Cleaner's increase

[PearlclutchersInc]

My cleaner has just text me to say that her charges are going up by 35% to £15 an hour. I supply all the cleaning materials, its a 2 bed flat for which she cleans only one 1 bed and the rest - its new(ish) and she gets 3 hours to dot. There's 2 adults, one cat and we tidy up before she comes. She's not exactly over-worked

Eh? AIBU to ask how she arrives at that.

I feel really quite peeved. Don't see my employer giving me a 30-odd% rise any time soon. Happy to hear other views.

@Likeli my sister is university educated and working towards her MA and she works for herself as a cleaner because it suits her lifestyle and works around her family. People do jobs for different reasons. It's horrible to look down on people when you don't know the whole story.

And £15 is pretty good value, OP, I'd even go as far to say it's the lower end of the scale. Your cleaner has clearly been under charging for a long time so it appears to be a big hike. Remember it's not easy to find good, reliable and trustworthy cleaners.

If I was still cleaning I'd have increased my rates as well, to cover fuel.

It's not a luxury when you are physically disabled and unable to do it yourself. I go without other things to be able to afford my cleaner.

Good on you for checking what the going rate was before deciding whether to continue or not.

I agree with some of the other posters that cleaning is one area people will cut back on when they feel the bite from rising utilities and food. I've already cut back from 4 hours per week to 3 hours. If cleaning rates go up I'll move to fortnightly instead of weekly.

£15 an hour is reasonable in my opinion. I'm self employed and with the price of petrol and cost of living going up I'm having to consider increasing my prices. If it's not much for her to do then perhaps split it between your partner and yourself and not bother having a cleaner. I think if you want the luxury of someone else doing the cleaning for you you need to be willing to pay for it. It sounds like she was undercharging beforehand.

They don't. Fuel costs, tax, ni, insurance, wear and tear on their car, holiday pay, sick pay come out of that £15. After all that they are probably on less than minimum wage.

My cleaner uses 3hr for 3bed+annex (effectively 4 bed) incl change of bedding. She is brilliant and I cannot thank her enough.

I'm going to echo the others. Offer 2 hours at the new rate. If not accepted, then part ways and get someone else offering this.

We're in the north, DP cleans for extra money, she charges £20 hr.
I think £10-15 hr is low for any self-employed person.