To ask when you think cleaners will be allowed back into houses?

[Dalamalama]

Not really an AIBU. Just curious when Boris announces he's going to unlock the lockdown will that mean cleaners will be allowed to work again? Will you be happy to have yours back?
I'm self employed and need to get back for the money?

I'm a cleaner and haven't been able to return to work. Nearly all my clients are over 70, 2 with lung issues and they and I both decided not to work as to much risk. The others, one is a nurse and obviously didn't want and one else coming into her home, and some other with children who couldn't guarantee social distancing.
I have dropped some cake on the door step of some of the clients who live alone this week and they've said they can't wait for me to come back and now the weather is getting warmer, they will sit in their gardens when I go over, so that all sounds promising to me.
Also nearly all the cleaning companies round here - including the large companies all closed down pretty much over night at the start of this.

smiley One of the most sanctimonious posts I have ever read. Well done you. You need to read the thread. Some pp have stated that so much is open where they live, and everyone is working well that certainly is not the case here at all, not within thirty miles of here. I was simply highlighting that most/everything is still closed here.

The boats are not out fishing so that is why supplies are now, nothing to do with factories. So think before you speak.

smiley and just to add there is huge support here for small business and shops, I do not expect any to go under. We all prefer to use them over the larger retailers.

I am glad to see other posts on here also living in places where almost nothing is open, nor is anyone working. My understanding is that until the PM changes the guidelines, and we know what those changes are, thing will remain the same as it is now.

And just so you know, I do think people took advantage of the furlough package when they didn't need to, and have businesses that can easily adapted and carried on working. Many choose not to because the package was too generous.

Where are you based Biscuit?

Sorry I missed that you are I
in the Cotswolds. I am surprised you say that you are in the justice field. Law firms are open albeit with some staff wfh. Also courts are still running with some online hearings etc.

I gave mine a few weeks off (paid) but had her back this week as I was struggling. She has been working throughout but I'm concerned about the risk to us. She obviously goes into a lot of houses and could bring an infection in to us. So I might only have her back when we are really struggling to keep up with the housework.

My experience is different then. My bil attempted to continue working as a tree surgeon and faced awful resistance. Local residents reported him to the council, he had loads of abusive messages on his company website, called irresponsible, heckled when he was working. He stopped all but essential work on rail lines because his company name was in danger of being ruined.

Our local Indian takeaway also received backlash when it stayed open. The shop front was egged and there was an online petition for it to close as it wasn't deemed essential by some.

My dh continued working on site to make safe the building work started. They faced an outcry, the police were called twice and to protect their company name, the building site closed.

None of those examples had anything to do with not wanting to work. Businesses taking advantage of furlough payments for their own gain are a tiny minority. Most small businesses are fucked.

We've been having our gardener and window cleaner throughout. Our dog walker stopped but she sent a message recently saying they'd received guidance they could continue, but she was choosing not to. We live in a mid-sized village and local cafes are delivering or you can collect food, the local hardware shop is open a few times a week, post office for a couple of hours a day, nursery is open for key workers' children, farm shop is open for deliveries and collection, florists are definitely still open in some places as I just arranged flowers for a friend from a florist local to her that was open. We don't have one in our village, though. Our vet is open for emergencies but not routine stuff. Both of our village takeaways are operational.

Weird how much it varies! We are in Scotland and Nicola Sturgeon specifically said if gardeners, window cleaners etc. can carry out their work safely then it's actually good for them to do so.

The book club we get for the DCs and the ironing service have both shut on grounds that they are "non essential" but both of them could have operated with social distancing. Many other businesses e.g. The Wine Society have shut and then reopened once they got social distancing in place. The local florist is doing delivery only, as is the local garden centre.
I think many businesses misunderstood but some have worked out that they did.

I'm a cleaner and haven't been working during lock down . The decision was a real dilemma for me as I really enjoy my work and have lovely clients but wanted to make sure they are were safe as well as my own family . I found the governments advice was very conflicting , on the one hand " if you can't work from home you can travel to work " on the other hand " you mustn't mix households " , I felt that put me as a cleaner into a grey area . I just discussed with clients and took the decision to suspend my services during lock down , it would be difficult to socially distance as they are all currently working from home and have school age children . I have been keeping in touch with my clients , and will see what Boris says in his announcement on Sunday and take it from there before we decide between us when I will resume cleaning .

We've been paying our lovely cleaner since the beginning as otherwise she'd be facing real financial hardship. I think she's going to start back ironing for us next week. She cancelled her visits as she was worried about her children. I won't put her under any pressure to come back to clean until the schools reopen.

