Self employed- maternity leave

[Strictlyfan11]

Hey i wondered if anyone has been self employed and had to give clients notice that they will be going on maternity leave? I'm a self employed cleaner and 20 weeks pregnant..I plan on giving a month's notice to my clients..there's no contract between us. Would one month be reasonable and have others been in the same situation? Thank you :)

Personally, I'd say that a month is too short notice to give your clients the time to find alternative arrangements, especially as you know you're pregnant and will be going on maternity leave several months in advance. I'd not be impressed at all.

I understand why you want to give short notice, i.e. to keep clients and working as long as possible, as some of your clients will make alternative arrangements sooner leaving you with less work, but it's just part and parcel of pregnancy when self employed I'm afraid.

If you're up front and honest, you may well find that some clients will accept a period of not having a cleaner rather than finding someone else, especially if you're planning to return to work pretty quickly, whereas if you leave it to last minute and leave them in the lurch, they may well find a replacement and not want you back afterwards.

Hey thanks for your reply, yes that's true I think I'll give a bit longer than a month. I don't think I will be going back for a good year so they will need to find someone else.

Why only one month … surely it’s going to be pretty obvious before that? I’d tell them as soon as you know the date.