Tutor Wonders If It's Okay to Ask a Family to Pay Her Throughout the Summer Despite Not Providing Lessons

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6 days ago

A tutor turned to Mumsnet for advice on how to handle her challenging financial situation over the summer break
She is contemplating asking one of the families to pay her over the summer, despite them not requiring any lessons
'In future, price accordingly, assuming that you won't be needed for the holidays. Incorporate your holiday 'pay' into the usual fee and set some money aside,' one reader suggestedA tutor is worrying about staying afloat financially over the summer break — and wondering whether it would be presumptuous to ask one of the families she works for to help.
She detailed her dilemma on the community forum Mumsnet, explaining that she works for three families, all of whom have different schedules and payment approaches. One continues to employ her over the summer, and the second does not require her services during the break but still pays her year-round.
The third family had the OP (original poster) working year-round the first year, but then the second year she was informed at the last minute that they would be away all summer, throwing her for a loop.
"I didn't realize 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," she said.
Now that the current school year — her third with this particular family — is drawing to a close, the OP is anxious about her financial situation. The family has already informed her that her last lesson will be in a couple of weeks — "much earlier than I expected," the OP said.
"This will leave me without pay for 3 months, which will set me back a lot," she continued, before explaining why adding new clients to her roster to cover the gap isn't feasible. "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."
Her solution? To ask the third family to help her out — but she's not sure it's the right move.
"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?" she wrote.
"I enjoy working with this family and would rather stay with them if possible, I know that I'm valued there, as the mom has told me in the past that they're keen to keep me/continue with me," she added.
In the comments section, a lot readers shared the opinion that it would be wrong of the OP to make such a request of her employer, pointing out that her situation is the reality of being "self-employed." They argued that she should be budgeting her money better throughout the year to cover this window of time when she has less money coming in.
"YABU [you are being unreasonable]. That is the nature of self-employed work. You need to plan for the times when you won't be working, not just ask your customers to pay you for nothing," one person wrote.
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"I think this is probably something you should have discussed with them prior to starting," another reader pointed out. "If they haven't previously paid over the holidays or paid a retainer, I would imagine they will not be happy to start now."
Many people advised the OP that, going forward, she should negotiate full-year contracts with her tutoring clients or raise her rate to compensate for the summer downtime.
"In future, price accordingly, assuming that you won't be needed for the holidays. Incorporate your holiday 'pay' into the usual fee and set some money aside," one suggested, while another threw out the idea of asking for "a retainer" from the family to keep their slot for the upcoming school year.
Others wondered why someone working as a tutor would even expect that her services would be needed during a time when kids are on an extended break from school.
"If the child is finishing exams in a couple of weeks, I'm not sure why you'd think you'd be needed throughout summer. They won't have anything to study for and will be taking a well-earned break," one person pointed out.
Several people also suggested some ways the OP could supplement her income over the summer, such as waitressing jobs, proctoring exams or offering "summer catch-up sessions" for clients.
Read the original article on People