To say no to my cleaner coming over Christmas?

[ettyz]

My cleaner who works 5 days a week doing 6 hours a day for us and gets above the average wage for a cleaner, has said that she needs to work next week. I said no to working Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday as obviously it’s Christmas and no to Friday as I have people over. She’s obviously self employed and we are her only cleaning job, but I don’t really fancy someone cleaning when Me and dh not at work, all the kids are at home and we just want to relax without anyone in the home. She said it’s too much money for her to lose out and she won’t be able to afford to not work those days. she hates Christmas and doesn’t have any family to spend it with so was actually asking to do Christmas Day! It’s not my fault she hasn’t budgeted for it but we had told her when we first took her on in April that we don’t need her services over Christmas. Aibu to say no to her working those days next week, I don’t want to upset her. We are hosting Christmas at ours so no time when we won’t be at home next week for her to pop in and clean, plus I’m at home so I’ll be able to do it anyway!

Do you really appreciate her? If so pay her a bonus equivalent to the lost hours.
Alternatively pay her and tell her she owes you x number of hours, to do spring cleaning in the new year.

My cleaner who works 5 days a week doing 6 hours a day for us

Are you the queen??

Pretty sure you're her employer, and you should be paying her NI, sick pay etc.

Bloody hell, though. That much time and money on cleaning??

I can't believe you are even asking this question

You obviously just pay her what you usually would, but ask her not to come in, and put up with your horrible dusty antiques for the week

Just bizarre that you wouldn't automatically do this. The Victorians called and want their employment attitudes back

@secondarymincepie no she doesn’t spend 30 hours a week dusting antiques! Our floors get mopped every day and that itself is a half hour job, as the floorboards are creepy old and needs two products on it so they don’t rot. She also cleans the breakfast mess, hoovers the stairs which is horrendous itself, cleans the windows, 7 bathrooms to clean etc. Wow this has become a real boast post, sorry!

I would pay her for the missed days next week but I haven’t charged her for the things she’s damaged since being with us as that would seriously put her out of pocket and I’m not that mean. I get all the cleaning products for her too, she gets way above the average for a cleaner.

Pay her for the days off. It's nothing to do with you that she has nobody at Christmas, but you should pay her for her usual hours. Bit odd that she expects to come round for 6 hours on Christmas Day though. Even I wasn't seeing family on Christmas Day, if I didn't have to go to work, I'd spend the day doing lovely things just for me.

Don't be tight. Pay her! Are you a B&B, 7 bathrooms!

I thought I was posh with two bathrooms.

7 bathrooms!! That's a lot of bleach...

Regardless of whether or not she wants to be employed it doesn’t sound as if she meets the self employed criteria. That’s what you should be checking out. And paying her. You can clearly afford it.

tries to imagine how messy a person must be to require 30 hours of cleaning per week

You should pay her really - unless it’s in your contract that you don’t pay holiday pay. But she obviously doesn’t need to actually come on those days.

Christ, how big/dirty is your house? Are you the Queen?

I mean, if your house needs that level of serious care and attention all the time, can you really cope without her for a week?

30 hours a week cleaning just for you. Are you serious? We have 6 bedroom house and my cleaner comes for 2 hours twice each week and she has told me she will be taking next week off for Xmas and we will still pay her because she is hardworking and entitled to a holiday too. I wish she would pop in and clean as we have guests with 3 children so it will be messy and we will be out doing Xmas activities. You should tell her not to come next week but still pay her. Don't be scrooge.

My house is large, it’s very old and we have a lot of antiques that collect dust on so she spends a lot of times having to clean them

Do you live in the Smithsonian?

30 hours a week

She refused to go employed not her that HMRC will chase for unpaid taxes, it's you. you insist it's an employer role, or you replace her.

She cleans up your breakfast mess?? As in, you get up from the table and leave everything and she picks up all the crockery and washes it and puts the food away and stuff?

I want one!

Pay her for the break; ours is self-employed and we cover 5 weeks holiday per year. We only get to have her 3 hours per week though. Our cleaner would be welcome to Christmas dinner if she didn't have anyone to be with, but I wouldn't let her clean on Christmas day. (24th or 27th I could be persuaded, but not if it was her holiday week.)

Of course you have to pay her. Also, check with HMRC, because you may find you are breaking the law. It doesn't matter how you or she wants to define it, there is an actual definition of employing someone and from what you've said, it looks like you actually are her employer and are responsible for NI etc.
The fines for not admitting it can be punitive

My cleaner who works 5 days a week doing 6 hours a day for us
7 bathrooms
a lot of antiques
You can clearly afford to pay her for the time you don't want her to do over Christmas plus a Christmas bonus surely, bit tight and mean if you don't

Regardless of whether or not she wants to be employed it doesn’t sound as if she meets the self employed criteria. That’s what you should be checking out. And paying her. You can clearly afford it.

I agree with the above , no one can decide they are self employed just because they want to be

More importantly paying her tax and n.i is your responsibility and HMRC will come to you for payment
You should also be providing a pension plan for her ( and you ) to pay into , the penalties for not having this in place are high

Not that I believe this post is true ...but just in case

You owe her approx 4 weeks wages as holiday pay if she started beginning of April.

Surprised at these responses. Self employed people in other roles get booked when they're booked ... Unless your contract states X hours consistently with no mention of Xmas I can't see how it's different. I wouldn't expect a regular client to pay me over Xmas. She won't get sick pay or annual leave either, that's being self employed. IF this was mentioned in April I'm confused as to why OP should have to pay for her that week.

I wouldn't want a cleaner knocking about over Xmas, but then again they would be more noticeable in my 3 bedroom / no antiques house.

Hope you are not paying her cash in hand?

You obviously just pay her what you usually would, but ask her not to come in

Is this a thing? I was under the impression that you pay an hourly rate & if they don't work those hours, you don't pay them.

Should the OP be paying the cleaner's wages when the cleaner is on holiday then?

Or should the cleaner factor these things into the prices she charges like every other self-employed contractor?