Cleaner

My cleaner has charged £12 per hour for the past six years. She is registered for tax but sorts all that out herself. £7 per hour is much too low.

You're paying her £7 an hour?! That's not much. The Minumum Wage is £8.72 for over 25s.

If I could afford a cleaner, I'd be glad if they did a decent job and I wouldn't even think about anything else.

That's how I feel too Maggiemaybe for that small amount I would not be concerned about her tax status.

It is not only immoral to pay a cleaner £7 an hour, in the U.K. it is illegal.

I have been honest all my life, however, seeing what goes on in this country, fraud by the powerful in one form or another, I have no conscience whatsoever in paying my cleaner cash. She has been a God send, and relies on my continued financial support as much as I her physical in this difficult time. I do not believe in exploiting people and pay her fairly. I also leave her to understand and deal with the issue of NI since I have no doubt her income insufficent to pay tax.

I personally would be ashamed to pay someone £7.00 per hour for any job they did for me.

Before lockdown my cleaner charged £10 an hour but this present cleaner asks for £13 an hour and that is the going rate. It is nothing to do with me what she does with her money.

I had a cleaner before lockdown and paid her £10 ph cash. Never enquired about her financial status. If you 'formally' employ someone btw it is rather complicated and IMO best avoided where possible!

Before lockdown I was paying two women £50 for two hours , i.e. £12:50 an hour.
One had to pack it in and now the remaining one has finished.
I really could do with one but will have to wait.
The main cleaner was self employed, she also did work for agencies.
They did not expect holiday pay but I always paid them extra and a good Christmas tip.
We should be fair to them not exploit them.

No work for me means no cleaner.
I was paying £14 an hour through an agency

It's not for you to judge. I'm assuming that you've never been on benefits ?
She might not be a single mother by choice. There are many young widows.

At the risk of sounding po-faced, the trouble with this sort of thing is that as long as people are working for £7 an hour (well below the minimum wage) they are forcing down the pay of everyone else doing low-skilled work. Not only that, but the cleaner will not be eligible for any benefits (including sick pay, maternity pay and pension) as she won't be paying NI. This might not seem to matter now, but what is she supposed to do if she takes ill, or gets pregnant? How many people on here wish that they had more pension contributions? It is really unfair to force people into a situation where they are storing up trouble down the line, but as long as there are cleaners (and others) working for low pay it will be more difficult for others to charge enough to pay their contributions.

When people collude in defrauding the system that the rest of us pay into, they are also short-changing people like the cleaner, who is operating outside of the economy, whether she likes it or not. Turning a blind eye to non-payment of contributions is not doing her a favour at all, however much people pretend it is 'none of their business'.

It is actually the employer's responsibility to pay the tax and NI, although few people employing cleaners on a cash basis do this.

£7 an hour is cheap, mine charged £10, at that rate she could work 30 hours a month and I was happy that it was within the rules. Sadly with Covid she got a full time job in a care home.

I’m sorry, but I’d be more worried about paying someone so little for an hour’s work. Surely it’s below the minimum wage, unless she’s very young?

I decided to go through and agency to find a cleaner because I knew that if she had an accident in my house, she would be insured through the agency, whereas I could be responsible if I were her employer.

pays her own rent.

Honestly, spell checkers?

I wouldn't be too quick to judge.

If she is receiving universal credit she can earn £292 each month before her benefits are affected if she has help with housing and £512 if she oats her own rent.

At £7.00 an hour that's a lot of cleaning!

The single person tax allowance is £12, 500. I doubt she earns enough to pay tax.

I thought that you can now earn up to £1000 annually for offering casual services, i.e. babysitting, gardening, without having to declare it. Not sure if cleaning is included, or if it affects benefits.

Before lockdown I had a cleaner - I used to pay her in cash. I did not ask what happened after that - none of my business.