Paying the cleaner

[lboogy]

Obviously the cleaner can't come and clean. Oh how I miss her so. Anyway, I've paid her for each week she couldn't come. Do I just pay her for 3 months in advance or keep paying each week?

I would ask her but I think she's a little shy to ask directly

I am paying mine 50% I feel a bit awful now as me and DH are still working. I phoned her to discuss it and she said I didn't have to pay her anything as she isn't providing a service so I offered 59% as goodwill.

I will rethink after reading this and pay her full I think

I'm paying half as we have lost half our income.

Why should rumboogie have to justify to us all why she needs a cleaner? Perhaps it would be helpful if posters didn't immediately assume the worst possible motivation behind others' actions?

It's not our responsibility to police each other's actions and we are not the arbiters of what is reasonable or permissible. A little kindness wouldn't go amiss.

People are allowed to go to work if they can't work from home- providing they can take sensible precautions such as 2m apart and lots of hand washing..... cleaners are ALLOWED TO GO TO WORK- Unless you have symptoms or are shielding etc. Or the person in the house they are cleaning for has symptoms or is shielding etc.

Does nobody read the damn guidance and legislation?!

People are allowed to go to work if they can't work from home as long as they can take The usual sensible precautions such as 2m apart and the obligatory hand washing.

I’m a nanny, I can’t work from home and can’t take those precautions so have been furloughed unfortunately but Cleaners can generally take those precautions and are completely allowed to go you work. Obviously many are choosing not to and many people are choosing to not have their cleaner come but they are still allowed. It’s not selfish or stupid

Am I the only one not paying my cleaner?

No. The people I clean for aren't paying me. But good on you to all those who are. Thank you.

I will continue to pay my cleaner, window cleaner, gardener ect as long as I'm being paid.
I would hate for them to be struggling.

I’m also paying my cleaner. I asked her not to come as I had symptoms just before the lockdown started.
I was a little surprised when I said “of course we will continue to pay you as long as we are still earning” and she said “yes that’s fine”
I mean I didn’t want her to weep and kiss my feet but a thank you would have been politer in my opinion...

I paid mine until end of April a few weeks back, and will pay her for May at the end of the month. I'm am able to WFH and am paid, she has been with us for years - its the least she deserves.

However I know that we are in the minority of her clients and not all the non payers are struggling with a reduced income which I think is pretty poor on their part. I'm sure they are all clapping on Thursdays though.

That is my understanding too @IAmReportingYouForBBQing
We will walk the dog while she is here.

Along similar lines, what about dog walkers? Can they work? It clearly does clash with the "being outside" bit, but could easily collect dogs with no contact and cant work from home. Less clear cut than cleaners I think.

I don't have a cleaner anymore, but back in the days when I did, her employment terms mirrored mine. Sick pay, holiday pay, flexible hours. She was shocked, apparently it wasn't the norm, and we had a fight on our hands to make her accept.

If it were now, she'd still have the same as me. Furloughed and paid 80pc to get up to date with decorating😁

I still see her occasionally. Such a lovely lady. Mutual trust and respect goes a long way.

Just another one popping along to say that still using a cleaner is absolutely in line with the guidelines - if you can't work from home then you're allowed to work. All of you self-appointed guideline police might want to make sure you actually know what the guidelines say before reprimanding people for doing allowed activities.

I think dog walking is clear cut, there's no caveat in the guidelines that you can only go to work if your work is indoors (in fact being outdoors is safer).

We use a cleaning company, who employ their cleaners. I've said that I'll pay up to the end of April and then reduce it down to 20% as they can claim the other part back from the government.

@CaffeineInfusion - you probably had a fight, as being employed for a cleaner is less favourable for her in tax terms. It must have been a pain for you as well having to register with HMRC and how did you split her tax code?
Most cleaners are self-employed as they have multiple clients.

What about the 'people who don't normally live in your home' thing?
Relatives and friends are not supposed to be coming into your home so why the cleaner, surely he/she can potentially (unknowingly) bring it into your home, or even get it from your home and unknowingly spread it elsewhere?

I am paying my cleaner 100% at the moment but will reduce that to 80% from May. I'm afraid I have been mulling it all over a bit more given that when I said to my cleaner that I wouldn't expect her to come in April but would pay she simply said that she would expect get paid. So since then the government has come out with the 80% furlough point so I will revise down to 80% for May and then from June may pay nothing given her attitude (expecting 100% and texting to say pay me each week but never asking how we are, saying Happy Easter etc).

My view is that we are now all in this together so if she has not been paying tax on her self-employed income for all these years then that is more her problem than mine from June and going forward I will insist on paying by bank transfer rather than cash because I really don't think that people can expect the people they work for who do pay tax or the government to provide a safety net if they demand to be paid cash in hand and decide not to pay tax.

Mine is still coming unless one of us develops symptoms. I go out when she is here.

I'm not sorry. My cleaner was the one to suggest still coming and I don't want to be around chemicals myself (pregnant).

Agree with @Rumboogie . You can go to work if you can't work from home.

Paying cleaner and childminder as we're still earning.

Interesting to read about cleaners. We don't have a cleaner any more so this hasn't come up for us but I have wondered about it a lot. From the cleaner's perspective, she can't work from home so needs to continue to go to work. Fair enough. From the employer's perspective, only immediate family should be allowed into the home as per guidelines (without a specific reason) and therefore the cleaner should NOT be coming in. How to balance that is quite tricky. Especially as cleaners are likely to suffer significantly if they aren't being paid.

There's no doubt in my mind that our old cleaner would have tried to come to work. I suspect we might have come up with some kind of compromise - we'd pay her for every week but she just comes every second week and we'd have made sure to stay out of her way on those days. But I also suspect we would have been uncomfortable with that.

If your income is stable, you should absolutely be paying all your service providers as usual.

If you are still paying then do you expect to be refunded (80%) if you cleaner gets the self-employed payment or do you see it as a bonus for them?

Of course not tess.

You wouldn't expect to be refunded? Can I ask why, I thought the payment was to cover 80% of losses in these three months? Do you just see it that probably most people won't pay so the 80% will cover that and the amount you pay will roughly make it up to normal wages?

I don’t think cleaners are exactly rolling in it tess. The only reason she can’t come is the pandemic. That’s not her fault. If she gets sone money from the government, that makes no difference to me.

OK so if theoretically (and I appreciate that for many it wouldn't be this high) she got 180% of her wages whilst not working then you'd just think good for her?

Yes, it wouldn’t bother me at all.