Are you paying your cleaner during lockdown?

hand wringing about paying servants and splitting lupins or whatever, only on Gransnet.

The agency I use isn’t like that - not all of them are. I pay the agency directly and they then pay their employees. I have a contract with the agency which clearly sets out the T&Cs of that.

coggie my cleaner is not a servant, she's a valued employee and friend. She will get no money from the government til June and I will try and support her as I would any friend or person whom I feel responsible for.

Greeneyed Girl - agreed, up to a point. If they're our "employees", doesn't that make us their bosses? The person who cleans for me refers to me as a client. Just as my hairdresser and my podiatrist do. They aren't our employees.

Sir Chenjin - paid by the hour or paid to get the job done is the difference between wages and salary, isn't it?

Is it? My salary (and everyone else I know) is X based on a 37.5 hour week. I can’t go home early if I’ve finished the work before then and neither do my staff. If I could do the job in 30 hours then my employer would quite rightly be looking at my contract. If my contract with the cleaning agency if for X number of hours per week why would it be OK for the cleaner to leave early? Surely it would be a case of reviewing the tasks she was doing in her contract as per other workers?

Yes.

GabriellaG54 I hope you assume men should have been taught how to clean their homes thoroughly as well as women? Goodness, my parents were busy with their careers while I was growing up and weren't over keen on housework themselves. They also considered my education far more important than showing me how to scrub the bog. There are lots of things I know how to do but (thanks to that education) can afford to pay others to do. I really loathe cleaning - there isn't a lot that's delightful about mopping the kitchen floor! Gulia the cleaner does it much better and is worth every penny!

Why would a man need a cleaner more than a woman?

Why should we be 'taught to clean' any more than we should be taught to drive buses or operate on patients or trade on the stock market? These are all jobs that people can do and earn a living doing it.

My husband has carried on paying our lovely cleaner, he was the one that hired her. She texted us today saying she is ready to work for us again, but I think we should leave it for a couple of weeks at least.

Do people need to learn how to scrub the bog? Surely you just do that as you go along as required - it ain’t hard - rather than leaving it for a cleaner to do just once a week?! <- not envy

I agree SirChenjin, no one should be above cleaning their own shit residue marks left behind in the loo, something I always impressed on my own children, it's a step too far to expect someone else to do it for you! I hate the way some people leave public lavatories

We're in our late 70s, early 80s and have done our own cleaning until this year. Mostly husband as he's more particular than me.
But now we've given in and found a young Romanian woman who works very fast and does a good job. She's a single mother with 2 young children.
We agreed on a fixed sum a week and said we would pay her until she can come back to work.
Hopefully not too long as the place is looking neglected.

Am obviously very spoiled as we have had a cleaner since I was a young housemaster’s wife in 1968! I grew up with working single mother who much preferred doing the Telegraph crossword to housework. As a very conventional child, I took it upon myself to dust etc and do like an ordered home. I worked full time after doing a degree as a mature student so felt cleaning help was justified. No such excuse now, but I must be something right because we have only had four cleaners in over 50 years.

Having spent much of today doing what my wonderful domestic help does in four hours, and to a rather lower standard, I repeat - I can’t wait for her return!

I don’t think that I realised that the government payment won’t be paid until June. I thought giving her the 20% would make it up to normal. I will pay her the whole amount and she can pay me back if she is reimbursed.

I think that we on here value our cleaners enormously and pay them properly. I’ve just been on holiday for 2 months, NO not to a top hotel on an exotic island. To my DD in Australia. I paid her whilst I was away. My choice to go away, not hers.

Let’s hope that I can get back to work at some point and replenish the coffers. ?

Ours is self employed (aren't most?) and we are giving her half pay for the duration. I hope her other clients are doing the same

I would love to have someone else do my cleaning.........but I would hate to have a stranger wandering around my house.

As I can’t afford to have a cleaner anyway, it’s a quandary I don’t have to solve.

My cleaner isnt a stranger any longer - she was for the first few times but no longer.

Hetty58 Paying someone in cash isn't illegal. If they then don't declare it to the revenue, then that is. Turns out my cleaner does declare her income and pays tax, which means she will (I gather) get some government support but it'll be a while coming. Hence I'm paying her. If she was with an agency, I think that would be different - they'd be her employers and presumably there'd be a furlough arrangement (though of course not always - some of those agencies aren't entirely above board)

My cleaner doesn't clean any more since lockdown , however she DOES do shopping for me and delivers it
I'm in the 'shielding' group BUT only my friends, and I consider my cleaner in this group, know the importance of garlic,herbs and chilies (specially chilies) to my daily diet She's coming round tomorrow. ...

jane10 I don’t know if my lovely cleaner is returning back from Poland we have not had any communication with her since lockdown . I’ve a feeling we will give her some form of remuneration on her return if she does return back to us. She helped us out in our time of need.

I hope she does come back Elizabeth1. Our lady is Polish too and she's lovely. I hope she's OK too. We text and generally keep in touch.
You sound like you're much better these. Good news.

I transferred the money yesterday. She rang to query it, was very cross but we got over that.
Now she is going to cook lots of food for us, I’ll pay for the ingredients. In a previous life she worked in a restaurant and made most of the puddings so I think I’m onto a winner.???

Win win PamelaJ1!