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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to pay cleaner by bank transfer not cash.

360 replies

Starryskiesinthesky · 18/11/2021 07:41

Cleaner wants paid in cash but I never have cash so would prefer to pay by bank transfer. Fact she wants cash makes me think she’s not declaring it. What do others do and do you care if they are not declaring it? £15 per hour if it makes a difference. Thanks.

OP posts:
TractorAndHeadphones · 20/11/2021 15:49

@NeverDropYourMooncup

Why don't tradespeople carry cash for change

Because people want them to take bank transfers so that the state is protected from losing the heady sum of about (assuming they've passed the tax free allowance by working over 16 hours a week at £15/h) about a fiver a week.

It's the important thing. Beth who fits in two cleaning jobs a day and has to be told to make sure that the tassels on the rug all lay straight after she's vacuumed and Fred who cuts the grass once a month need to make up for everything that Amazon avoids. They're the ones who really, really matter.

You've missed the point. I don't care about tax (and disagree with the OP's premise that the cleaner wants cash because she isn't paying tax, none of OP's business). But the discussion then veered into how much of a faff paying with cash is.

Surely tradespeople carrying change would reduce said faff because one of the problems with cash is the lack of exact change and make people want to pay in cash.

MrsDThomas · 20/11/2021 16:24

@Bejaysus767 you sound like a right jobsworth. Bet you’re fun.

Oftenithinkaboutit · 20/11/2021 16:51

@Bejaysus767

Yes, sure you are. And you name changed just to make that point Grin

JustLyra · 20/11/2021 16:56

@Bejaysus767

I would try to avoid paying in cash too! And whether she pays her taxes is actually a matter for me because I work for HMRC! I have a duty to report any suspected tax avoidance or evasion Wink
Why would you think you have a duty to report suspected tax avoidance when it’s not remotely illegal?
Oftenithinkaboutit · 20/11/2021 17:37

@JustLyra

Oh she doesn’t work for the HMRC! Grin

PearlclutchersInc · 20/11/2021 17:52

My cleaner charges £13 an hour. I dont believe for a minute she's declaring it. If she did she'd probably charge a lot more.

malificent has a point, why pick on these people when the upper echelons are avoiding paying tax left, right and centre.

Offmyfence · 20/11/2021 17:59

@PearlclutchersInc

My cleaner charges £13 an hour. I dont believe for a minute she's declaring it. If she did she'd probably charge a lot more.

malificent has a point, why pick on these people when the upper echelons are avoiding paying tax left, right and centre.

At that rate your cleaner would need to work 18.5 hours a week for 52 weeks of the year.

I can't think they do much more than that! So after allowable expenses etc, I think it would be sod all to declare.

Meanwhile...... MPs, Amazon etc

MLMshouldbeillegal · 20/11/2021 18:24

@stevalnamechanger

Well if she isn't declaring it , is she insured ? Is she DBS checked?

If I had proof of that wouldn't mind paying cash

Another person who doesn't know what they're talking about.

Why would you need a DBS check for cleaning?

thebellagio · 20/11/2021 18:29

Interesting how many people are still adamant it’s a tax avoidance thing rather than a making sure she gets paid thing despite many of us self employed people explaining why she probably wants cash.

I doubt many people will be avoiding making their earnings legit after realising how crucial it was for the SEISS grants over the past few years….

yikerspipers · 20/11/2021 18:31

@stevalnamechanger

Well if she isn't declaring it , is she insured ? Is she DBS checked?

If I had proof of that wouldn't mind paying cash

My cleaner is neither DBS checked nor insured. Why would that matter to your paying cash?
Bejaysus767 · 20/11/2021 18:34

@Oftenithinkaboutit @JustLyra sadly I do and for most of my working life. Of course I name changed, not gonna out myself here! Grin

thebellagio · 20/11/2021 18:38

You want to check she has insurance in case she breaks something by accident in your home, or she slips and falls or something similar

thebellagio · 20/11/2021 18:38

Sorry that was for @yikerspipers

yikerspipers · 20/11/2021 18:41

@thebellagio it would be nice if she did, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't. If she breakers something I'd just have to replace it. I don't really age anything that valuable. My insurance covers slip and fall accidents she might have in my house.

