Self employed cleaner only going back to clients who have continued to pay/support.

[shonapop]

Seriously considering ditching the people who didn't give a toss. Anyone out there the same?

Tempting- but depends how much you need/want their money

Aren’t you eligible for the 80% SE grant?

Should have added that I am and have said to my cleaner I will be paying her 80 per cent for the weeks she hasn’t been here. She did say I didn’t have to but seeing as she only costs me £12 a week (one hour a week) it’s not a big sacrifice for me.

Can you afford to ditch them? Couldn't you claim the 80% furlough? If I had a cleaner, that's what I'd expect them to do.

Absolutely understand why you would feel like that, but I’d make sure you have new clients lined up before you ditch them, just so you don’t leave yourself short.
Also, what if your clients had suffered pay cuts or job losses and that was the reason they couldn’t afford to retain you? Would you consider going back to them once they are earning again?

If you can afford to ditch them I would!

Well it’s up to you isn’t it. Can you earn enough just by working those jobs from now on? Or will you have to advertise for new clients? In which case that sounds like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Depends why they didn’t pay. Many may have been placed in financial difficulty themselves

I've been paying my cleaner but I can understand why some people haven't been.
You don't have to work for anyone you don't want to but you might be shooting yourself in the foot.

Sounds good.

I would like to see your reputation if you do that. Not everyone with a cleaner is “rich”, many will have lost their jobs and couldn’t afford to pay you. You’re being very short sighted.

Sure, you're self employed it's one of the benefits.

I guess they assume you were covered by the government 80% for self employed scheme rather than not care.

I'm guessing you live in an area you can easily pick up other clients, but you need to be confident of that still being the case in a recession.

We have been unable to pay our cleaner as our income has reduce so much we just cannot afford it. She is SE so is claiming 80% furlough, we offered to top up but she said no. If she was employed by us we would have furloughed her.

You could be cutting off your nose to spite your face. I know around here theres absolutely no shortage of cleaners. Would you be able to pick up new clients?

For me, would depend on why people didn't pay. If they have been made redundant, are self-employed but don't qualify for any government help etc, then it could be very difficult for them to pay. If however people have just stopped paying and not bothered to engage in any kind of discussion/compromise with you I would be less sympathetic.

I would pick and choose but make sure I had enough business before I dropped them all. Lots of people have lost their jobs or had job insecurity. Maybe they genuinely didn’t have the money to pay for a service they couldn’t use.

God that's sounds awful. You are not the only one who lost out. Maybe people were struggling with furlough, redundancies, increased costs etc.

Can you afford to lose your clients?

I’m paying my cleaner whilst she’s off, but I’m still in work, as is DH- maybe you’re clients haven’t been so lucky? Maybe they’re self employed and have no income too?

It completely depends on why they didn’t pay.

At the end of the day you have made the decision to take peoples money even though you are not working making you ineligible presumably for the 80% claim. That's really not your clients fault.

Sorry I should have said she said no as she said should not be earning if claiming the furlough money.

I offered to pay my cleaner half her wages. My income dropped by 40% and couldn't afford more. But she said she had been furloughed from her other part time job so was fine. As she gets paid in cash and I'm sure doesn't declare it I'll be very surprised if she doesn't come back

Completely fair enough. Presumably anyone who had genuine financial reason for cutting payments won’t be immediately commissioning your services anyway.

On fourlough at 80% I have paid my hairdresser, the friend who was doing cheap massage on me (sounds very luxurious but my back would be fucked without her), and my hairdresser. I was going to sack my window cleaner as I don’t really like him but can’t now!

I mean, it's up to you. I imagine they can find another cleaner easy enough if they still want one, and if you've got enough clients to keep going with, then why not? I don't think it has to be a big deal, one way or another.

I would like to see your reputation if you do that.

Depends on how it's handled. 'I'm sorry but I've filled your slot' is perfectly reasonable, you can't expect a cleaner you aren't paying to owe you any kind of loyalty.

Not everyone with a cleaner is “rich”, many will have lost their jobs and couldn’t afford to pay you.

Yeah, I think context is king. A newish client who is not particularly wealthy/furloughed themselves is entirely fair in expecting you to claim the SE furlough; but I'd be pissed off at a wealthy client I'd work for years with just washing their hands.

Oh and we’re still paying childcare. I’m getting paid so we don’t have an instant recession; I should still be paying others. Yes we’re getting paid less but we’re not doing anything so it balances out.