To feel completely betrayed by staff member

Unfortunately, unless they're completely stupid they'll probably see straight through that, but claiming the insurers have insisted that all keys should stay with the employer might just work

This kind of thing happens all the time, and though the present cleaners will have to go there's every chance new ones will do the same, so I agree with PPs that it's best not to blur the boundaries between employer and friend. Apart from anything else it makes things easier to deal with when the inevitable happens

Oh, and I wouldn't bother telling clients about their dishonesty since they already know that, are having been party to it they'll certainly blame you for "trying to tell them what they can do"

The snakes. I haven't rtft.
If you haven't got stipulations in your contracts, do it now.

Don't be so stupid a police matter, yes ann has nicked her clients which is out of order but it's not fraud fgs!!
It should be worked in their contract no stealing clients

I think the issue is they may be still under the assumption Ann is working for OP, so they're paying Ann directly and OP is paying Ann as an employee. Which is disgraceful tbh.

It’s really not fraud. Not is it a police matter.

I think I’d say to them they owe me the pay for all the sick days they were actually working with my stolen clients, but if they return all the equipment in good condition and 20 sets of keys by Monday I won’t take them to court and we can just move on.

These are all great points.
You need to be strategic here and not let emotion play out (easier said than done).

1. You need to GATHER EVIDENCE, take photos, jot down times and dates where they've rang in sick and you have proof of seeing them with YOUR cleaning equipment on cash in hand jobs.
2. You need to LOOK OVER THEIR CONTRACTS you had them sign.
3. You need ALL YOUR CLEANING EQUIPMENT back, to do PAT testing (as one PP said) and with you, then keep it under lock and key.
4. You need ALL CLIENTS KEYS BACK and store them in a locked safe/box due to GDPR.
5. You need to password- protect and RESTRICT ALL CLIENT INFO (if they have access to a database on laptop/ work phone or a phone book of contacts).
6. You need to SEEK OUT ADVICE (possibly CAB citizens' advice bureau) on where you stand with possible dismissal.
7. You need to have a sit down MEETING with them. Make sure a neutral party is there as a WITNESS and as a NOTE-TAKE and do everything by the book, so you have a paper trail and they cannot sue you. Present them with your evidence and say you are investigating and you want their side of the story.
8. Do not let their crocodile tears get to you. Be very cold and say very little. Be factual and let them talk and hang themselves. When a manager behaves like this the employees bottle goes and they brick it.
9. Tell them you may need to take LEGAL ACTION going forward, as this is very serious. They have poached your contacts, used your cleaning equipment on their own time, while claiming sickness, and doing tax-free labour without their own insurance.
10. You need to INFORM.YOUR CLIENTS that you have had company restructuring, and have let two employees go for dishonesty, and possible fraud.
11. You will need to look IMPLEMENTING YOUR OWN policies and procedures to avoid this in future.

Edited to say, friends don't do this. They are two cheeky bastard employees, who have showed hard faced twatty behaviour like a couple of smiling assassin's. Nice to your face, but stabbed you in the back.
Fuck them both. Pair of Twats.
Hugs to you 🫂

I'd tell them legally they need to return the keys to you. I'd dismiss them both effective immediately. She isn't your friend, she stole from you. If it was just 1 or 2 clients, I'd understand but it's not, it's far more than that.

These are separate issues

(1) staff are not friends. Don't mix business with pleasure

(2) if they're off work claiming sick when not sick, that's gross misconduct

(3) are they employees of yours, or subcontractors?

(4) is there a clause in your contract with staff which says they can't poach your clients?

(5) does your contract with clients say they can't instruct your cleaners directly?

(6) agree with a PP, tell your former clients. Do it professionally and keep it factual. As a customer, I'm cautious about who comes into my house and honesty of cleaners is v important. So, I wouldn't want to think I was employing someone who was working for me whilst claiming to be off sick. But, unless your contracts prohibit it, clients are entitled to do business with whoever they want

Next time you employ staff don’t go out socialising with them. We all know what familiarity breeds .

Not the case, as in this scenario the cleaner would come to know the client in the course of their work - therefore they wouldn't be breaching any data protection regulations.
It could be in the contract, but that would require legal action, and quite frankly for a few cleaning jobs its not worth it.
OP these people are not your friends, they are building up their own rounds going direct to your customers - businesses are built this way, those of us in business win contracts by being the best service at best cost - but they are doing so whilst pinching your clients and taking the piss. Sack them, simples.

Its not a police matter, its a civil matter, and one not worth pursuing, it would cost thousands for nothing.

They have essentially stolen your business. It is wrong, but I can understand why, if you're earning so much less as an employee of a company than an independently paid cleaner.

I have to admit we did this years ago. We had a cleaner who was getting less than 10 pounds an hour out of the 25 pounds per hour paid to the agency. She had left a country in Eastern Europe, her husband who was actually a doctor could only get work as an orderly in the UK and we didn't like the fact they were living crammed in a bedsit, earning peanuts and wanted them to benefit from their hard work. We had no loyalty to the cleaning company because as far as we could tell they were doing very little for their fees.

Hearing it from your point of view makes me realize that your income and livelihood is also at stake when this happens to this scale. I would try and get some legal advice on it, to start.

This is sensible. You want all your clients' keys and your equipment. Think strategically rather than emotionally. You want to get PAT testing done, check the state of equipment, etc. and see what needs replacing. Say the terms of your insurance have changed, keys need to be kept in a locked box with you a d only given out on the day of a clean. Think logically.

I can understand your feeling of betrayal by your staff member - but don't forget your former clients are also to blame here.

They’re really not “to blame”. The clients pay for a service - unless they’re somehow locked into a contract to use the OP for a certain period of time, they can simply decide they no longer want to use the service. That’s very different from someone who is employed by the OP faking sickness and then using those supposed sick days to work directly for those same clients.

The contract i had with my cleaning company had this, there was a three month period where the cleaner couldn't work directly for me.

They have to be reasonable in law to be enforceable, but something to look at going forward for you.

I can understand your feeling of betrayal by your staff member - but don't forget your former clients are also to blame here.

For the 10 years or so before retiring I worked through an agency as a registered nurse, looking after private patients in their own homes.

About 75% of these clients or their families would offer me a private arrangement, cutting out the agency, which was actually against their written contract between them and the agency.

I always declined on a point of principle, plus I preferred the 'buffer zone' of an agency between me and the patient/family.

It really depends on how formal your employment of them has been.
Do you have a contract with them? This will always happen if you don’t have a good contract that prevents them doing this as they will always undercut you price wise.
if you don’t have a contract covering this then you haven’t a leg to stand on.
Sack them and get your equipment back and go to a solicitor to draft you a contract.

I do agree that any dismissal should be done with caution, but they have less than two years employment, so unfair dismissal is unlikely to fly.

Speak to your business insurance company, they will guide you in how to deal with it. Some people just take the piss.

So sorry @BurpeesAllTheWay , that’s really crappy behaviour.

Just wanted to say that I agree with a PP - I would get legal advice about your position before communicating with Ann and daughter. Are they actually employees and do they have written contracts of employment?

These are certainly staff she doesn't need! Stealing clients for themselves? Noone needs that

@BurpeesAllTheWay can you take all the cleaning equipment back including marigolds etc and say that she has to come to your house to collect them on day of scheduled cleans and return immediately after.

And then, if they take you to an ET, they will win as you've not done things legally.

Do not just sack them! You must do an investigation which involves a meeting with each of them.
They are not your friends they are horrible people, using you to find business then undercutting you.