Wouldn't factor into whether I pay her cash or not though.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 20/11/2021 18:42

@twilightcafe

Always paid cash. It's not hard to go to a cashpoint.
Exactly
Offmyfence · 20/11/2021 18:49

@thebellagio

You want to check she has insurance in case she breaks something by accident in your home, or she slips and falls or something similar
If she breaks something in my home, I'll claim on my own insurance under the accidental cover option.
ikeptgoing · 20/11/2021 19:37

@MLMshouldbeillegal

and it is reasonable to say I'll pay be bank transfer as long as you pay regularly and on time

It's also reasonable in that scenario for the cleaner to say cash or nothing and refuse to work for you.

She sets her own terms and conditions. A condition of using her service is that you pay cash. You're not prepared to stick to those conditions, she chooses to work for someone else.

Why is this concept so hard for some people to get their heads around?

Calm down!!

It is reasonable for OP to say she needs to pay by bank transfer as it isn't easy for her to get cash out, the same as it is for cleaner to say it doesn't work for her. So OP has made an offer, it's not been accepted and OP has decided on balance of extra time it'd take, she doesn't want to use this cash accepting only cleaner. It's already done - if you RTFT

towers14 · 20/11/2021 19:59

@Kuachui

I also laugh when people make the joke that i must be tax evading... i dont earn enough after expenses to even pay tax.
Ha ha yes I also laugh when people think cleaners are tax evaders....how much do they think we earn? Also so much mistrust of cleaners, as pp have suggested they wouldn't trust a cleaner who asked for cash...extremely big eye roll!!
Oftenithinkaboutit · 21/11/2021 08:59

If I had posted what you did on this thread about reporting the cleaner if you suspected her request for cash could mean she was evading tax…

Then I too would have name changed

C8H10N4O2 · 21/11/2021 10:48

[quote Oftenithinkaboutit]@C8H10N4O2

* Its interesting that its never the older or less well off clients who do this, its always middle class clients who are just so terribly busy that little things like paying the staff slip their self centred minds.*

Surely the definition of middle class is having a cleaner! Grin[/quote]
I think that perception is part of the problem.

My cleaner has several older clients and one disabled who can't do their own cleaning and have her to do the basics out of their limited allowances. These are the people she never has to chase for payment and who never mess her around.

Its the large houses in leafy streets she finds the least reliable for paying and most likely to mess her about regarding hours.

Oftenithinkaboutit · 21/11/2021 11:55

**several older clients”

Sorry what does age and whether middle class have anything to do with one another?

“Disabled clients”

Again? Why can’t these disabled clients be middle class?

NeverDropYourMoonCup · 21/11/2021 12:26

@Oftenithinkaboutit

**several older clients”

Sorry what does age and whether middle class have anything to do with one another?

“Disabled clients”

Again? Why can’t these disabled clients be middle class?

Its a way of differentiating between those less likely to be using Internet banking, for a start. For all those accounts of 'well, my 107 year old auntie runs her own software company and programmed her own smart home routines complete with robot butler with consciousness for fun', there are thousands more who haven't ever used a computer and would prefer it if things had stayed with cash and the occasional cheque. Same with disabled people - whilst there are those who actually are doing very nicely, significant numbers are living in poverty and paying a cleaner from their PIP is a necessity because they can't physically do the cleaning rather than something nice to have/convenient to fit in around work and kids activities.

The difference between 'the money is in an envelope on the mantelpiece' or 'here you are' and 'oh, I've been too busy at work, I'll do the transfer tonight' (and it still not happening) is stark. I expect the cleaners who require cash have frequently been in the latter situation too many times.

Oftenithinkaboutit · 21/11/2021 12:35

It’s about what suits then

So the group you mentioned no familiar with internet banking - then cash

If too busy working etc then transfer more suitable

I’m happy with either option- whatever is my cleaner’s preference

C8H10N4O2 · 21/11/2021 12:45

@Oftenithinkaboutit

**several older clients”

Sorry what does age and whether middle class have anything to do with one another?

“Disabled clients”

Again? Why can’t these disabled clients be middle class?

You said that having a cleaner was the definition of middle class.

I pointed out that my cleaner has a number of clients who need her help and pay for it due to the situation they are in rather than their social and financial status. They are of limited means but pay reliably where her more affluent clients are likely to be careless about paying.

Its really not that difficult to comprehend.

Ratched · 21/11/2021 12:59

My mother in law was a cleaner, she asked for cash instead of a cheque because if the money went into the bank account her husband controlled how it was spent.
Having cash meant she could treat her sons to an ice cream, have a haircut, pay for school trips. All things which her husband said was a waste of money.
Thankfully he died before I came in the scene, but it just shows that sometimes cash is a necessity for some women to live, not just exist.

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