Would it be unreasonable to offer to pay my cleaner less?

[kissthefish]

I have a new cleaner. He started with me a couple of weeks ago. So far, so good. I have paid him so far by bank transfer on the day. However he has asked if I can pay him in future in cash.
Thing is, it’s an awkward amount. £54. I have no issue doing this when I’m at work, as my workplace is very close to a bank. However on school holidays (I’m a teacher) it’s going to be an inconvenient pain in the ass, as I don’t live near a bank. I tend not to have cash floating around, as I pay for everything by card.
Would I be unreasonable to offer to pay him £50 cash during the holidays?
Also, is it the norm for cleaners not to make the bed? He leaves them as they are (roughly made, as the mornings are a rush) but doesn’t straighten them out, which looks odd in a clean bedroom.
Thanks.

He probably thinks the bed is "made" to your standard. You should roll the covers back first thing and leave it open every day anyway, then ask him to make the beds when he comes. Leaving the bed open allows moisture to evaporate (everyone sweats/breathes about a pint of water a night out, even if you don't feel sweaty) so it helps deter dust mites and general fustiness.

Anyhow, he's most likely asking for cash so it doesn't show up and affect his benefits, are you happy helping him to do this?

So £18 per.hour is £36k.pa @40 hrs and thats not enough in your view, plus you seem.to believe cleaners should get special dispensation with HMRC. Wow

Op, whats happening here is that he is on the books at an agency and does x hours (just under the the tax threshold i imagine) he gets max UC and housing paid etc. Stops him having to go into the jc and commit to more work. (Agency may or may not be legit) Your cash in hand payment and any others he does isnt taxed and he and you gave contributed to fraud.
Hope that helps you decide.

I doubt that many cleaners are working 40 hours a week . Don't forget they certainly aren't paid for getting between jobs. If you did 2 hours at one house then it's unlikely the next job is right next door that you could suddenly jump there

Nor have you counted any expenses out of that £18 an hour

Wow incredible that you know this cleaners personal finances

Could you not just draw out extra cash to cover any weeks you are not at work?

If there are bits that he’s missing, I’d ask him to work 3 hours and 20 minutes so he has more time to do the beds and the extra 20 minutes makes his pay a round £60.

How would you know any of his financial details before he did the job? Would you ask him if he’s on UC (people can work and claim that), would you ask him how much is tax was last quarter? Would he have to prove he’s not avoiding tax before you’d pay in cash?

Go to the bank and get forty plus pound coins. That should take you through al the half terms.

Whatever his reasons are for wanting to be paid in cash, if it meant any inconvenience to me I’d just say no.

I would just pay him £55
get a wee bundle of cash from the bank to last you the school holidays.

I wasn't responding to the OP, I was responding to the person who said if she thinks she can pay someone 7% less then how would she feel if she was paid 7% less? My point is that the cleaner is almost certainly not declaring his earnings in cash to the taxman. Therefore a loss of 7% seems like a good deal compared to paying your taxes as you should.

I am amazed you need this explaining.

My point was that in her original post, she didn't care why he was asking for cash. She didn't want to know if morally paying cash in hand is okay or if the only reason a person would ask is to avoid paying tax. All she cared about was that it was inconvenient for her so her solution was to reduce his pay to a CASH amount that was more convenient to her. How do you know the cleaner, a man you have never met, is not declaring his earnings? Maybe he has been caught out by private clients being late paying their invoices, affecting his ability to pay his own bills and potentially costing him money in late fees. There was a thread a while ago about a woman who was late paying her child's tutor and annoyed the woman was constantly chasing her for payment - many posters correctly pointed out the the tutor may have been living paycheck to paycheck. So this cleaner could be asking for cash to ensure immediate payment, then declaring every single penny and paying the correct amount of tax.

Go to the bank during term time and get a £20 bag of £1 or £2 coins, that's 5 weeks' worth of 4 quid so will cover most holidays. The notes you can get from a cash machine.

Paying him less because you cba to find a way round it is prime cf territory imo.

If it meant I didn’t pay tax on my earnings then I’d be all for it

Whereabouts in the UK are you OP? I think ours (West Yorkshire) charge around £15 per hour (last time I checked) but maybe it's gone up over the last couple of years??

Great idea

Im assuming he comes once a week...so that means your expecting him to lose over £200 a year because you cant be arsed to get the money for him.

How would you feel if someone told you you were going to be paid less because they can be arsed to pay you.

Got to the bank ask them for £100 in pound coins and then use that to pay him the £4 every time.

And no he shouldn't be making your bed, hes a cleaner not a house keeper or a maid.

I was in a similar situation and started rounding up from £45 to £50 to save myself breaking a tenner every time. I really value my cleaner though and she buys my children presents for Christmas

Mine is similar -£34 cash -so I got a ton of £1 coins at the bank a while ago to keep in a pot.
now it’s £36 which is more awkward as £5 harder to get so I need to go to atm get cash then go into the store and break a £10 by buying something cheap.

asking for change seems mean so it’s just hassle each time to get exact amount. (And it’s different people often so I can’t do 40 then 32)

maybe I will check if you can get £5 at the bank next time.

You could ask if he'd accept rounding up to £55 (so only 33p more per hour) and getting paid fortnightly, so £110.

Either that or agree to pay him a few weeks upfront. If you don't trust him enough to do that yet you've only got half term now and then 2 weeks over christmas so just get a few pound coins to cover those and decide next year once he's been with you for a while what you want to do. He may very well have put his prices up by then anyway.

Or just stick to your guns and refuse to pay cash.

I’d assume wanting cash was for a nefarious reason. Why else?

They may want to avoid bank charges or they might want instant cash (not all clients may pay asap, so it saves waiting on a client to transfer money)… just a couple of reasons.

In fairness when I used to clean I always asked for cash. I used to ask for bank transfers, but too many people wouldn't pay until several days later and I needed the money that day. With cash people paid on time.

I’d be interested in why he wants it cash in hand. I would say that’s not possible and you’ll be continuing to pay via bank transfer.