Would you / are you continuing to pay your cleaner / dog walker / gardener?

[TreacherousPissFlap]

We use a dog walker for DDog2, approx 4-5 days a month dependent on shifts. This works out at £12.50 a walk.
Since the lockdown this has obviously been cancelled, but as DH is furloughed it's not been an issue. I paid the initial invoice for April and had intended to pay for the walks I would have booked in May.
However if she is able to claim loss of earnings from the government, isn't there a chance she will technically be being paid twice?
Initially I was happy to pay as we've only lost 20% of DH's income and I'm still working. With the money we've saved on haircuts, going out etc this has made little difference to us, but we are still financially down. Would you continue to pay or not?

I’m paying my dog walker still. I very much doubt she pays tax so don’t think she will be able to claim anything from the govt. she’s not an official dog walking business, so no insurance, no dbs, doesn’t advertise.

She’s been a lifesaver for us. Only charges £5 a walk and the dog adores her.

I paid my cleaner in advance for April. She's obviously not coming to us now and I normally pay monthly in advance by cheque. I won't be paying now until she returns to work. My work has completely stopped and so I'm currently earning nothing and my husband's firm has cut pay for all staff. Like me, she will be able to claim some loss of earnings from the self-employer scheme. That's what it's there for.

I'm a dog walker but as I only set up my business last April I'm not entitled to financial help. When all this came about it turned out my husband wasn't entitled to a furlough payment as he started his new job on the 9th of March, but this has since been changed and he is receiving payments. Without discussing my financial situation, one of my customers offered to pay for walks not completed. I've ended up managing to get a job where I can work from home while this is going on, so I've thanked her for her generosity, but told her I've managed to get an income and not to worry. Is it worth speaking with your dog walker to see if they need the help or not? I may be a bit naive, but if they didn't need the help I would hope that they wouldn't just take money from you if it wasn't needed. As someone who is self employed, you're going to struggle on funds based on previous years earnings, unless you've been going for 2-3 years and have built up a steady client base. If your dog walker hasn't been around this long it may be worth continuing payments if you can :)

I paid my cleaner 50% of her usual rate for the weeks that she was unable to come. Now the curfew here has been lifted very slightly, she has started to come again and I pay her taxi fare so that she doesn't have to come on public transport.

I offered to keep paying the gardener who does our large garden and MIL’s small garden if he wanted and he could “ bank “ those hours and catch up later . It’s about £450 pm month .
However he said he was ok and hopefully could start again soon .
Our government relaxed the rules last Friday for people working alone so maybe next week .

That’s the only outside help we have but if we had a cleaner I would have offered to keep paying as that would be more difficult to catch up with hours iyswim.

We are both retired and I am shielding ( post chemo and still on immunosuppressants ) so poor DH who is still working part time is having to cut the grass which is taking him ages .

Our gardener is still coming as usual anyway. I offered to keep paying dog walker but she said it was fine. I'd have been happy to continue, though, as she's brilliant!

Whether she can claim from the government will depend on whether she declares tax, how long she’s operated / paid tax for etc.

I'm not paying our dog walker and Tbh it didn't cross my mind. We pay £10 a day, so around £200 a month. My DHs self employed business is plummeting and I'm not working with two toddlers so we just can't afford that sort of money right now for something we're not even getting. I have every sympathy that she's likely struggling, but so are we. We only have a one week notice period, so I paid that

I think the issue with some SE people is more about cash flow. They will get money in June, but that's not much help in April when you have bills to pay. What I've seen some doing is keep taking the money but it will be banked towards services when things get back to 'normal'. That way the keep the cash flow but the customer gets what they paid for further down the line.

Essentially I was happy to pay her, I'm not her biggest fan but the women who work for her are lovely and we hope they will return once this is all over.
My opinion is also slightly jaded by the fact that she hasn't acknowledged my payment for last month

I am not an employer of anyone so the question doesn’t arise.

My. Cleaner of many years is from an agency and furloughed - so getting 80%.

Don’t know about gardener but since they are ad hoc, would no more pay them than I would my hairdresser

We've stopped paying all three. Still paying the piano teacher though, she does it via Zoom sessions. Amusing that we all seem to have the same 'staff'!

I'm paying for the cleaners. They aren't coming and I've offered to pay for as long as we are still being paid. If our circumstances change then of course we would have to change.

Could you not pay the women who work for her direct? I wouldn’t be paying again if she hadn’t acknowledged last months generous payment for no work.

Gardeners could work if not vulnerable/shielding themselves as the work is outdoors and would comply with the 2m distancing. The rules say you can go to work if it can’t be done from home and you can comply with the distancing.

Self employed people understand that there are many perks to it but the downside is no work no pay as they are not employed.

I wouldn't know how icecream, plus I'm reluctant to rock the boat too much IYSWIM?
I'm telling myself it's a mistake as my invoice still shows as owing, even though I've definitely paid (I even checked!)

No, why would i pay for a service im not getting?!

I cant imagine the cleaner coming around to clean for me for free if im out of work?!

Dog walker yes, we love them and want them to still be here when this is over. They're a new business so I'm unsure what help they're entitled to and it'll be a wait for government money to come in.
They've been sending the odd email with enrichment ideas and requests for photos of the dog which is nice

Oh we're ok with our own pay for now btw, if that changed I would reconsider

I am still paying our cleaner. We’re still on full pay and yes, I guess they’ll be able to claim back later but frankly she’s significantly closer to the breadline than I am so in these difficult times I’m happy to pay her. I will also pay for my DS’s dance class regardless of whether it goes ahead on the same basis. And the childminder. This is a temporary blip for me of having to do everything (with DH!). I might feel and act differently if our income had dropped significantly.

While I'm being paid I'm paying my cleaner.

I would not have felt comfortable abandoning her.

Don't know why the gardener's aren't coming? They can socially distance? Same for dog walkers really surely?

I'm still paying the kids TKD instructor. But not their insurance.

cant imagine the cleaner coming around to clean for me for free if im out of work

That’s a very good point.

kelsooo the dog walker needs to actually come in the house though. Prior to lockdown they were wiping door handles and using their own leads etc, but realistically this is not an essential service.

Our gardener isn’t coming because we are on hard lockdown ( off shore island) and they were on the forbidden list even if solo workers .
This ruling was relaxed last Friday so we will see .