely, that it is a double-edged sword?

How busy are you? I would be rather miffed if a tutor we have had for years suddenly demanded I pay over the summer or risk losing my slots. Depending an how good I feel they are I may look elsewhere for a tutor. At minimum it would spoil the relationship and I wouldn’t be quick to recommend them. If I was paying over the summer I would also expect you to be there the whole summer, not take any holidays yourself.

It seems clear from the way you have avoided any question about your contract that you don't have a contract. In that case I don't think you can expect to be paid when you're not working.

The child telling you they have enough and the parents being ok with that is very disrespectful if they do not continue to pay you.

You need to harden up.
They need to pay until the end of term at least.
Then you need to ask do they wish to retain you for September and pay for it?

If not, get other work and move on.
You need to formalise your agreement and factor in the summer months in your rate if you prefer not to broach a retainer fee.

This is your livelihood.
No place for shyness.

With future clients be upfront about what happens in holidays. You need to build this into your pricing. With this family given they want so much of your time when they want you I would have a discussion about them paying a retainer when they don’t want you. Explain that you can’t give them every hour god sends unless they are going to guarantee a base level of pay.

I tutor - and I expect to tutor in the holidays. So I reckon on tutoring 2 of the half terms, half the Easter holidays and half the summer holidays roughly. If people don’t want that then they don’t keep their slot (but I will obvs try and fit them in).

I tutor older children so they usually want to work in the holidays so it is less of an issue for me.

DD got tutored in primary, Y5+6 as she was the typical middle child, quite, nice but lost in lessons.
The schools are just not equipped to really see all the children, too much focus is on either the high achievers or the bottom group.

In seondary she got tutoring because Covid lessons online in science and maths just didn't work for her and she had serious gaps by the time she went back to physical lessons and parents aren't teachers to help catching up at that age.

Really depends. I used to tutor and got paid hourly for hours I tutored - this was for kind of average middle class families. I know someone who tutors the children of the super rich - Russian oligarchs, billionaires, celebrities etc - and he is paid year round, but also has to be ‘on call’ e.g. fly out to their annual holiday at a moments notice because a child needs some extra tutoring or whatever. If you are being employed by very rich people explain that you would love to work with them come Sept but will need a retainer to guarantee that.

I wouldn’t pay you while you are not rendering a service. What you need to do is examine your business practices and take on additional clients- or - get a normal job over the summer to cover your wages.

Going forward you need a contract it should state-
pay
how to pay
day of payment
notice of end of contract
any time they don’t pay ie bank hols, your sickness/holidays

with this client I would say you are reviewing your policies and decided to take a retainer for anyone who wants to tackle a break from tutoring. The retainer Wil be 75% of the usual fee. If the clients do not want to pay you will open up the space to other students.

This is great advice above.

Following also occured to me.
Could you set up some kind of calendar/text reminder system.. setting out which weeks you are expecting to teach... with cancellation fees in your Ts and Cs? (obviously I'm guessing you'd have to be flexible for emergencies) but it would remind them that they have to give you notice of any changes.

You might also google the websites of other tutors and see what their terms /contacts are...

You could set up your own website and spell out your own terms and conditions then so its crystal clear up front. Also its a good advert of your capability and way for future clients to find you. (apologies if you've already got one)

And those retake revision classes businesses might have some summer work.
I'd also advertise on whatever the local sixth form college uses for a notice board these days or email them - especially if you have a specialist subject. Or put leaflets in cafes near the schools/sixth forms... (and ask your existing clients who are staying on if they can recommend you to any new clients? )

We have a local area facebook group and I am always seeing mums asking for tutors to help their DC up their grades. I'm sure there's a demand. Especially if the little darlings have a tough time in the end of year exams.

Best of luck.

You need to have another look at your contract/t&c's with your clients.

There needs to be a set price for weekly sessions for a set period - if they miss due to holidays etc, thats on them.

Or, you do it by number of sessions - but theres a time limit on using them (this works for me but I am not tutoring and I work remotely) - so if they had say 20 sessions to be used from jan to august and they haven't used them all, they lose them.

If they want a 'as and when they fancy it' then they pay a higher price for that sort of service and they run the risk of you not having availability when it suits them.

