Cleaner Hourly Rates - to expect an increase?

[needabreak5]

If you have a cleaner, have they increased their rate due to cost of living? I’m thinking that some cleaners may be scared about increasing due to risk of losing clients for the same reason. Not sure whether we should offer a slight increase as her rate is reasonable for the area and at the moment we could absorb it but that might not be the same in a few months. DH thinks we should give small cash gift at Xmas and not offer to commit just in case. If you have a cleaner would you be able to pay more at the moment? If you are a cleaner can you sustain your current rate or are you thinking of increasing it?

We put our cleaners hourly rate up 50p per hour every January, always have.

Although since she started on £15ph 6 years ago and we're currently paying £17ph we clearly missed a year or two... or maybe we waited until 2 years in before putting it up?
I used to think we paid very generously, now I think we're a bit more average.

Though I'm not sure MN self-declared cleaner hourly rate threads are representative...

I Am in Belfast and I currently charge £12ph for cleaning. To be honest I am
hardly making money as the cost of fuel and supplies is going up constantly.

After Christmas I’ll have to think about going to £13 or I’ll have to close my business! It’s a hard balance to find.

I offered a raise quite a few weeks ago, an additional £2/hr.

we also round her last weekly payment of the year up to £100

I'd definitely increase your rates if you are including supplies in that.

I would sadly have to let my cleaner go if she puts up her rates because I can't afford any higher than we pay currently.

I'm in London and pay £17ph. We just increased it at the beginning of this year, prior to this it was £15ph. I always give her a Xmas bonus but will not increase her rate until she asks for it.

We offered an additional £5 per week. She was already offering a lower rate than the average around here plus she is amazing and has been doing our place for a few years now. We also pay her double at Christmas.

We have put our cleaner's rate up as she was below market price and she is fantastic. I know someone with an agency cleaner and their rate has gone up twice in six months.

We always pay our cleaner when we take our holidays and give her a cash bonus as Christmas.

We were paying £16 an hour (in Essex) but weren’t happy with the quality of the clean. They had put their price up from £15 an hour a few months ago (which had nothing to do with our decision to find someone else- I thought that was very reasonable).

The new company are charging a fixed fee of £60 which probably works out between £18 and £20 an hour depending on how fast they are in a particular week. They are really good so far so well worth the increase. They also clean for a friend and I think they charge her a bit less so would guess they are gradually putting prices up as they get new clients (seems sensible).

My cleaning lady has just increased her hourly rate, not by much.
We will give her a Christmas bonus too as we always do, with a gift and thank you. There is a fine line here. Moving rates up is bound to lead to a loss of income if the CoL continues, as it will - cleaning will be the first thing to go. Very optional for most people.