Cleaner during social distancing

[Howdidido]

Sorry if it's already been asked. And sorry for this being a very 1st world problem.

Are people still having their cleaner coming round? I dont want to put her or my family at risk but equally dont want to out her livelihood at risk and also hate cleaning

Is there a way to minimise the risk or should I just cancel her coming?

If so, is it ok to just pay her 50%.

No just no

But you should still pay, (assuming you haven’t lost your job or something yourself)

I think I'll go with giving her a months payment and say we'll look at how things are then

@Rebellenny do you have a company or are you self employed?

I've put off my cleaner until May and will review then. I have paid her in full because I think it's the right thing to do. I'm retired and disabled and don't have a lot of money but I budget enough for her to come every other week and it's only fair to pay her as I know she needs it.

I don’t know why I didn’t do it earlier but this thread has prompted me to cancel my cleaner. We are going to pay in full for as long as this all goes on. It’s not a dilemma for us as we are easily able to afford it. We have had the same cleaner for over ten years and I am genuinely very fond of her. (I’m sure she likes me too 😌).

I think it’s ok for others not to pay or only offer a part payment if they are unable to continue to pay.

You can get universal credit then. Definitely worth investigating. You're not quitting just suspending operations for a while
www.fsb.org.uk/campaign/covid19.html

I dont agree that necessarily if you could pay before you should now. I will for this month
But for many (myself included) it's a payment I make because otherwise my house would be a shithole. Because I work long hours and dont have time to clean. Now I'm home I do. And at some point I may not have a job and those savings will keep us going for a little while longer.

We cancelled ours last week, it just felt too risky!

Ive just cancelled her too. I havent paid full whack, but ive paid her for a couple of hours. Just doesnt seem right exposing her to the risk while ive got all the kids at home after reading this.

No, I've sadly had to give her notice for the foreseeable. I've been sick and we don't know what with. I can't afford to pay her either due to DP wage being hit.

I feel awful but it had to be done

@Northernsoullover il be nearly £300 a week down. Luckily I've been very busy for the past few years so I've got a little saved. Will you go back to your client who haven't offers a penny? I bloody won't!

@Winter2020 good idea!

Can self employed claim UC if their partner/spouse earns more to live on?

I'm thinking of suspending work but I only work because my partner doesn't give me access to money, only on his terms. I've worked to pay for dentist and prescriptions and I need that money to continue receiving my medication. If I'm not entitled to UC then i won't be able to get my meds

We've paid our cleaner in full this month and told her not to come in.

I'm interested to know how long pp are prepared to pay their cleaners for, and what is the right thing to do, if this situation carries on for months?

My cleaner is vulnerable so I am paying her to stay at home.

I miss her so much already

size
I'll pay mine indefinitely, she was mega hard to book as she s so popular and tbh we can afford it. If DH has a job then I'm happy to pay. She has stayed beyond her hours many many times so has a lot of good will from us

If a cleaner wears disposable gloves, is never in the same room, respects 5 metre distance, wears a good quality mask, uses the alcoholic gel, cleans all handles, surfaces, washes their own hands, then why is this a problem ? There is no official guidance that this is not allowed. The key worker list is to do with schools. You are allowed to carry on a professional activity. The house can benefit from being thoroughly cleaned and disinfected daily.

My cleaner has been coming for the last fifteen years and is more like a friend - there's no way I won't pay her when I know she would be in dire straits without it. I am disabled but as long as I can clean the loo, wash up and clean kitchen surfaces I don't care about the rest of it - no doubt she will do a deep clean when she does next come.

We pay our cleaning quite a bit of money each week as she cleans our office (closed atm) three times a week and comes to the house once for three hours. She isn't doing any of that atm and it really adds up. As much as we would like to, I don't think we can continue paying her the full amount while she isn't working, but will try and pay a percentage. Obviously, we've paid her for March. She is employed through an agency though so I need to speak to them about it all.

I'm a cleaner and most of my clients don't want me. I don't think I'd feel right taking money off them, not that any have offered!
I don't think I'm going to go back to some of them after all this is over anyway. I'm having a job rethink.

Meant to say in earlier post that we have paid her in full for March, obviously. And then we will work out a percentage but it's hard to know how much of a hit our business (self-employed) is going to take during the crisis. Hopefully not too much but I guess we will have to play it month by month. We very much appreciate and value our cleaner - so we pay her very well (almost double local rate) - which makes things difficult in current circs, ...or it will do if lockdown continues for a while .... .