Hiring a cleaner

cte1111

pleasedelete wrote: »

If you are employing them then you need to sort out tax and ni and pay employers contributions. You need their NI number as even if you are not paying them enough to pay tax they may have multiple jobs etc

No you don't. You are hiring them to do a job on a self employed basis surely? I don't pay NI for my window cleaners for example.

Kimberley82

pleasedelete wrote: »

If you are employing them then you need to sort out tax and ni and pay employers contributions. You need their NI number as even if you are not paying them enough to pay tax they may have multiple jobs etc

no you dont

mrcow

pleasedelete wrote: »

If you are employing them then you need to sort out tax and ni and pay employers contributions. You need their NI number as even if you are not paying them enough to pay tax they may have multiple jobs etc

Don't be so silly. Of course you don't.

They are working for themselves and need to sort that out for themselves.

Tropez

pleasedelete wrote: »

If you are employing them then you need to sort out tax and ni and pay employers contributions. You need their NI number as even if you are not paying them enough to pay tax they may have multiple jobs etc

Technically, private (non agency) cleaners who do not supply their own cleaning equipment are failing to meet the criteria for self-employment and what you say would be correct. In practice though, many cleaners use their client's equipment while claiming to be self-employed and it seems rare that HMRC do anything about it, presumably because the cost of enforcing the rule isn't justified by the meagre differences in tax payments.

If you're hiring an agency cleaner the rules are different as the agency is regarded as the employer.

pleasedelete

Tropez wrote: »

Technically, private (non agency) cleaners who do not supply their own cleaning equipment are failing to meet the criteria for self-employment and what you say would be correct. In practice though, many cleaners use their client's equipment while claiming to be self-employed and it seems rare that HMRC do anything about it, presumably because the cost of enforcing the rule isn't justified by the meagre differences in tax payments.

If you're hiring an agency cleaner the rules are different as the agency is regarded as the employer.

I mentioned it because everyone on the thread is using the word 'employ'.

If you use a self employed person who supplies own stuff etc you are contracting not employing.

donteatthat

I have had terrible experiences with agency cleaners both at my business and at home. If I really needed a cleaner again I would take on an individual on a self-employed basis at home or as my own employee at work so I would be in a better position to go down the disciplinary route if I wasn't happy.
With the agencies, they all start off well, but cut corners within no time and they try to do the job quicker and quicker and quicker each time they come. I cancelled the most recent ones at home (Daily Poppins) for this reason. They said they would be there for 3 hours, but I kept timing them and they used to send 3 girls who would leave after 50 minutes, 45 minutes and after the time they left after 40 minutes I cancelled it.
The ones we use at work have been no better. They come in after the practice is shut and I cancelled the agreement with ServiceMaster after I checked the alarm log and found the girl who was supposed to be there for 3 hours each night was leaving after 1hour 45m!! This went back for several months. The next agency (Rapid) we had to constantly complain to about the poor standard of cleaning, and they were supposed to send 2 cleaners. The girl they sent who was on their books kept taking her boyfriend in to help her and he was totally unauthorised as he was not even on Rapids books. The alarm logs also did not add up to the time they were supposed to be doing. The latest company I won't name and shame to give them the benefit of the doubt a little longer but they are on a last warning after being supposed to send 2 cleaners and were caught out with only one in the building after a couple of my staff decided to do a spot check and waited outside the practice to see the cleaners arrive and leave. They decided to do their check because again, they weren't happy with the standard of cleaning and wanted to check the company were actually fulfilling their contracted hours. When caught in the act, the guy lied and said his wife had just nipped out....she had never even been there! After accusing my staff of lying to his supervisor, he gave his key back and quit.
So not great experiences there - we are not particularly difficult clients, we just want them to do the hours we've agreed, with the right number of authorised staff.
When you do try to cancel a contract with a cleaning company and go somewhere else they always try to intimidate you with the TUPE law saying that you have to take your poorly performing cleaner with the contract given to the new company as well.

I did have a good cleaning company when I lived up North though so I was happy then!

Metranil_Vavin

I would go for a personal recommendation.

The cleaner we use does several houses around here, and a friend of mine recommended them. I did have a bad experience initially with one girl they sent who managed to practically pull our radiator off the wall by balancing on it to dust the blinds!

One emergency plumber and annoyed neighbour below later, and the woman who runs the co apologised profusely, never sent that girl to me again and paid the bill over 6 weeks via free cleaning.

The woman she sends now is really good, spends a full 3 hours cleaning and is very thorough.

It costs us £10 p/hour which as I understand it is the standard rate for London.

Molly41

pleasedelete wrote: »

I mentioned it because everyone on the thread is using the word 'employ'.

If you use a self employed person who supplies own stuff etc you are contracting not employing.

Not me I said I pay......

pleasedelete

Molly41 wrote: »

Not me I said I pay......

Pay after they have given you an invoice I hope.

Otherwise it may be your word against there's as to what status they are working under.

They can say they assumed you were doing the tax etc.

crazyguy

You can hire them here : http://www.hunkymunkys.co.uk/