Am I paying the cleaner enough?

[windowcovers]

My cleaner is amazing. Does a great clean and really goes above and beyond. She charges £15 an hour (we live in the south). Is this enough?

That seems low (we're in SE and pay £18.50 an hour) but s/he is self employed and so can set their own rates

Do you actually think her rate is her wage? I can't believe you have so little understanding of this. Travel time and fuel, tax, NI, insurance, pension etc, etc (see my other reply) all have to be paid before there's any 'wage'.🙄

I am always surprised people are paying their cleaners over 15 but want to pay experienced nannies 14 cash in hand as apparently that's an easy job

I get £12.49 an hour and have to pay tax, NI, pension from my wage too. Fair enough there are expenses that I don't have and being self employed is not something I have any experience in, but it's still a decent hourly rate that has been chosen by the person AFAIK!!

Does she not tell you her rate and you just pay as instructed?

I never once said or implied that that was my opinion!! I work a low paid job too. I was just pointing out a basic sum to give some context to the OP

Honestly this. If she’s really good, I’d give her £20 per hour and pray she never leaves you.

If that is her decided rate then she's obviously already factored in how much she needs to live. If you feel that she deserves more, ask.

Really, really good cleaning is a skill and very much underestimated. It’s also physically hard work.

£20 is the going rate for a good wage to be earned once expenses are deducted.

£15 isn't even NMW when factoring in costs.

Not to mention that self employed people don’t get paid sick pay or holiday pay, will have accountants costs, she probably does a couple of hours of unpaid admin each week minimum, I could go on…

We currently pay ours £15 per hour and she supplies all her own stuff, but have just agreed an increase to £18 in a few months, at her request, she has to factor in travel, materials etc, she's good and is worth £18 an hour but I think that's quite top end

I get £11.55 per hour and have to pay those obviously, but I do get paid breaks, paid holiday leave, employer's pension contribution and free uniform and I do not have to drive between multiple work places for no pay at all, and do invoicing at home later for no pay.

My partner is self employed and people do not get it. The hourly rate is NOT a wage.

If that’s what she charges then it’s fair for her or she would charge more.

Hard to say if it's enough, I'd echo the poster who suggested you ask her. I raised this with the person who cleans for me ((£12:50 an hour). They said they were happy with this amount as it was "mates rates" so they felt comfortable sitting and chatting over a coffee. And I gave her her first cleaning job, which has led to quite a lucrative business, she's happy with what I pay.

Plus I'm very flexible regarding the day/time she comes, which she's appreciative of.

We pay ours £15 ph for a weekly four hour slot, 6 weeks paid holiday a year and £100 tip plus nice (£50 ish) present at Christmas

Cleaner here. I clean and I have staff. Let me tell you the costs to employ staff.

NMW £11.44/hr
Holiday Pay accrued per hour worked £1.38/hr
Public liability insurance 39p/hour
Travel time to/from client’s home (avg travel time is 24min round trip) £4.58 per avg job based on 3hr clean = £1.53/hr
Mileage to/from clients home - Average 7mile round trip at 35p/mile £2.45 - avg 3hr job = 82p/hour

Total £15.56

On top we have products, equipment, SSP, NI and pension for those who are eligible, scheduling software, text reminders/follow ups to clients, accountancy costs….

Just because I am employing, these costs wouldn’t be less for someone self employed.
At £15/hour, she’ll be making less that NMW after basic costs have been covered.
The trouble is, many cleaners look at what others are charging and assume that’s what they need to charge too. Thinking it’s the ‘going rate’. Not many cleaners actually strip down their costs to find what they NEED to charge.
If you believe she’s worth more, tell her. Tell her you’re going to pay her more and be the person that gives her the confidence to make changes.

In addition, those who say they’re tipping at Christmas, would you forfeit your hourly rate, pension, holiday pay, sick pay, pay your own public liability insurance, spend unpaid time each month organising/chasing your wages and taxes to be paid, in return for an extra few quid at Christmas?
If your cleaner is good, they need to be paid a rate that calculates above NMW after costs (see my post above) every single hour they work. A tip at Christmas doesn’t make up for the rest of the year.

Thanks @Fynoderee - to be honest I thought that paying what she asked and reviewing each year was fair, although she's only put her rates up once over a good few years, it's a good prompt.

I wonder whether as the cost of living has gone up so much and cleaners are seen as a luxury, this may also serve to depress price rises ( rather than losing clients), with self employed (wrongly imo) absorbing price rises.

Yes. Absolutely.
I belong to a number of cleaning groups and a common thread is from cleaners who need to increase their prices but are worried about losing their clients. They keep their price low for fear of losing business yet, they are acquiring new clients at a higher price.

The ultimate outcome is either;

Longer standing, lower paying clients are removed from the cleaner’s schedule because they’re not profitable and to make them so would require a significant price rise which the cleaner feels guilty to impose.

or

Cleaner gives client notice of the required price rise to make them profitable and bring them in line with other clients. Client rejects price rise, sometimes getting offended and behaves harshly towards cleaner.

Both parties lose out.

It’s so important for cleaners to be realistic about what they need to charge and review fees regularly.