to get rid of cleaner because she won't accept a bank transfer?

[changers5]

She's really nice, I like her, does a decent job, but she always wants cast and charges £17.50 each time she's here. I have a 3 month old and am very disorganised/exhausted. I almost always forget to get money out for her and end up having to make an early morning trip to the shops (which are miles away as I'm rural). She's through an agency so pays taxes and isn't tax dodging, but just won't accept me putting money in her account. She wants cash. That's fair enough but it's a PITA for very disorganised me... would it be harsh to get rid of her and hire someone else for this reason alone?

@BlueTrees123 trust me I'm not privileged. I don't have a car, I'm on maternity leave and have a DP who works away 5 days a week, so no help with DS (who isn't even 3 months old yet). I have PND, GAD and OCD and struggle with life, hence the cleaner which I can barely afford but need to keep me sane. It keeps my OCD in check which goes haywire when I can see dust or grease but my anxiety is stopping me from being motivated enough to even move. I'm tired, mentally not in a good place, and live 15 miles away from a cash point with no car. The reason we live here is because DPs parents own the house and we pay them reduced rent. I'm really not privileged. I haven't said a bad word about my cleaner and haven't accused her as some have of tax dodging. I'm just struggling to organise myself at the moment.

Also @BlueTrees123 she doesn't have children...

Thanks @WendyCope - I'm only 27 and have a few friends who have successfully dealt with their anxiety but it seems to only be those significantly older and with more life experience than me that have managed that! It's like im falling apart at times...

Daisie... I thought writing cheques went out in the last Century....

changers go easy on yourself here. I don't drive either. I have a feeling you're stressed about having a cleaner rather than getting a months worth of money out at a time.

Having a cleaner totally stressed me out! You so totally need to leave the house too and tidy up first!

I'd just get out the cash, honestly. Far less hassle than a new cleaner etc...

All income has to be declared even if it is not above the tax free allowance. The tax free allowance is £12,500 from April this year.
I doubt many part time cleaners earn that but if they are self employed they should be doing an annual tax return anyway.

I know they should be doing a tax return. But the point still strands that many cleaners do not earn enough to pay tax. So most asking for cash are not avoiding tax. Just trying to ensure they get paid on the day and don't have to spend time chasing up for payment.

£17.50 is an annoying amount, I’d probably do £35 every 2 weeks. Or go to the bank and make up 10 envelopes of £17.50 and just get one out every week.

But yeah bank transfer is easier.

@marymarkle

I was responding to the people who said she didn't have to declare her income.

My current cleaner cleans Monday and the agency bills Sunday, I have seven days to make a BACS payment. It's £24 for two hours.

Since where did the Op say she was a particularly great cleaner? She simply said she does a decent job. Why is it only cleaners who people on here expect should be paid over and above the terms they've set themselves?

@changers5 - you have anxiety- this cleaner is causing you hassle by failing to be flexible with terms of payment. It doesn't suit you to deal in cash and fifty pence a for goodness sake! She's being totally unreasonable and extremely unprofessional. I don't believe for one second she will have change ready for all her clients. She's on the take.

If she has a bank account she should be accepting bank transfers, if she doesn't then I'd wonder if she was even legally employed tbh.

You don't owe her an easy living, you are employing her services. The terms of which should be mutually agreeable, and if they're not then you find another one who is.

It's interesting, as I was a free lance English teacher a while back and couldn't bear getting money at the end of the lesson, In an envelope. I stopped doing it for this reason alone.

I worked for an academy for less money

It was all so embarrassing!

I would have much rather a direct transfer to my bank.

Just give her 70 p/m
Easy surely

Honestly I'd find this pretty inconvenient too. I don't keep cash on me, every tradesperson we use round here accepts bank transfer (gardener, window cleaner, the guy who cleans the wheelie bins) and it would be mighty annoying for me to have to a) go to the cashpoint every week as we live rurally and b) presumably ensure I have the correct change unless she comes expecting to give change every time.

Perhaps I'm coldhearted, but convenience is generally why I pay people to do things that I could technically do myself, so if it's become inconvenient to me or results in me having to do something I wouldn't usually do when the whole point is to make life easier, then it defeats the purpose a bit.

I'm a sole trader myself so I do understand, but I also try to make it as convenient as possible for my clients to pay me, so offer various payment methods, including bank transfer. Of course it's up to her to be paid how she likes, but how much or little she charges isn't really relevant.

OP, have you explained to the cleaner what you have here? Maybe you just need to speak properly to each other to understand where you are both coming from? There must be a solution short of getting rid of her.

Wax That is a very good idea.

Or 70 quid a month as said upthread.

On the surface I thought OP WBVU indeed and now, I understand.

OP is also only 27 with a new baby.

Thats cheap... £15 an hour here, fairly rural as well... Cant walk to nearest cash point...

But shes great and we love her...

I dont understand the hard ship of just getting the money out, altho youve already said ur disorganised

I think some people are being a bit hysterical about the difficulty of withdrawing money from a cash machine. The OP has said the nearest cash machine is 15 miles away- a half hour round-trip really isn't very inconvenient.

On no Iflyaway people still use cheques!

I mean, it is inconvenient if you a) don't have to do it otherwise b) have a young baby c) don't have a car.

No hysteria here, I just wouldn't bother doing something that puts me out when the whole point is to make life easier. It just makes no sense to me. I'm paying so I don't have to do something and therefore have more time. I don't want to add something else I have to do as a trade-off.

@BlueTrees123 I don't have a car.

I only take bank transfers or paypal in advance (three days min. so I know it's really there).

If folk want to pay on the day (not cleaning!), then its cash only.

I have got better things to do than spend my time checking if someones paid me, and chasing them up!

Before I stipulated this (and it is spelled out to the client in my email footer and discussed before I go to them), I used to get bank transfers promised and not done for WEEKS, or cheques which are no use to me theres no branch of my bank for bloody miles.

If folk don't want to hire me because its too hard to get cash or pay in advance - fine by me :) Frees me up to work with someone else who is happy to pay for service.

@WiddlinDiddlin I would be happy to pay in advance. I would set up a standing order. It wouldn't bother me. I've signed a contract.

yeah. its not harsh. if your easy bout money..and people...if youve just cleaned,n want £17.50 for it NOW!..it might be.take 70quid out.on purpose every month..keep it in the cleaner money sock.pay her.alls good

If you don’t have a cash point in the village, that’s presumably why she wants cash - if you paid via bank transfer she would have the same difficulty in getting the cash back out

Go back to the agency and ask for a different cleaner. You have perfect valid reasons YANBU