How contribution works
How we decide what a family pays
Our standard price is £25 an hour. Families with a child in Year 7 or above can apply to our Community Education Fund. A published rule sets the price, from £5 to £25 an hour, and a member of our team checks your evidence and confirms it. Families already having lessons keep their current price.
What we look at
We ask what your household takes home each month and what you pay in rent or mortgage. A published rule uses your answers to set the price, from £5 to £25 an hour, based on what your household can afford after housing. Every family in the same situation is asked for the same price. Area deprivation never sets your price.
What a family contributes
We always ask for evidence. A member of staff decides and records why. Families in serious difficulty can appeal, and we decide each appeal case by case. Young people paying for themselves can ask us to pay less. We delete the documents you upload 28 days after we tell you our decision, or once an appeal is decided, and keep your answers with the decision.
Children in Year 6 or below, and young people over 18, pay £25 an hour, with no help from the Fund. If a child is home educated, at an independent school, or aged 16 to 18 and not in full-time education, the price is set by the same questions, from £25 down to £18, with no Fund money.
If things change
You must tell us on your portal if your circumstances change. Help from the Fund covers up to 40 hours a school year for each child. Professionals outside schools can refer a young person in Year 7 or above for 15 funded hours a school year; a funded place is subject to the referral being accepted and to what the Fund can offer at the time. We do not accept referrals from schools, sixth forms or colleges. If you think a decision is wrong, you can appeal within 28 days.
This page is a short guide to our Community Education Fund Access Policy, version 2.5. The full policy is in our policies section.