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I quite agree Iain, By talking in this way people devalue the worth of the profession. To earn a qualified teacher's salary by providing, say, dyslexia tuition, as a private tutor while working 44 weeks a year instead of 39 or 40 it is necessary to charge at least £35 per hour to cover all the overheads provided by an employer, probaly at least £40 in the south. I would not recommend £35 per hour for an unqualified support worker but for a qualified teacher with additional skills and qualifications in supporting dyslexic students £35 is on the low side of their true value, even in a system that appears to value teachers so cheaply. I was recently asked to conduct a needs assessment privately by a solictor, a very similar task to conducting a DSA in this case. I was advised that I would not be taken seriously if I asked for the NFAC rate of £40 per hour and that the solictor would look elsewhere. My neighbour does similar work for the legal profession and charges £90 per hour, medical consultants start at £150. Instead of suggesting profiteering we ought to be repeatedly saying that the education professional is worth the same as other professionals. Mick Trott In a message dated 20/09/01 16:48:53 GMT Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: << I think maybe we should also be wary of our perspective on these rates, Dave. Some people might believe there's a bit of profiteering going on, but on what do we base this? It looks a bit pricey? By comparison to to what we believe salary rates are in institutions? In comparison to other freelance professions? What has to be remembered is that a minimum (I believe) estimate for any employee of an institution's on-costs is approximated at the salary paid again. Minimum, remember. So that means each of us who works in an HEI would have to double our salaries just to be sitting where we are to work out our own hourly rates. Then add to this any other benefits intitutions provide on our behalf, and the administration help we receive and the salaries and on-costs this entails, and I firmly believe £35 an hour would be a laughably low estimate of our cost. If we imagine the most efficient dyslexia tutor in the world, say. They could work 37 hours a week for 52 weeks a year, and they would earn £67340 (if my arithmetic is right) before tax. Add up the tax to be paid, a private pension, travel costs...this isn't a huge salary, in fact it would be a tiny amount for runnning costs of what is essentially a business...but of course no one actually works like this. Most people, I believe, expect the charged £35 hour to be taken up in contact time with students, in which useful support takes place, so actually admin (contact, appointment setting, preparation time...) is essentially done for free. And here we maybe get to the crux of the matter: the fact is there isn't a lot of profiteering going on, I don't think. What is actually happening is a sort of cottage industry of people earning secondary incomes, part-time working, and implicitly people selling themselves short because even they feel they cannot claim for the amount that would actually be reasonable (due in part to ideas - based on what? - of 'a going rate'). Or there are people (like myself) who, luckily, are backed by HEIs, HEFCE money, or organisations like the Dyslexia Institute who pay the way. Now by this time, Dave, you will be saying to yourself "My, that Iain has stunning insight into all this" and wondering how this comes to be. Well, it's because I have in the past worked in the other way (claiming back from LEAs), and charged, at the time, £38 quid an hour, if memory serves (a year or so ago). I used a laptop with students which was 'on loan' from an institution (not my present employer) and this would have been a sizeable, though perhaps tax deductable, addition to my on-costs, but with prep and travel time, and the phone calls, writing up details of what I was doing, then receipts, then letters to LEAs, and then considering what to do about my tax position at the end of the tax year, my guess is that I didn't break even at all (well maybe just). I stress that I was doing this as a favour for a friend and fellow DO, and was happy to stop doing it as soon as the opportunity arose. I am, as they say, happy as Larry that I work for an HEI on a salary and am not claiming money at a rate other people are deciding for me. My guess is that a rate of £50 an hour, the rate where you get uncomfortable, Dave, would be a rate I feel would be the uncomfortable minimum from my perspective (were I in that position again). My actual feeling is that £70 an hour (double the until-recently 'going rate') would be the more reasonable. Has anyone hired a lawyer or plumber lately? Iain >>