For the past ten years I've charging four weeks in advance, before that every week. Reading some of the recent posts on charging, has made me inclined to charge by standing order from January.

What's a fair equation to do it though? I thought that I have two weeks off during Christmas and two elsewhere. If I charge for 46 lessons during the year and then divide it by 12? I could send people a statement every six months and tweak the amount as necessary then too. As an incentive I would give them a discount of 50 pence per lesson off.

What do you think?

For those that already use SO, do many parents complain that they have paid for lessons that they haven't had (due to their own fault)?

My teacher used to charge weekly, but now he's changed to monthly, maybe because when pupils skip lessons for inadequate reasons, they didnt get get charged. But i think its fair that they still get charged if they dont attend due to their own fault, afterall, if every student came and went as they liked, you'd have no salary to live on!

I changed to monthly payments a couple of years ago based on 40 weeks of lessons per year divided by 12. Most were more than happy with this and some volunteered to set up a standing order as the amount was the same each month. Perhaps 46 lessons a year is a little on the steep side as they may take their holidays at different times from you?

Hello,

I'm also thinking about switching to payment in advance, and encouraging standing orders. I should also bring in contracts, I've understand that the Musician's Union have standard contracts that I could use if I joined. I've had one parent cancel two lessons in a row recently for planned events so I'm quite fed up about that, but it's my own fault for not having a contract. I don't think I can ask for the lessons to be paid for because I never stipulated that before, but if I had a Standing Order, I'm sure they wouldn't batter an eyelid about paying for missed lessons and would be too polite to ask for the money back.

It would be good to hear how anyone else gets on with montly payments/SO's in advance?

Cheers

I get them to pay monthly in advance on receipt of invoice - I've only just started doing this, and already, I've had NO cancellations - but some rearrangements, which is fine! Before I used to get the "little Johnny's been asked to his friend's for a sleepover straight after school, so I think we'll just leave it this week" type excuse, with no offer to pay the fee........and I got a little bit fed up with that, as you can imagine!!! Now that I've got their money, they think far more carefully about priorities!!!!

NZ school term is nicely carved up into 4 lots of 10 weeks, so I charge 4 times a year. Here we pay bank fees, but mostly electronic transactions are free, so I gave people the option to pop the money into my account by internet banking. So far 3 people have, but I expect it will be more next week when they are "overdue" and don't bring the cheque as I will point out they can pay as soon as they get home and give them my bank details again.

I would be interested to know how others would react to a pupil (and mother) turning up on dootstep.." she's been off school today feeling sick.....
Do you say.. a) O, never mind, you're here now so let's start...
Could you come on thursday instead?
c) I'd really rather not get your germs, go away! I don't care if you don't pay ,me this week!

Tricky One! Has it happened to you? My first impressions are that I would say "you should have rang me and I would have tried to rearrange your lesson." Seeing as they'd turned up and the child was obviously well enough to turn up on my doorstep, I'd probably let them in, but would have taught at a distance that week and wiped the keys with disinfectant after the pupil had finished their lesson - so as not to pass germs on to the next pupil. I would also thank them for coming under the circumstances, and remind them that in my Terms + Conditions I do state if they ring me immediately on the child's sickness, then I will try my best to rearrange their lesson. In my T + Cond's I say ring immediately at the first sign of sickness (even if their lesson is later on in the week). That way, I can usually bring in someone from later on in the week or even earlier into the following week to give them time to get better. This has 99% success rate, but obviously there are the exceptions, which I deal with individually, depending on how reliable the family are with me. Don't know if this has been any help to you.

Couple of takes on the sick child thing...

A friend of mine gets really irrate about kids coming in an coughing all over him when he is teaching. He eventually told one Dad that it would be better if the child didn't come when he is ill, as it makes the teacher sick which makes him miss work etc etc etc. However I don't think he suggested repaying the lesson, which is a little messy I think!

I teach in people's homes and often have sick children coming to their lessons in their dressing gowns!
To be honest, I can see the parent's point of view, I am coming to their house and the students doesn't need to leave the house, so if they can sit up and concentrate, why not? But I do worry about contracting their germs. My reaction to this is to take lots of multivitamins!

