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?

Really? You would sack a cleaner who you are happy with rather than get yourself organised enough to pay her in cash.
Its not that difficult to draw the cash out in advance.

I have to say I’m puzzled at the idea of being organised enough to find a new cleaner (with a 3 months old in tow) in a rural location too.
But somehow organised enough to have cash with you.

I imagine the OP thinks that the agency will just find someone for her. Except that, where I live, it’s actually very hard to find a cleaner even with an agency.
I’m wondering if the OP is happy take the risk having no cleaner at all or one that is doing a crap job etc.... Sound slike much hard per work that having £18 with you and being a bit organised.

TedandLola That is reasonable. Usually the reason people ask for cash is because clients "forget" to do bank transfers and have to be chased.

• Your baby won't be tiny for ever, things will get easier.

-She might not have control of her money once it hits her bank account? -Text her before she arrives and let her know you only have a twenty and she will need to bring change? I certainly wouldn't be rounding her fee up to £20, £2.50 isn't a negligible amount of money, £130 a year isn't an amount I could chuck away although I'd be jubilant if my customers over paid me the same %!

Can you give her £20 and ask her for change?

Also would be very suspicious that she wasn’t declaring her income

This. I always tell plumbers, builders, TV aerial fitters (don't have a cleaner!), etc at the quote stage that I will be paying them by bank transfer or cheque, not cash, so they can quote accordingly or decide not to work for me. I'm fed up with all the tax avoiders - my feeling is that, however low their annual earnings, if they earn enough to be taxable they should pay the tax.

Yes I would give her 20 too. 17.50 is extremely good value, she does a good job, you like her, to have ready is a small ask really.
I think you are right to meet her half way.
I'm not sure how paying her £20 in cash is meeting her half way? She's getting paid in cash which is what she wants AND getting paid £2.50 more to boot!
Give her £20 and ask for change as PPs have said. If she can't provide change then you're justified in saying you want to pay by transfer or by cash fortnightly. You can't insist on cash and then expect everyone to have the exact amount, particularly when it involves 50p.
And if she's charging £17.50 then pay her that amount. Don't round it up just because it's a crazy amount. Employers don't say they'll pay you more so it's a nice round amount.

I’d find a new cleaner tbh. It would piss me off too, I never ever carry cash around and haven’t for years. Not something I keep in my house either for security purposes. It’s an inconvenience I couldn’t be arsed with so I agree with you. Also would feel awkward handing over a £20 waiting for the change, I suspect she does it knowing she’ll often walk away with the full 20. Bank transfers are just so much easier, eventually we will be a cashless society.

I don't get it. Why are you paying an agency £40 a month and then extra to the cleaner?
Why can't you get her to clean as a self employed person? The minimum is £10 an hour. Cut out the middleman!

I pay everything by card/transfer because I like to keep a record of where my money is going.

If she had no good reason why it had to be cash then I'd tell her sorry but you will only pay through the bank.

As PP have said, a cleaner is meant to make your life easier.

I don't carry cash at all, so it would be a pain in the arse for me.

Regarding the £40 a month dead money, I'd knock that in the head.

Employers don't say they'll pay you more so it's a nice round amount.

Well, some do - some employers pay you x and then where there is a pay rise of y% they simply increase your pay by y%, making it whatever number - e.g. £22,193pa. Others don't - they add the y% then round it so in that instance you'd have an annual salary of £22,200, cos some just want them all to end in zeros!
They don't check the monthly or hourly amounts though! :)

IdleBetty You can not just stop paying the agency. You have to find a different cleaner of you do that. If the cleaner worked for OP and OP did not pay agency, the cleaner would not get any more work through the agency as she would have effectively poached the agencies client.

And the reason a lot of people ask for cash, is too many people "forget" to do the bank transfers on the day they should pay. When you are not making much money being paid on time is crucial.

YANBU.

This is the modern world. No one has cash.

I can't even remember the last time I went to a cash machine. If somewhere doesn't take card I don't shop there.

