What do you think?

[rexr]

I’m a private carer and visit a lady weekly normally on a Thursday morning for 2hrs and charge £20 per hour. Ive been doing this for almost 3 years now. Never changed my rate. I invoice family monthly.

I recently received an email from the oldest son who pays my invoice saying he is very happy with my work etc and thinks I should have a pay rise so will be setting up a standing order of £200 each month. At first I thought that’s very nice of them. Now I realise that some months have 4 Thursdays and others 5. What should I do if anything? They did say if I was ill or took holiday I could send them money back. I’m meeting with the son and his wife in a couple of weeks for a different reason. Should I mention anything? I was thinking of increasing my rate soon but it’s not something I’m always comfortable doing. I do drive 30 min out my way and fuel is a big expense for me.

I think they want to set up a standing order to make it more convenient for them. They do go away a lot. But I still would send them an invoice for tax purposes. If I’m ill how much do I repay ? Is there something else I could suggest?

Sorry my maths aren’t mathing.

Over a 52 week year you're currently getting 52 x £40 = £2080

12 months at £200 would be 12 x £200 = £2400 per year.

So it roughly equates to a 15% rise.

Do you go on holiday at all or do you work all 52 weeks of the year?

Assuming you work all 52 weeks, then the rate they are paying you is 200*12 = 2400 for 52 weeks, or 2400/52=46.15 per week which is 23.75 per hour.

So if you skip a week you would have to send them back 46.15 pounds.

If you take holidays and they won't reduce it for that month then adjust the number of weeks accordingly.

I would suggest the revised payment but paid every 4 weeks. That’s easy to do and keeps it consistent. Also easier to work out if you have to pay money back to them. £25 an hour.

Sorry, what's your concern, that £200 per month is too much, or too little? Or is it more that you'd rather continue invoicing rather than being paid by standing order? At your current rates I calculate you are charging £2080 per year (£40 x 52), or £173 per month on a 52 week year, or assuming you miss 6 weeks a year for holidays and sick, it's £120 pcm (40 x 36 / 12), so your raise is not huge in absolute terms (although it's 15% which is not bad), but I can understand you might not feel it's that generous particularly if they want to be reimbursed for weeks you miss for holidays or whatever. Also if you are genuinely self-employed it makes more sense you continue to invoice them rather than they pay you a regular salary and then fiddle around sending money back if you miss a week.

Around here for a private carer you'd be looking at £25-£30 per hour through an agency, I don't think that's the carers actual take-home wage as obviously things like overheads, insurance, training come out of that too, but presumably you have to take care of all of that yourself so they are getting really pretty good value IMO. Absolutely fair to put your rate up if they're happy with the service I'd say.

What’s your actual concern? That they’ll be paying you too much, or too little?

I suppose it depends on how much I’d have to repay if I was off. Which doesn’t happen very often. I’m looking at it (calendar) monthly. Some months I’m already paid £200 if there are 5 Thursdays, if there are 4 it’s £160 so then I will see an increase. It sort of feels like a pay rise which doesn’t happen every month.

I like this idea, Thankyou

I guess I’d look at it on an annual basis rather than monthly. Overall, you’re about 15% better off.

You can tell numbers and money aren’t my thing. I’ve just reread the email and he says £200 monthly. Would it sound cheeky if I ask if that would be every 4 weeks or at the end of each month? Maybe they haven’t realised and need it gently pointing out. Or should I just be grateful and say no more?

It’s hard to see my wages on an annual basis. Unfortunately clients become unwell and go into hospital/care or die thats the nature of my work. I don’t get paid then.

Of course it wouldn't be cheeky to ask. It's important to be clear about these things. It's fine if he wants things to be convenient for him but it has to work for you too. Just say you'd ideally prefer to continue to be paid weekly, or on a 4 weekly basis rather than monthly. I don't see that would be a problem?

I would respond in a business like fashion. Thank you for your email, it’s timely as I was reviewing my pricing as I haven’t increased my charges for 3 years. I’m glad you appreciate my work. Can we agree £200 every 4 weeks, therefore £25 per hour. I look forward to hearing from you.