Employing a cleaner.

Molly41

Just wondered if you could advise me?

I used to have a cleaner. She cleaned for me for 7 years 4 hours a week at 8/9 pounds an hour. She always told me when she could work and I had to fit in with her as she had a full time job and other cleaning jobs and I always paid her in cash and she never gave me a receipt. I always provided equipment and materials.

Latterly over the past year she has become very unreliable and messed me around with times so she is no longer working for me. I can' t work out if she was self employed or I was her employer? The cleaner always called the shots as to when she was coming and decided her hours according to her other commitments.

WantToBeSE

Molly41 wrote: »

Just wondered if you could advise me?

I used to have a cleaner. She cleaned for me for 7 years 4 hours a week at 8/9 pounds an hour. She always told me when she could work and I had to fit in with her as she had a full time job and other cleaning jobs and I always paid her in cash and she never gave me a receipt. I always provided equipment and materials.

Latterly over the past year she has become very unreliable and messed me around with times so she is no longer working for me. I can' t work out if she was self employed or I was her employer? The cleaner always called the shots as to when she was coming and decided her hours according to her other commitments.

You will have to ask her.

If she never provided receipt and was paid cash in hand, i'd hazard a guess that she wasn't declaring it to the HMRC.

If she is messing you around then I'd suggest you speak to her and ask why this change.
If she cannot be reliable then I would find another (reliable) cleaner.

Mojisola

Molly41 wrote: »

Latterly over the past year she has become very unreliable and messed me around with times so she is no longer working for me.

If she no longer works for you, does her status matter?

Molly41

I am worried because she left under a cloud and was very nasty to me. I am worried that I did not fulfil my duties as her employer and she can be vindictive. I did not know if I could get into trouble for not paying her NI and tax? She would be required to pay those as she has a full time job and other part-time cleaning jobs. I dont know whose responsibility it is to pay these? I never really thought about it but am worrying about it now in case she makes trouble for me?

However I do think she is not declaring her cleaning and has been doing it for years. Will I get into trouble for having paid her cash all these years?

Mojisola

Molly41 wrote: »

However I do think she is not declaring her cleaning and has been doing it for years. Will I get into trouble for having paid her cash all these years?

She would as she can't "get you into trouble" without admitting that she hasn't been declaring all her extra work.

It sounds like you're worrying about nothing. Who is going to prove when she worked for you? You believed she was self-employed as she dictated when she worked - if she'd been your employee you would have been setting her work times.

Pennywise

It's the detail of how they do the work which determines whether they're your employee or are self employed. Just because a cleaner works for lots of different people doesn't automatically make them self employed - they could just have lots of employments. Check it out on HMRC's webpage which goes into quite some detail (via links etc) as to whether the cleaner will be your employee or self employed.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/working/emp-in-home.htm

Mojisola

Molly41 wrote: »

I am worried that I did not fulfil my duties as her employer and she can be vindictive.

Does this sound as if she was your employee or self-employed?

https://www.hmrc.gov.uk/payerti/employee-starting/status.htm
Indications that a worker is self-employed
If any of these statements applies, your worker is likely to be self-employed:
they can hire someone else to do the work you've given them, or take on helpers at their own expense
they can decide what work is done and when, where, or how it is done
you pay them an agreed fixed price - it doesn't depend on how long the job takes to finish
they can make a loss or a profit

Even if none of the statements in the previous list applies, your worker is still likely to be self-employed if most of the following apply to them:
they use their own money to buy business assets, pay for running costs and so on
they are responsible for putting right any unsatisfactory work, at their own expense and in their own time
they provide significant tools and equipment that are fundamental for their work

Valli

Chasing_cars wrote: »

It is my private home?

Right - just wondered because of insurance implications etc if it were for a business. TY

shortcrust

I find some of these posts rather odd. If you had, for example, a private physiotherapist coming to your home twice a week you wouldn't consider yourself to be their employer and you wouldn't concern yourself with their tax arrangements. Why is it different with cleaners?

Mojisola

shortcrust wrote: »

I find some of these posts rather odd. If you had, for example, a private physiotherapist coming to your home twice a week you wouldn't consider yourself to be their employer and you wouldn't concern yourself with their tax arrangements. Why is it different with cleaners?

I don't know why people worry about it. I've had cleaners, care staff, gardeners, window cleaners, electricians, plumbers and decorators coming to my parents' house over the last few years. I've never considered myself their employer - I pay them for the job or the hours worked and that's the end of it.