Paying cleaner

My cleaner is self employed as she cleans for lots of other people. If I chose to pay her cash then it is her responsibility to declare it and pay the relevant NI, Tax etc.

As it is, I actually do a bank transfer.

I think the disappearance of cash might help this, and this year has certainly moved that forward.

A lot of people do pay cash in hand - for gardeners, decorators, plumbers, babysitters. There’s a whole black market out there. A friend of a friend recommends someone. Always has been around. The person wanting the work done pays less than the going rate and the one doing the work doesn’t declare it and pay tax so both sides are happy with the arrangement. This isn’t going to change any time soon.

watermeadow

Thanks for replies. Talking about legal footing, contracts, employment law are all irrelevant.I always pay cash in hand for small jobs done for small payments. I’ll start paying tax on these when the government start extracting the proper tax out of Amazon and all the billionaires in this country.
I’ve been very hard up for most of my life and think £12 per hour is good pay but I only need one hour’s work done most weeks so it’s not a lot. I shall pay her for her fortnight’s holiday and wish I could go on holiday too.

I don’t think I would be willing to declare so openly on a public forum that I was breaking the law.

Paying cash in hand without paying NI for your employee is illegal. Likewise, your employee may be breaking the law if he/she fails to pay tax on the earnings.

You could also be in very expensive hot water if your employee has an accident while working for you, since you don’t have employers’ insurance. I’m not sure that ranting about Amazon will help you in court.

Thanks for replies. Talking about legal footing, contracts, employment law are all irrelevant.I always pay cash in hand for small jobs done for small payments. I’ll start paying tax on these when the government start extracting the proper tax out of Amazon and all the billionaires in this country.
I’ve been very hard up for most of my life and think £12 per hour is good pay but I only need one hour’s work done most weeks so it’s not a lot. I shall pay her for her fortnight’s holiday and wish I could go on holiday too.

ps thanks to ElderlyPerson.

This is an interesting discussion. Espcially the person who wrote about the legal regulations.
We have an immigrant cleaner who is reliable and thorough and we've become fond of her. We pay her about £14 ph because she's a single Mum with 2 little boys..She doesn't take a tea break. We pay her when we cancel eg during Covid bans last year.
I had an accident recently and she offered a few times to wash me down in the shower but I felt embarassed about it so I said no.. She did wash my hair though.so I think maybe they have a person who checks the legal regulations and advises them.

www.gov.uk/employment-status/selfemployed-contractor

I have found the following. It does not actually mention a part-time cleaner.

www.gov.uk/au-pairs-employment-law

I am not a lawyer. This us just chat in a chat forum.
Apparently the law is that is a A does work B for money then if A is running a business, all B has to do is pay the money. National Insurance, insurance, income tax, and so on are the responsibility of A. So A could be a self-employed individual duly registered as such or a business that sends a human to do the work. If A is not either of those, then (except *) B is the employer with all of the obligations over National Insurance, insurance, income tax and so that that implies.

The * is that I read somewhere that there is possibly a special arrangement if the work is personal care as in washing of a human with a disability who arranges that for him or herself, but not for gardening, housework at all, nor for personal care if the arrangement is made for one human by someone else. But I don't know the details.

It is important to understand where financial liability rests if the cleaner has an accident while at work.

It may well cost more to do it through an agency so that all the person having the work done has to do is pay the money, but that is far better than ending up in court or paying a penalty notice to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs or having o sell the house to pay compensation for an injury because as employer not having had the required insurance policy.

I would think that cleaners are entitled to at least 4 weeks paid holiday per year.

I don't have a clean now but I have always my cleaners for holiday, upto 4 weeks a year. Seems reasonable to me.

I agree Largolass. I appreciate my cleaner and treat her accordingly, it’s not difficult.

My cleaner come through an agency. If I cancel her, I pay as usual. But she is flexible and we do tend to juggle the dates a bit to avoid a cancellation. I pay the Agency £14 per hour.

I cleaned privately for years . My rule was that I would only take money for what I did ! If I took holidays = no pay . If they took holidays I was usually given work to do in their absence or they insisted that they pay me !

My gem of a cleaner has one holiday a year and I don't deduct anything from her monthly standing order. I also give her an extra payment for her birthday and at Christmas. Good cleaners are worth their weight in gold.

I do not pay for holidays, mainly because she is away for a month or more. I do give around £30 extra cash at Christmas.

My wonderful clearer won't accept payment for holidays.
I'm always trying to up her money and she refuses all the time. I'm so lucky to have her. She goes beyond just cleaning sometimes.
She also cleans for my daughter, my sister, and she did for my old mum twice a week. She's been in our lives for years. She's only in her early 50's.
During lockdown when she was unable to come in, for a few weeks, per Boris.
I compensated her by paying her 50 %extra for a while, to make this up to her.
This was a real achievement, getting her to take it,
Mine is worth her weight in gold, just do what makes her happy and she's comfortable with. If she happy with holiday pay do it, but don't feel awkward if she refuses so get her a nice big Christmas present and extra cash in a christmas card works. I always get her a special gift. She's an important person in our house and family.

If you can afford it how would you feel if you didn’t pay her ?
I know what I would do .

Do you normally pay over Christmas ? If so pay her a weeks wage. Don't put her on a legal contract for £15 a week.

I agree with geekesse.

EVERYTHING should be in writing and understood by both sides before signing.

Are you in the U.K. and paying her cash in hand, as this seems to imply? If so, please reconsider, and put this on a legal basis.

I also agree it should have been sorted out when she started , I used to do some cleaning for a couple of elderly people, but if they were going away for a few days I didn’t expect them to pay me, I just got paid for the work I did when I was there, but do what you feel is right for you, everyone is different watermeadow

Yes it depends on how much you value her services. As Kittylester said this should have been decided when you offered her the job. Could you pay her £12 as a retainer for the two weeks. Doesn't seem a great deal really.

Just meant to add, you should have really decided that before she started working for you!