To think that if the politicians haven't cancelled their cleaners, maybe I should un-cancel mine?

[cramboodle]

When the lockdown was announced I paused my cleaner, but have carried on paying her. She said she'd be happy to still come but that 8 of her 10 clients had cancelled. I'm not worried about her coming from our perspective, and I don't think it's against the rules as she would be going to work and could easily keep her distance from us, but as she travels by bus I thought it best to give her the opportunity to stay at home. Of course, she may have simply gone out and got another job by now (especially if the other clients aren't still paying her), but I hope not as she's been my cleaner for several years and I don't want to lose her.

But I was just doing some Googling and I found (on a cleaning company website) a clip of Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson exchanging warm words about cleaners at PM Question Time on 25th March because they (in JC's words) "keep our places hygienic and safe". It made me wonder whether they have cancelled their own domestic cleaners. Somehow I can't imagine even Jeremy Corbyn cleaning his own loo during the lockdown!

Have most of you mumsnetters cancelled your cleaners, or not?

We cancelled also but we are paying her.

I've paid 50% for April and am not paying after that as my own hours and pay are being cut by 20%. We havent actually had a clean since the beginning of March since the two cleaners we had quit the agency (which is a local business), and the agency didn't sort out anyone new for us until it was too late.

Not cancelled, still working, still paying

Ibizafun, do you really pay your cleaner £200 a week not to come? £800 a month to do nothing? You must be insane and/or lying and knocking about some big house.

We cancelled our lovely cleaner. Paid full for two weeks then half for April. If we’re still in lockdown we’ll pay half for May but then as I understand it from June she will be able to claim self employment money from the government?

We pay 40 a week normally and couldn’t really justify paying full for so many weeks as DH is likely going under threat of redundancy soon. I do feel guilty about not paying full, it’s a difficult one.

I don't think Corbyn was talking about HIS cleaner lol.

Well you see, this was why I was googling it. I thought some tabloid newspaper was bound to have done a story about politicians and their cleaners to expose who was following the spirit of the rules and who wasn't, but that clip was all I came up with, and it wasn't at all clear that he was just talking about communal spaces.

But then I suppose the journos will have kept their own cleaners on too, so maybe it's a story that would be too close to home for them.

@blueshoes the point is that for me I am still being paid the same amount as fortunate enough to be in a full time job that I can do from home and that is (currently) secure. My cleaner is not in that fortunate position. For as long as I am being paid the same amount I will be paying everyone as normal - including for kids’ music lessons etc that they are not having. The first motivation for this is simply compassion. The second is wanting in some small way to keep the economy moving. And yes I do have a high income, but actually that’s irrelevant to this discussion as long as anybody with whatever income was previously living within it and currently has the same income. I could afford a cleaner pre-cv and can afford one now as for the moment my income hasn’t changed. So why, as a generally decent person, would I not continue to pay somebody who has been a loyal employee for the past 10 years and is currently unable to work?

We cancelled our cleaner - she was new to cleaning and only done two weeks for us.

We haven’t paid her as she was so new and she also cancelled us at the same time saying she needs to do extra hours at the supermarket she works (she was trying to get cleaning off the ground so she could stop working at supermarket in the future)

It's no different to having a plumber or electrician come in to work is it. I'm sure that is only allowed for an emergency.

Cleaning IMO does not count as emergency so they shouldn't be working. It's mixing households which isn't allowed.

I guess the permanent staff clean Downing Street and Chequers. I'm sure they would have cleaned for Jeremy Corbyn too if he had won in Dec.

Paying but not asking her to attend - she's my Stepdaughter and is having to home school. I'm seeing it as paying for DGD's education instead

There's nothing in the rules to say they shouldn't work, so it's your (and their) personal choice.

The BBC really messed up th message when Boris forst announced the restrictions and people believed only essential work was allowed but that's not the case. If you can't work from home, you can continue to work, taking measures to comply with social distancing.

There's actually a boom in the need for commercial cleaners. Schools and supermarkets are being cleaned more rigorously and more often, as well as buses, trains etc.

So agency cleaners are being redeployed from offices and there's a bit of a recruitment drive to take on additional ones.

We have cancelled her for the time being but still paying her and will do for the foreseeable future. However when lockdown is over we will give her a months notice and pay her off.

She has cleaned for us for over 10 years and it is only now I am doing the cleaning myself I have realised how much her standards have dropped in that time. She used to be meticulous in her attention to unseen areas and details but now I am cleaning those things myself It is painfully obvious that they haven’t been cleaned or attended to for quite some time, e.g receipts dated three years old found when I vacuumed behind the settee and cobwebs like a Hammer horror set under radiators and concealed skirting boards - I found the first of those while doing a downward dog in the upstairs hall, not something I had ever attempted before Zoom yoga classes became a thing.

I know I am at fault for not noticing how lackadaisical she had become and pulling her up on it sooner which is why I will pay her until all this is over but the trust is gone now.

agency cleaners are being redeployed from offices and there's a bit of a recruitment drive to take on additional ones.

That's why I'm wondering if my noble gesture of paying my cleaner for work not done will backfire. I'd like to think she is staying home, but unless all her clients are still paying her (doubtful) she may actually be tempted by financial necessity, or perhaps the lure of double wages, to get an extra job cleaning premises that are potentially less safe than ours.

Cancelled when the schools closed but am still paying in full and will continue to do so for as long as I’m still being paid in full. The way I see it I’m in a very lucky position re finances currently remaining unchanged so I want to pass that on as much as I can.

Quarantime sadly cleaners standards do slip over time and you have now noticed. Mine started strong with a big song and dance but that was to lull me into a sense of security. I pay my cleaner 4 hours but sometimes I am not even sure she does 3 and she does not even do the loft rooms. I have had to remind her to vacuum the rugs and clean under sofas and beds. Unseen areas don't stand a chance.

Athough I paid her in advance when I had to cancel after lockdown, I don't see my cleaner as an employee as I was only a 'filler' client. I know how (to mobilise my dh and dcs) to deeper clean to reasonable standards and do maintenance cleans with not too much effort.

Actually I don’t think Jezza would clean his own toilets. I can remember reading an article by his first wife and apparently he left all that stuff to her. Much too busy doing mans work so let little wifey do all that.

@Ibizafun This is nosey but I desperately need to know how many hours your cleaner does, to earn £200 per week from one job!

OP, yes I've cancelled and yes I'm still paying. I hate having to do it myself though.

blueshoes our cleaner comes 15 hours over 2 days a week. 6 bed house and yes of course I’d rather not pay her whole my hands are raw from scrubbing but isn’t the principle the same however many hours they do?

Cancelled beginning of March. still paying her.

Same here. Can’t wait to have them back though!

If they get 80% from the state ie. our taxes iti s bit much that they also get paid from the normal job! Why would they ever go back to work if we are effectively doubling their money for doing nothing?

Cancelled and still paying here. DH and I are still being paid and we're both key workers (not front line so safely WFH) and I in particular am very busy now because of Covid-19 so since we aren't being financially hit I want to pass that on as much as possible.

Why would they ever go back to work if we are effectively doubling their money for doing nothing?

I do contract work and we charge massive cancellation fees if a customer changes their mind about needing us to work. I don't see any difference really, I don't want my cleaner in my house but as soon as lockdown ends I'll want her back.

Why would my cleaners get 80%? They’re a couple of single mums working as sole traders