Wednesday 15 February 2012

Our recommendations for employed organists and directors of music

Our recommendations for the fees which employed organists and directors of music should be paid in 2012 are set out below. They draw on the results of our latest survey of fees but also take into account price inflation and the general economic environment. Over 600 musicians took part in the survey. This makes the results a truly authoritative picture of what organists and directors of music were paid. You can also find here a summary of these results. The survey indicated significant differences between rates paid in London and those paid elsewhere in the UK, It also suggested that there was a wide range of differing fees paid within each of these areas. Both these findings are reflected in our recommendations. Due to competition law constraints, we are not able to make any form of recommendation in respect of fees for self-employed organists. Our recommendations for employed organists should not in any way be seen as recommendations for self-employed organists.

These recommended rates are exclusive of paid holiday, for which the employer should pay in addition.

Recommended rates for employed organists and directors of music

£ per hour	London	Rest of the UK
	17 – 27.50	13.50 – 20

 

Calculating the right rate for you and your church if you are paid an annual salary

Step 1 Choose an appropriate hourly rate within the recommended range in the table. You should take into account considerations such as:

• whether or not you have to direct a choir
• the size and importance of the church
• the importance of music in the church’s liturgy
• your qualifications and experience as an organist and choir director.

Step 2 Multiply this hourly rate by the number of hours you are required to work in the year. The number of hours should include not only time spent at church services but also hours spent on rehearsals, in selecting and preparing music, attending liturgy planning meetings etc.

Step 3 To arrive at the annual salary, this total should then be adjusted upwards to allow for at least the statutory minimum paid holiday. (The current statutory entitlement is to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday.)

For example, we will take the case of a musician who is employed to direct the music in a church for two Sunday services in 46 weeks of the year (that is, other than six holiday weeks). Each of these services requires him to be in the church for two hours. In addition, he rehearses the church choir for two hours each week and spends one hour each week on preparing the music for these liturgical services in 46 weeks of the year and administration. He is also required to direct the music at ten Holy Day services each year (which again requires his presence in the church for two hours per service) and holds ten additional two-hour choir rehearsals and spend a further six hours in total in other preparation for these. In total, this means that he is required to work for 368 hours each year.

• if he is director of music at a prestigious parish church in central London which has a semi-professional choir it might be decided under Step 1 that the appropriate hourly rate was £25
• under Step 2 this £25 is multiplied by the 368 hours worked each year to give an annual salary before holiday pay of £9,200
• under Step 3 this annual figure is adjusted upwards by a factor of 6/46 to produce an annual salary including holiday pay  of £10,400. 

Calculating the right rate for you and your church if you are paid a fee per service

Step 1 Choose an appropriate hourly rate within the recommended range in the table, taking into account the factors suggested above for musicians on an annual salary

Step 2 Multiply this hourly rate by the number of hours that you are required to spend preparing for and playing at each service. As with salaried organists, this should take into account not only time spent at church services but also hours spent rehearsing, selecting and preparing music, attending liturgy planning meetings, other administration etc. Our expectation is that the per service fee will usually be between two and 3.5 times the relevant hourly rate, depending on the amount of time spent in rehearsal and other preparation.

Step 3 Remember that these rates are exclusive of paid holiday. In law, the employer is required to give all employees 5.6 weeks paid holiday.

Using the same example of a director of music in a London church with choir

• under Step 1 £25 is chosen as the appropriate hourly rate
• under Step 2 this hourly rate is multiplied by a factor of 3.5 to allow for the time worked on each Sunday service (two hours on the day of the service, one hour rehearsing the choir and half an hour on other preparation) to produce a fee per service of £87.50 and regular weekly remuneration for Sunday services of twice this amount, £175
• in addition, the church should pay for 5.6 weeks of statutory paid holiday at this normal weekly rate, a total of £980. 

Our survey findings

The survey was carried out for us in September and October 2010 by statisticians at the University of Reading. Participants were asked about their fees in the first six months of 2010.

The results support our earlier finding that most directors of music are paid an annual salary and most organists receive a fee per service. The vast majority of organists who were paid a fee per service were self-employed.

Most organists worked between two and eight hours per week. Those who were employed tended to work more hours, mostly between four and 15 per week, than self-employed organists, who mostly worked between two and seven hours per week.

The overall figures include the fees reported by a number of respondents who commented that they charged below the market rate for personal reasons. Other respondents also may be doing this. This will, of course, make the overall figures reported rather lower than the full commercial market rates.

Some three-fifths of respondents were paid an annual salary or honorarium. Their remuneration varied greatly, from £205 to £60,000 per annum. This is unsurprising given variations in the size and importance of churches, in the importance of music within individual churches’ liturgies and consequently in the number of hours of work required in different church posts.

The table below shows the survey results for the two-fifths of respondents who were paid a fee per weekly service. As the survey results show considerable variation between rates paid in London and those paid in the rest of the UK, the results are broken down by region. 

Survey results: fees per regular weekly service in the first six months of 2010

These figures do not represent recommended fee levels or the current actual level of fees. Rather, they are historic data relating to fees charged in the first half of 2010. If organists and those engaging them use these figures to derive appropriate current fee levels, they will want to bear in mind developments since the survey period which will have impacted on the level of fees, in particular general price inflation, click here for details.

£ per service	Mid-point *	Central range **
Regular weekly services
Overall	30	20 - 40
London	50	30 – 83
Rest of the UK	25	15 – 39

* Half the respondents were paid this amount or more and half were paid this amount or less.

** Most respondents were paid within this range: 20% were paid more and 20% were paid less.

In addition, almost 90% of survey participants who were paid for Holy Day services (eg Good Friday, Christmas) received the same fee for these services as for weekly services.

The next table shows what respondents (both those paid an annual salary and those paid on a per service basis for regular services) charged in addition for special services such as weddings and funerals.

Survey results: fees for special services in the first six months of 2010

These figures do not represent recommended fee levels or the current actual level of fees. Rather, they are historic data relating to fees charged in the first half of 2010. If organists and those engaging them use these figures to derive appropriate current fee levels, they will want to bear in mind developments since the survey period which will have impacted on the level of fees, in particular general price inflation, click here for details.

£ per service	Mid-point *	Central range **
Weddings
Overall UK	75	50 – 100
London	100	85 – 150
Rest of the UK	70	50 – 100
Funerals
Overall UK	60	45 – 80
London	85	65 – 130
Rest of the UK	55	45 – 75
Other special services
Overall UK	50	22 – 90
London	105	50 – 140
Rest of the UK	40	20 – 75

 * Half the respondents were paid this amount or more and half were paid this amount or less.

** Most respondents were paid within this range: 20% were paid more and 20% were paid less.

The fees in this table are the basic fees, before any additional charges for recordings of the service. The survey shows that two fifths of respondents charged a mark-up on their basic fee for audio recordings. Three fifths charged a mark-up for video recordings, with almost two fifths charging an additional 100%.

For further advice about working as an organist, ISM members can read our advice for organists.

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