Why are you paying an agency £40 a month and then extra to the cleaner?
Why can't you get her to clean as a self employed person? The minimum is £10 an hour. Cut out the middleman!

The cleaner will be precluded by contract from stealing the agency's clients.

And not sure what "the minimum is £10 an hour" means, that's not minimum wage.

There are three models for domestic cleaners:

1. self employed, you pay them an hourly rate, or a set rate, directly
2. through an agency, you either pay the agency the full rate OR you pay the agency a set rate and the cleaner an hourly rate
3. you employee them as an actual employee

with 2 you're paying extra for training, paid holiday, consistency, H&S oversight, insurance etc.

My cleaner is on 2) and her boss spot checks her work, which I quite like.

If you have an issue with a cleaner under model 2, you take it up with the agency, so the OP needs to tell them she's finding it hard to pay cash weekly and ask them to suggest some other arrangement.

Interesting thread. I can see the point that people resort to this because they end up having to chase payment and I'm embarrassed I hadn't considered that before. Also, the point about overdrafts.

However, I have been very irked by this in the past with people running children's activities. One of them wanted payment for a whole term - always in cash only, looking at GBP 200. We all stood in a queue to pay. I did get a receipt but honestly - why couldn't this be done via bank transfer? Really? This was something run by a private individual I suppose you could say but the business was of a certain scale and really I think it should have been possible to pay electronically.

Same goes for a music teacher. We had one who absolutely insisted on cash only to the point she would actually give a cheque back to my daughter and say she was happy to wait. What is the reason, exactly, why you can't invoice me for a term's worth of lessons in one go and allow me to pay electronically or via cheque like literally all of the other teachers we have ever used at school or privately? I am not even sure the peris at school would be allowed to accept a fist full of cash.

It's these sorts of services where I find the arguments on here for cash only wear a bit thin.

Are you for real, no one can be that disorganised. All you have to do is get more money out of the cash machine. Save the change for the odd money.
Do you want to get a new cleaner and all it involves because you can't make it work. You only have one child wait till you have more.

All you have to do is get more money out of the cash machine.

You don't have to do anything. We are almost a cash-free society, the cleaner will have to get used to it.

With all due respect to your various issues, it strikes me you are self-sabotaging. If you or your husband could obtain, say, enough cash and coins for 3 months' worth of cleaning, then do the same every 3 months, all you need is a jam jar marked "cleaner", and you are good to go. It is not rocket science. You would then only feel stress about getting the cash every 12 weeks instead of every 7 days.
A lot of anxieties are about lack of control. You are tormenting yourself by not being organised, do yourself a favour and try this one little thing.

She has the right not to work for you if you don’t pay her the way she wants and you have the right to not use her services if you can’t pay her the way it’s convenient for you.
Just ask the agency for someone else.

Not read the thread BUT

My old cleaner wanted cash too, and I found it incredibly annoying (despite only living 5 minutes from a cashpoint) because I'd alway bloody forget to get it. She wouldn't accept a bank transfer either.

She ended up leaving without notice so I guess she got pissed off with me forgetting to get her cash all the time.

I would just draw out some cash on a monthly basis rather than each week

cuspish You are the kind of client that I suspect would also forget to transfer cash on the day the cleaning is done. That will be why she insisted on cash.

You've just reminded me I need to scrape £6.90 together for DS's lunches. Such a pita.

I agree with you. My dog walker lets me text her what days I need the week before and I just transfer the right money across each Monday. I hate having to find cash and change.

I don't know if it is the case in this instance but things you should consider before paying in cash include :-

1. Possibility of enabling tax evasion
2. Possibility of enabling benefits fraud
3. Possibility of enabling tax credits fraud

Also, if you pay in cash what proof do you have that you did pay ? What if Worker A suddenly claims you have not paid them for X amount of weeks or months - how do you prove you have ?

i wanted to set up a standing order, so that way I wouldn't forget.

That's what I do for almost every other payment I make on a regular basis, because I have a shit memory (dyspraxic as it happens)