Self employed now getting support - what to do about the cleaner?

[HJ40]

Please don't have a go.. I'm trying to do the right thing and looking for gentle opinions.

Without hesitation, I had offered to pay my cleaner whilst she couldn't come as DH and I are both able to work from home and are still earning. The reality is we are run ragged taking it in turns to look after toddler DS and cram our work in. We're grateful life isn't worse for us, but we're already exhausted. And I'm pregnant. Having a cleaner has always been a luxury but it felt worth the money when I returned to work from mat leave. If I had the cash back, I'd love to spend it on a couple of takeaways instead and put our feet up, plus we're only managing to keep the house superficially clean, and I think it will need a big deep clean wherever this is all over,which will cost more.

Given what's been announced, I wonder what I do now? I'd initially said three weeks and review because that's what the PM said for the stay at home period. Would it be ok to ask her then if she's registered for support? She's texted a few times telling me how bored she is at home, which given my exhaustion is really starting to grate. If she does register and I keep paying then she's quids in for doing nothing. I'm aware it's not 100% so could I offer 20%? (I think the government help should be 80%).

Sorry for rambling.

The self employed won't see any money until June.

Self employed can claim UC to get through to June. And before anyone says it's not enough, it's exactly the same amount as SSP which many employed people are living on right now.

I’ve just now posted another thread with this exact same question so I’ll join here as well. Had also paid her in full including the initial 3wks of lockdown and said we will discuss when we know how the land lies.

I don’t know if my cleaner will be able to claim UC as she has an earning partner (quite early days), also she has money from a divorce settlement in the bank (but this is to try and buy a house - she’s older and doesn’t have much time to do it). They have v expensive rent so not rolling in it.

How will it work though, if all her customers pay her in full despite the lockdown and then she claims the 80% she will have 180% wage?

DH and I are keyworkers working opposite shifts round the kids and although we can afford to pay her in full, we do sacrifice some luxuries to pay her.

I think, given the complexity and time lag until June, that I will have to keep paying her, but mention that as and when she is able to access any funding, I'd we grateful if we can come to an agreement. I don't want her to be short in the mean time. I obviously trust her in my house and she seemed happy when I said I'd keep paying, so I think this one will have to work on goodwill and trust.

She won’t be able to claim the 80% on top of earnings. You can claim UP TO 80% to cover a loss in earnings. The earnings figure used to calculate this is an average of last three years. If self employed in this role for less than a year she gets nothing.

You could ask her if she can get support - I'm self-employed and can get zero, no UC, no payment but no income as started in October 2018. It's only to make up missed profits to 80%, it's great if you can get it but lots can't, it's instead of missed earnings not as well. If someone is employed part-time they can't get it if half their earnings are from employment. A lot of people won't be eligible for UC.

Having said that I think it's kind of you to be paying her.

It’s kind of you to pay her. I paid my cleaner for the first week she didn’t come, but she didn’t acknowledge it or say thank you. She just wrote “ok” when I messaged her to say I’d done a bank transfer. She’s been on WhatsApp, so she’s online still. Haven’t heard from her this past week. I haven’t paid her this week.

I’ve been doing the cleaning myself at night once my work is done and the kids are asleep. It’s actually shown how much she wasn’t actually cleaning well (skirting boards, behind doors, on top of picture frames, behind ornaments all quite dirty etc). I’m going to keep doing my own cleaning in future.

My partner is self employed and hasn't been trading for the required time to claim the grant. He can't get through to uc

I laid our cleaner in full for two weeks when we were in isolation, then lockdown came in. I’ve hada discussion with her this weekend and she thinks she is eligible to the 80% support, so I have said we will continue to pay her 20%.
I think that’s fair and knowing a bit about her personal circumstances, I think she’ll be ok until June, otherwise I would have done it differently.

I want to be fair and I am aware that DH and I are in a far, far better position than most people, but DH is going to be taking a significant pay cut, so we need t be a bit careful. Also, we have a Nanny as well and from a payment point of view, she is the priority.