However during the lock down period our gardener has continued to work, and we have had to have a plumber and an electrician.

We also had our alarm serviced as normal.

This week feels like a major shift. Both the coffee shops in our village have reopened doing takeaways etc- one has repurposed itself and is selling up market food that the co op doesn't stock. Three of the restaurants (2 Indian, 1 Italian) have done good takeaway trade throughout. We even have an icecream van.

Small businesses are the roots of our economy and we need them kick started asap

Small businesses are the roots of our economy and we need them kick started

I agree with that but people need to be realistic. If you take the example above; a poster dismayed that her local florist is shut then you can see the issues.
Say Jane runs an independent florist on the local high street. She opens today, with one member of staff, orders fresh stock, takes the correct measures in her shop to stick to social distancing.. all fine.
The problem is that she has 2 customers all day, there is little footfall outside her shop, everyone is adhering to guidelines to only make essential journeys, hardly anyone is visiting the high street, no one has made a journey just to buy flowers.
She's now in negative equity, she can't pay herself or staff member out of profits. It's not sustainable, her business will go to the wall.

My rather laboured point is that small businesses cannot start operating until it is viable. That will be a lot easier if restrictions are relaxed on Sunday and people are "allowed" encouraged to go out more, make purchases that are Non essential etc. At the moment it's too risky for a lot of small businesses to start operating.

That's nothing to do with laziness or "abusing the furlough system". The furlough system has stopped Jane the florist from sacking all her staff.

Everything is still shut here too - large town with around 30 Chinese takeaways and only 1 has been open, no fish and chips or kebab shops open either just dominos and now kfc.
Dentists, vets are both emergency only, refuse centre is still closed. Only a couple of cafes doing takeaway most are just shut. Nursery is shut and all the swings at the park are locked shut etc
I'm hoping some things will begin to reopen next week.

@Biscuit0110

My dog trainer/kennels are near you and open

Also courts are still running with some online hearings etc

Courts here are dealing with category one prisoners only and urgent work. All trials have now been moved to the autumn at the earliest.
We are not doing on line hearings at all, we have some means of video links within the courts, but they are not deemed secure enough to be linked to homes yet, so are no on line hearings are taking place or anywhere that I know of.

Many takeaways could open safely, so why haven't they? It is isn't just one or two but every single one with only one exception. Maybe some have childcare issues, or illness but that can not be the case for all of them. It is interesting to consider why some companies that are able to run efficiently and safely choose not to. If the furlough package was lets say 60% would we still see so much mass closure?

Takeaways are open where I live, and always have been.

lucky you daisy

Loads of takeaways shut where we are. Ex p runs a takeaway and shut as he couldn’t keep staff apart as premises are too small. Couldn’t furlough himself as he’d be advised to pay himself in divends to avoid child maintenance. Irony was I wasn’t going to fight for it anyway. Think most takeaways are closed for the same reasons

A lot is open here but you have to phone them eg repair shops look shut but do pick up/drop off. Most takeaways now open. Many restaurants doing delivery. Some of the big chains are closed eg currys but the smaller equivalents are semi open. I've got quite a lot done eg services, new carpets, painting n decorating via local tradesmen. Main things shut shut are pubs.

There is an article in the Telegraph today saying that according to new government guidance, cleaners can go back to work taking appropriate precautions

lucky you daisy
It doesn’t affect me that takeaways are open. I never use them. One thing I’ve noticed is more window cleaning firms knocking door to door asking if we want our windows done.

Many businesses have closed down but it's ok, the middle class and rich can still have their cleaners round passing the virus from house to house potentially then using the supermarkets to pass it to even more people.

You can carry the virus without symptoms or very mild symptoms. If just one person from this thread has carried the virus and passed it to their cleaner and the cleaner has then gone to other households and passed it to them and some of those people are keyworkers, where does the spread stop?

Absolutely ridiculous, stupid and selfish. Getting your home cleaned is not essential in the slightest unless you are seriously impaired or disabled and need that help.

Before anyone starts with trying to defend their actions, go and have a look at the faces of the people that have died from the virus and the people in intensive care and gain some bloody perspective and stop thinking about yourself only. Most ridiculous thread I have ever read

The civil courts are taking a different view and continuing to function with e-filing and remote hearings. I've heard the same from colleagues dealing with the family courts. So your corner of the criminal justice system might be mostly closed but that's not the case for the rest of the justice system.

Ok

I invited mine in to clean while I went out for a few hours. It was wonderful.