I think if you are working with kids, germs and sniffles are par for the course. Certainly you could end up rearranging lots of lessons if you had to do it for every child's cold. Not really feasible if you have lots of students. But if you are in the same room all day, burning some tea tree oil and wiping the keys should keep any infections at bay!

I feel that rearranging lessons can be real hassle for people, especially when kids do so many different activities now. Certainly, as a student, I am not a big fan of my teacher moving my lesson around to suit him or another student.

I'm from NZ too!

Although I get paid weekly, which I prefer, I rarely get this scenario because I cover it in my contract, and my explanation of it at the start of permanent lessons (after a four week trial). On the odd occasion I have had this sort of excuse, which to be fair, is extremely rare, I make it clear that I expect two weeks fees next lesson. (I don't wait for them to offer.) I have never been let down on that, and I don't get those excuses either afterwards. The way I look at it, if they don't respect my time, they can find another teacher.
I know how you feel if you haven't got hoardes of students, (goodness knows I was there once), but if you put it nicely and are firm about it, you are respected more as a person and a teacher, and your practice is seen as on a more professional footing.

I haven't moved on to standing order, yet, but I do find that invoicing half-termly works pretty well most of the time. I have a couple of "hangers-on" from previous billing systems, and on the whole these are not too bad - but I much prefer the half-termly thing, invoiced at the first lesson of each half term and paid within the next couple of weeks. Most people in fact pay at the next lesson after they receive the invoice - some write a cheque on the same day.

If someone misses a lesson, the decision whether to credit or not is mine.

All of mine are now on half-termly bill in advance usually 7 weeks although I think a couple of ours are 6 weeks. It makes it easier for me to have half-term off to be with my own children too and time to think about next half-terms plan of action.

I have a system where they pay me in advance for lessons and if they don't turn up they are not refunded, but they have the option of paying an extra £2 per hour in advance and if they cancel with 24 hours notice they are refunded off next half-terms bill. This seemed the only fair way to introduce the pay whether you're here or not system and i've had no complaints. In fact only 3 pay the extra £2 and haven't even cancelled.

EDIT: Haven't thought about standing order yet, although I guess it could work if I knew the school holidays in advance.

This is exactly the same as me, and I find it okay too.

Possom,

You can usually get school term dates from your local council's website (the one that's the LEA, usually a County Council in England).

Their website will be in the format www.councilnameorabbreviation.gov.uk, some examples follow :

www.gwynedd.gov.uk (Gwynedd Council)

www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk (Aylesbury Vale District Council)

www.hants.gov.uk (Hampshire County Council)

Gwynedd term dates are available for 2006-7, 2007-8, 2008-9 and 2009-2010 (I work for them, but not in Education)

Thanks will check it out

I have always charged termly in advance with no problems. I do credit missed lessons or reschedule if possible and will allow half termly payments if requested.

I print a list of term dates for each pupil with the invoice on the back and almost everyone pays on week one of each term.

Am I just lucky?

I think sometimes the problem is some teachers seem to say "don't come if you're ill" but also "you have to pay for lessons you miss". So, while I can understand very much teachers not wanting to be exposed to lots of bugs, and still wanting their income, if a child has a term where they catch lots of colds, the parent's in the unenviable position of having to pay for lessons the child has genuinely been ill for, but would have been well enough to have the lesson if the teacher hadn't been worried about catching bugs.

I had a horrible immune system as a child, (not great now ) and if my private lessons (which were few) had been on this basis, we'd've been out of pocket for a lot of lessons I wouldn't have been allowed to take, which would catch the parent coming or going, wouldn't it?

Maybe I've misunderstood what people have said, but I think I've seen people mention expecting to be paid for lessons missed and not being willing to give a lesson to a sick child. I can understand both those things, but I can also see how it could seem a bit of a catch 22 for parents whose children catch every cold going as I always did...

I've been using a standing order system for a few years now and it works fabulously.

I teach 36 weeks a year and work it out at 12 months equal payment. They know they need to pay if kiddo is away, but I use my discretion as to whether I fit them in elsewhere.

I do keep a couple of students who pay me cash, so I don't need to go to the bank and we all need the 'real' thing sometimes

I would hate to go back to doing it any other way. This has been perfect for me. Money is never mentioned. In fact, even their books are included in the price, which means I can give and take away according to whether they have got on well with the book. About half of the books they receive they keep.