Contractor agreement for a music teacher

A visiting music teacher teaches in a school's rooms, on the school's timetable, to the school's pupils, and is often paid by the parents, which is a pattern that sits between self-employment and employment and has to be documented with care. The agreement has to say who the pupils belong to and who pays, meet the safeguarding requirements of teaching in a school, deal with the academic year and cancellations, settle instruments, rooms and sheet music, and reflect a self-employed engagement only where the teacher in fact has that freedom. I draft that agreement, for the school or music service or for the teacher, for a fixed fee of £595, delivered in five working days. Status turns on the facts, is checked with HMRC's Check Employment Status for Tax tool for each engagement, and cannot be guaranteed by any agreement.

Who this is for

Schools, music services, music schools and peripatetic teaching providers in England and Wales engaging self-employed instrumental and vocal teachers, and teachers who want an agreement that protects their pupils and their pay.

What matters in a music teacher's agreement

Lessons in a school and who the pupils belong to

The agreement should say whether the teacher is engaged by the school or music service to teach pupils the school allocates, with the school collecting fees from parents and paying the teacher, or whether the teacher uses the school's rooms to teach pupils who are the teacher's own clients, with parents contracting with and paying the teacher directly under the teacher's own terms; the two models allocate the client relationship, the money, the regulatory position and the status differently, and the agreement should describe the one in use.

Safeguarding and checks

Teaching children in a school is a regulated activity under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, and the agreement should require the teacher to hold an enhanced disclosure with barred list check under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 regime, to comply with the school's safeguarding policy and staff code of conduct, to teach in rooms the school approves with the visibility the policy requires, to have no private contact with pupils outside lessons, and to report concerns to the school's designated lead; the school should provide its policies, induction and the checks its own obligations require.

Pay, cancellations and the academic year

The agreement should state the rate per lesson, the length of lessons, the number of lessons per term, how pay is calculated for the term, when the teacher is paid, the position where a pupil is absent (paid, not paid, or paid where no notice was given), where the school cancels (an exam, a trip, a closure), and where the teacher cancels (unpaid, with cover arranged), with interest under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 where the school or music service pays late; a teacher whose income depends on the school's timetable needs the rules for the gaps in it.

Instruments, rooms and sheet music

The agreement should say who provides instruments, who insures them and who is responsible for their condition, which rooms the teacher may use and when, and that photocopying sheet music requires the licences the school holds or the publisher's permission under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; music the teacher arranges or composes for pupils remains the teacher's copyright, licensed to the school for the lessons and performances where the agreement says so.

Control, timetables and worker status

A teacher who teaches for several schools, decides their own methods and repertoire, can arrange cover by another checked teacher and is paid per lesson has features of self-employment; a teacher on the school's fixed timetable for years, required to attend staff meetings and concerts, following the school's scheme of work and unable to decline pupils is likely to be a worker under section 230 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, with rights under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 and the Working Time Regulations 1998, and may be an employee. The agreement reflects the self-employed arrangement where the teacher has that freedom, and the school should employ teachers where it wants that control.

Pupils, exams and leaving

The agreement should say who enters pupils for exams and pays the fees, who liaises with parents, and what happens when the teacher leaves: under the school model the pupils are the school's and the teacher may not solicit them for a reasonable period; under the teacher's own client model the pupils are the teacher's, parents may continue with the teacher elsewhere, and the school keeps only the data its booking role needs under the UK GDPR. Notice should fit the term structure, with the teacher completing the term where possible.

What it costs

Consultancy or contractor agreement, £595. Drafted for your business. Five working days.

Template set for repeat use, £895. One master agreement plus a short-form schedule you can reuse for every engagement. Five working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the consultancy and contractor agreements page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A clear, express assignment of intellectual property to your business
• Confidentiality provisions that protect your business information
• Restrictive covenants drafted at a scope a court will uphold
• Clear treatment of status, so the arrangement is not accidentally something else
• Payment, deliverables and termination provisions that match how you work
• A reusable structure, so the next engagement costs you nothing

What is not included

• Employment status determinations and off-payroll working assessments, which need your accountant
• Tax advice
• Disputes with a contractor you have already engaged
• Immigration and right to work compliance

Questions I am often asked

Parents pay us and we pay the teacher. Does that make the teacher our employee?

Not by itself, but it is one factor with the timetable, the control and the length of the relationship. The agreement reflects a self-employed engagement where the teacher has real freedom; where the school in practice treats the teacher as staff, employment is the honest answer.

Can a music teacher send a substitute?

Only a teacher the school has checked, because a substitute teaching children in a school must meet the safeguarding requirements. The agreement provides for cover through the school, which the status analysis has to take into account.

A pupil has stopped lessons mid-term without notice. Is the teacher paid?

What the agreement says: usually the term's lessons are paid unless the required notice was given. The agreement sets the notice and the consequence so that the teacher's term income is not at the mercy of a parent's email.

Related guidance and services

• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Employment contracts and handbooks, £595
• Contractor agreement for a tutor
• Terms and conditions for a music teacher

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: October 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.