I use a lot of tutors and music teachers and this family sounds very thoughtless. As a minimum they need to be giving you a month’s notice if they’re not using your services over summer.

as you don’t get holiday pay etc that is what’s reflected in the fee. I hope you’re charging the maket rate : top tutors in London are £80 / hr. I pay £50 for qualified teachers (music and specific subjects)

Im really hoping you’re not going to come back and say you charge £20 an hour …that’s simply not enough for such a precarious arrangement

when you pick up new families make sure you have a contract with notice periods, minimum sessions etc

You should have a contract or agree this stuff in advance. Do you usually charge for school holidays? If not you maybe need to start thinking about what you agree with new clients and what their notice period should be as it sounds like you haven't covered any of this and I don't agree you should just ask them to pay over the summer because of your poor planning. Sorry to sound harsh!

OP, if you rely on this money you really need to start thinking of what you do as a business and developing your business skills. At the moment you seem to be treating it as a bit of a hobby where you are blowing in the winds at the whims of your clients. You need to decide how you are going to structure your business, tell your clients what your terms are and write them into a contract so they are binding. There are various common strategies for tutoring but the most common seems to be as suggested here - they keep their slot by continuing to pay for it. If they don’t pay for it you look for other clients to fill it.

You could also try charging for a term (or half term) at a time, up front, and factor the holiday time into the fee you charge. I.e. work out what you’d want to earn from a session for a year (check it’s competitive), divide by 3 (or 6) and charge that each term(half). Cancelations do not result in a refund, but you might agree to rescheduling at mutual convenience. Parents like not having to pay over the holidays, but tend to be less keen on upfront payment (you could offer monthly payments) and the higher cost.

And a third approach is to develop other offerings over the summer - intense tutoring/group work/extension for those who really love the subject - while offering regular tutoring for term time only. Parents love this approach as don’t have to pay over the summer and it’s not as expensive. But I don’t see it that much, I assume because it’s hard to fill the alternative holiday offerings.

Also, work on marketing so that you have a waitlist of people who want you as a tutor to ensure you have stability and aren’t at a loss when a family quits on you..

If you’re qualified, how do you not know when exam season is?

Unfortunately I learnt the hard way being self employed that you need a water tight contract regarding cancellation etc or you don’t really have any come back. If you get them to sign that you expect to fulfil x number of sessions at x price and they holiday in that period fair enough they pay. But if up until now it’s just been pay as you go type where you don’t have a stipulated charge for missed summer periods I’m not sure you can suddenly ask. Perhaps a retainer for keeping this slot for September might be best you can hope for? But self employed can often be feast and famine and you have to account for that in fee planning

I tutor as well - I charge a higher rate for families that have irregular sessions and provide discounts to families that have sessions year round. It's all in the contract when they sign up to the services. I don't do rolling weekly contracts.

I then budget effectively to ensure my income remains regular throughout the year (dividends/draw downs through ltd company).

You need better terms and conditions in place to cover things like this.
They've stopped lessons twice now without notice which is not ok.

You can't expect people to pay for lessons over the summer holidays and I don't know why you expect people to want lessons then. I tutor and most of mine have most of the summer off. That means I have to set my rates and working hours accordingly to make sure I have enough money coming in over the summer. I also do a couple of other different things during the summer to bring in money.

That said, if you want people to pay a retainer over the summer to ensure their slot in September that's fine but then you need to have that clearly outlined in your terms and conditions.

Also it's not good if most of your income comes from one family because it makes you too reliant on their whims. They can quit at any time with little or no notice, or start cancelling lessons for random reasons (hopefully you have terms and conditions in place for cancellations), or say they'll be back in September and then don't restart and then you've turned other people down to keep the slot for the first family and in the meantime the people you've turned down have found another tutor so you end up with empty slots until you find someone.

I think you need to have a think about this family. Certainly you'll need to have a conversation with them. It's not ok for the girl to tell you when the last lesson will be. That's something for the parents to discuss with you and it should be in lines with your terms and conditions.

If you don't have terms and conditions you should write them over the summer holiday and send them to all families so that from September it's much clearer.
This family have got away with this and you're losing out on money because you weren't clear enough.

RTFT.
They do know when exam season is, but since the exams are just internal school tests not course ending qualifications, and the child will continue with the subject after the exams until the end of term they anticipated being engaged through the end of term, as they were last year, not being dropped after the exams.

It seems the child, though, sees the post exam lessons as less important, is burnt out with studying and wants to coast for the rest of the term after the exams. And the parents are happy for the child to decide this.

You’ve been asked a few times what your contract says / what was agreed upfront and you’ve not answered

Some tutors run a sort of summer school or do pre 11+ prep in summer holidays, as some tests are taken first week back in September. I think asking to be paid for nothing would go down like a ton of bricks.

No tutors near me need to charge retainers or for lessons they don't provide and most expect to run lessons alongside school terms, and holiday sessions are extras. They are all pretty full and make a good living as far as I know.