Hi Joanne

Most VMT's in independent schools are independent (I know several). Do parents pay them directly for lessons? How much control does the school have over their work?

Emily

I have been batting this one around for a while. All ours are self-employed at present, and I've consulted with them about this as they could be classified as workers. One sticking point for us is that they all want to stay self-employed.

From talking to other schools in the sector, it does seem a very common situation that VMTs are self employed (so it's a norm within this environment, which helps), though about half the schools I've spoken to have looked at moving them onto employment contracts. If you keep them self-employed (as we have, for now) then it's important to be very clear about the underpinning issues - any payment they make for hire of your rooms, any entitlement to 'perks' like lunch, tea/coffee etc, who provides the instruments they use, what reporting they need to do for the school, who sets the rate for the lessons, what right they have to substitute another teacher, and any involvement they have in school-based groups (choirs, orchestra etc).

In reply to Emily:

Hi Emily
Parents do pay them directly and they pay a nominal fee for the use of the room. But we don't allow replacements to be sent for safeguarding reasons. Some of the other practices might point toward them being "workers" rather than self employed contractors, so I'm trying to get a feel for how others manage them.
Thanks for the reply.
Jo

In reply to Joanne:

We will 'pre-check' a nominated replacement, so that they can be used as a substitute. Depending on the VMT's other commitments, this can be a useful way of ensuring they can substitute whilst meeting our safeguarding requirements.

In reply to Nina Waters:

Thanks for your responses everyone. I've done a bit more research on this in the school, and spoken to the person who 'looks after' the VMTs and I'm now comfortable that they are in fact self-employed. We still don't allow replacements to be sent, but I think we can defend that with DBS / Safeguarding. If the teacher does not want to teach, or is sick - the lesson does not go ahead. The teacher informs the parents (and the school) of this.
Thanks again!
Jo

In reply to Joanne:

This is also the case with my wife who runs after school coding clubs in half a dozen schools. She has been asked to complete the HMRC online employment indicator status thing... to confirm she is self-employed, etc. 

One school did put her on the payroll - one lunch hour a week for six weeks... then taxed her as PAYE. It was an extraordinary waste of everyone's time. 

In reply to Steve Bridger:

Absolutely, Steve. As far I I understand it, our VMTs want to remain as SE anyway!

In reply to Joanne:

Peripertetic teachers are self employed. They need to complete the self employed declaration form and you should have a copy of their public liability insurance certificate too. They should undergo an induction (safeguarding and H&S eg what to do if the fire alarm goes off) but they are most certainly self-employed.