The legislation covering the provision of instrumental lessons in schools (The Charges for Music Tuition (England) Regulations 2007) states that:
All governing bodies and local authorities must have remissions policies in place where they have charging policies.
Remissions apply to all children in care, who cannot be charged for instrumental tuition in school hours and are expected to ensure that music tuition is accessible and affordable for all children. Where charging is not permitted, charging for incidental costs associated with the tuition is also not permitted and this includes loan of instruments for example. Schools are expected to review remissions policies with regard to children who are entitled to free school meals or who may be unable to afford tuition due to circumstances.
Schools are advised to annually review their provision to ensure that as well as achieving high quality tuition, they publicise information to students and parents regarding remissions policies that are available with regard to music lessons.
For schools using the local authority music service as their provider, Cambridgeshire Music provides full remission and provision of instruments from the County Instrument Bank to all students eligible for free school meals or who are in care. This remission policy is extended to students that learn outside of school through the music service as well. Additionally the music service provides full remission of Area Academy music membership costs to all students learning with the service and discounted membership costs to all students for the County Academy bands and ensembles.