Whilst colleagues at Perth & Kinross Council Education & Childrens Services have confirmed that all PKC music tuition fees were formally abolished as of August 2022, this matter has not yet been passed into legislation by the Scottish Parliament, so there is still the possibility of them being reinstated by a future Scottish Government – of whatever political hue!  

That said, Perth & Kinross Council (PKC) decided in February 2024, when setting their budget for 2024-2026, to re-introduce fees for certain aspects of the Instrumental Music Service (IMS) activities – i.e. attendance at Central Groups/Orchestras and Music Camps, with an income target of £48,000 per annum being set.

They also agreed to reduce the staffing levels in the Service by 3.5 full time equivalent staff thus saving £199,000 over the next 3 years.  Due to the rural/urban nature of provision across Perth & Kinross, several members of staff work part time in order the achieve the most flexible provision of instrumental tuition across the whole Council area.  This means that effectively, there could be as many as 10 jobs lost over the next 3 years to achieve these savings…