To not put the heating on for the cleaner?

[Falcon1]

It's 13 degrees today and feels very mild. I work from home and I'm perfectly comfortable. I don't like being too hot and we only put the heating on if it drops below 16 in the house. It's about 18 currently.

Anyway, just had an arsey message from the cleaning company saying my cleaner has complained about the cold and that all clients must ensure their houses are heated to at least 22 degrees whilst the cleaners are there.

AIBU to think this is ridiculous? I'm in the bloody house myself! Surely if I'm comfortable sitting at my desk, the cleaner (who is being active) should be able to cope?

I’ve googled this out of curiosity....

Minimum workplace temperature

The Approved Code of Practice suggests the minimum temperature in a workplace should normally be at least 16 degrees Celsius. If the work involves rigorous physical effort, the temperature should be at least 13 degrees Celsius. These temperatures are not absolute legal requirements; the employer has a duty to determine what reasonable comfort will be in the particular circumstances

YABU. Your house is her workplace and she’s entitled to work in a comfortable environment. If you don’t want to provide a comfortable environment (and heating is a basic), then clean your own house!

18 degrees is too cold for me.

I think meeting somewhere in the middle would be a reasonable compromise. Not putting the heating on until it drops to 16 suggests you feel the cold less than the majority of people. So the fact that you are comfortable is not necessarily a reasonable barometer.

This

My house is anything between 15 and 18. 22 would be too hot.
I used to be an office cleaner with the opposite problem, sweating over henry hoover in tropical office temps.
Did 4 hours house cleaning this weekend and turned heating off (but I m from NE Scotland so temps here in SE England are balmy).

Make more mess, if she was cleaning hard enough she would be hot even at 16 or 18 degrees

She's here for 3.5 hours. And the radiator valve in my office is broken so there's no way of turning it off. So to have the heating on at 22 degrees for the cleaner would mean I'd have to sit at my desk sweltering with the window open for hours. Madness!

Jesus, if I put my heating to 22 when my cleaner was round I think she'd complain! She's works so hard she's normally a sweaty mess by the time she finishes as it is!

YANBU OP. I think I'd be raising the point that it's not been an issue for the last 10 years.

If she's a recently arrived immigrant then she is probably not used to how cold the houses in the UK are. I'm from Northern Europe and the local workplace safety agency considers 20C as a minimum suitable temperature for an office, 17-23 if some physical activity and light lifting is required. I'd definitely be feezing at 16-18

ridiculous. How much do they charge for the 3.5 hour clean?

My cleaner loves my house as its always nice and warm, she hates cold houses.

We normally have 21-22 in winter but our clean wants it off! She asks for it, because otherwise she gets too hot!

I don't like it when houses are too warm when I'm cleaning 18 - 20 would be ideal for me.

I've been using this company for 10 years.
If this is the first complaint in 10 years then it sounds like it is the cleaner that is the issue, not you.

The sweat hails off me just from pushing a hoover around! Proper cleaning has me throwing open all the windows to air the house too.

I have a baby and a preschooler and my heating is set to 19c. 22c is way too hot.

Dds friends mum grew up in India. She has her house boiling hot. Your cleaner is asking for warmth. Your choice whether or not to oblige. I think the radiator valve is a poor choice though. They are less than a tenner and don’t take op long to fit.

I run cold and am the first to turn the heating on, as well as layer up with blankets at hot water bottles and even I think 22 is bonkers. Maybe for 7pm when it's getting colder outside and all you're doing in sitting watching TV, but for actively cleaning? No way!

I think you should get a different cleaner. You are paying for a service and the cleaning company shouldn't be sending snotty emails - it's not like you are asking her to work in freezing conditions or the job is sedentary. At best I'd tell the cleaning company that I was willing to put the temp to 16 and cleaner can take it or leave it.

Poor excuse, not choice.

My house used to be cooled to 27C.
My heating now in the UK winter is about 19C.
22 is warm, and towards the top end of recommended housing temperatures for the UK.

I think it's a bit shitty not to put the heating on if your employee is cold.

I think your house should be a comfortable temperature for anybody else working in it even if you are happy wearing 3 jumpers at 15 degrees for example. But 22 degrees is far too hot especially if the person is doing manual work. 18 degrees if probably fine.

The legal minimum temperature for a workplace is 16 degrees celsius, therefore YANBU.

What if you weren’t at home? She’d have to put up with it however

22c is too high for your house, and I’d contact the cleaning company and suggest the cleaner wear a jumper, but you don’t need to put heating on

Another thing, if she is cleaning, How can she be cold? Perhaps 3.5 hours is too leisurely a pace?

As someone who grew up outside the UK, I know the dampness in the air definitely makes UK houses feel colder even when the real temperature is not that cold. Most people I know who've moved here from other countries comment on it. (I grew up somewhere colder but it was dry coldness, not damp!)

I would probably compromise somewhere in the middle tbh - usually just having the heating on feels warmer than not having it on, even if it never reaches more than 18-19C.