Fees for dyslexia tuition

[Tutoringmummy]

I am an SpLD tutor and am re-assessing what I charge- currently £35 an hour.
I've been teaching for 25+ years and have specialist training.

I am based SE/ Home Counties. Pupils come to me and I buy all my own books, materials, provide pens & paper, photocopy work sheets etc for them, buy printer ink, pax tax and NI, so my fee has to cover all of this and wear and tear on my home.

I wonder if I am under charging because have heard some people charge nearer £40 .

It's no good conferring with other tutors because the fee range is huge- some charge the same as me, some a lot less, others a bit more. And as we are thin on the ground it's hard to know what is " average".

Those that charge less are probably doing it cash in hand as an extra to their job, rather than as a career, filling out tax returns! My head suggests that if we wish to do extra tuition for children at school out of hours that we charge £40 as a minimum!

I dont think you are undercharging. We are not in home counties and going rate here would be about £25, or less commonly £30.

Also £40 per hour, even taxed, is an extremely good rate of pay - if it were a full time job your gross salary would be around £70k.

I do not personally think tutors of any kind should raise fees just because they could get more, if they are already earning a decent sum. I would consider those children who need support but cannot afford to access tuition because of the cost, or those whose whole family goes without in order to pay tuition fees.

Hmmmm. Interesting to hear two different points of view.

Knackeredmum- I can't afford to set my hourly fee based on feeling sorry for people who might struggle to pay. My plumber charges £50 an hour to even set foot in my house- and he doesn't reduce his charges depending on who can pay or not.

What you also need to take into account is that it's not actually £40 or whatever an hour- I take around 30 minutes to prepare each lesson, and buy paper, printer ink,text books, assessment materials ,educational games, etc , £40 minus 20% tax/NI, minus time for preparation, minus heating and lighting costs, and materials is a lot less than £40.

Anyone working in an office or a school would have these provided- or include in their costs to the client.

And- sorry!- there are only 36 ish teaching weeks in the year so it never equates to a full year's salary.

I don't think it's that high an hourly fee for someone with a post grad qualification when you consider that massage therapists, manicurists, etc who have 6 weeks training sometimes charge that kind of fee. Parents are paying for very specifically tailored tutoring which takes years of training and experience.

"Also £40 per hour, even taxed, is an extremely good rate of pay - if it were a full time job your gross salary would be around £70k."

That's a bit misleading though. Few self-employed people who charge by the hour can work a full day in the way that 9-5 workers can. Even very good ones are unlikely to fill every hour with clients and there are many hours of admin/training work that they do that no one pays for.

I don't think the OP is just thinking ooh, I could get more. S/he is trying to assess the market value for the service s/he provides, which is a professional thing to do. It sounds like she may be slightly under-charging, and why should she? Yes, the work she does is critical for those in need, but she's not a charity.

Slow typer, sorry - didn't see the OP had eloquently replied already!

Thanks pink

I felt my reply may have sounded like a rant but you put it very well for me!

The other way to look at this is that teachers' annual salaries are not based on working 9-5, 365 days a year- they are based on 9-3 for 196 days. (If you do supply teaching that's how they work out your daily/hourly rate).

So any teacher can work out their hourly rate that way. For someone in my position with special training and who would have Advanced Teacher status with many years experience, then £40 an hour is about right- but that doesn't take into account my equipping a classroom at home- and overheads at home.

I'm not trying to " fleece" parents- I'm just working out what is the correct rate for the job- because there is a huge variation. There will always be parents who find any rate too much but no one can set their professional fees on that basis if they are earning a living from their work.