Survey results for private music teachers

Ninety five percent of respondents had done some private face-to-face teaching in the past year, recovering to pre-pandemic levels. Nearly half of these had conducted remote teaching too, which may suggest that this medium is now well established in the industry. Just 3.6% charged slightly less for remote teaching than face-toface. Less than 2% of all respondents did remote teaching exclusively.

Forty six percent of respondents reported that they had increased their rates this year. The bottom 20% and top 20% of rates charged for face-to-face teaching, along with the median, are shown in the table below, with comparisons to 2021, 2020 and 2019.

Assessing the changes in hourly rates by region, London has seen a sharp rise in the median rate of 10-12%, following no change the previous year. North East England1 and Scotland have also enjoyed almost 10% rises. Elsewhere there have been more modest increases.

Comparisons between the regions indicate three distinct groupings. London, South East England and the rest. When considering average hourly rates, the difference is even more marked, with Inner London almost £15 higher than Yorkshire and more than £18 over Northern Ireland2 .

Forty one percent of respondents expect to increase their fees in the coming year compared with 43% last year and 30.7% in 2020.

Hourly rates for teaching by region

Bottom 20% Median 2023 Top 20% Median 2022

Inner London £38.40 £45 £55.60 £40

Outer London £37.60 £44 £50 £40

Elsewhere in South East England £33.28 £40 £44 £38

Hourly rates for private teaching

Bottom 20% Median Top 20%

Almost all respondents that had conducted private teaching provided their hourly rate, with an increase of £1 to £36 per hour for the median rate. Charges ranged from £10 to £110 per hour and those charging the most enjoyed a 10% increase, in line with inflation.

Face-to-face teaching

From September 2022 £30 £36 £44

From September 2021 £30 £35 £40

From September 2020 £30 £33 £40

From September 2019 £28 £32 £40

In previous years sample sizes had been too small to make statistical comparisons reliable, but the increased number of respondents has allowed analysis of this aspect. Inner and Outer London rates remain significantly higher than the rest of the UK, with rates in the South East significantly higher than everywhere else except the East of England.

1 Relatively small sample

2 Relatively small sample

East England £32 £36 £40 £34

West Midlands £30 £35.50 £40 £34.50

North East England £30 £35 £40 £32

South West England £30 £34 £40 £32

North West England £30 £34 £40 £32

Scotland £28 £34 £38 £31

East Midlands £30 £33 £36 £31.50

Wales £30 £33 £36 N/A

Yorkshire £30 £32.25 £35 £32

Northern Ireland £24.20 £30.75 £35.20 N/A

Other £23 £50 £72 N/A

You can read our tips on how to set your own fees, including how to assess where you fit within the overall range of fees and how to negotiate with your pupils and parents, by visiting ism.org/advice/tips-for-setting-music-tuition-rates

Previously the survey asked how many pupils they teach and how many were adults. This year the question was focused on the age range of pupils rather than the number. Most taught all ages.

Employment status

Employment rights and protections are decided by someone’s employment status. Although the rights themselves are fairly clear, understanding when you might be entitled to access those rights can be more difficult, as it often depends on multiple factors. To confuse matters even more, an individual may hold one status in employment law but have a different status for tax purposes.

but in essence, the more control that an organisation exerts over you, especially during times when you are not working for them, the more likely you are to be an employee.

Our guide, How to…Teach adult learners, is free for members and takes you through altering your pedagogy for older learners, as well as providing key recommendations for maintaining motivation and developing this side of your business. Visit ism.org/advice-centre/teach-adult-learners

There are three different statuses: employee, worker and self-employed. Employment status matters as it can provide protections and rights for music teachers. Even employees and workers with zero-hours contracts have the rights that follow from their employment status.

Employees have the most employment rights. These include protection against unfair dismissal and the right to a redundancy payment after a qualifying period. Employees also have rights to Statutory Sick Pay, minimum notice periods, parental leave and pay, the right to request flexible working, and other important rights to time off, mostly linked to care giving.

Employees

An employee is someone with a contract of employment. Typically, an employer is likely to have a high degree of control over what a person does, how it is done and when it has to finished. Employees cannot send someone else to do their work and if an employee breaks the organisation’s rules, they can be disciplined or dismissed. Whether or not you are an employee always depends on the specific facts,

As well as these rights, employees have all the rights that are available to workers. These include a right to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) or National Living Wage (NLW), minimum levels of rest breaks, paid holiday and protection from discrimination. You can be an employee even if you don’t have guaranteed hours.

Workers

A worker is someone who is required to personally perform any work or services but who is not doing that work as a genuinely self-employed person. In other words, they are not running their own business looking after their own customers and clients. Typically, workers are engaged to do work on a casual, freelance or as-required basis. ‘Worker-style’ contracts often state that the organisation is not ‘obliged’ to offer work or the individual to accept it. The main difference between employees and workers is the amount of control asserted by the organisation over the individual’s activities, especially when they are not working. negotiate in the contract with their customer.