How to ask for pay rise in private cleaning?

silvercar

cmthephoenix said:

My wife's experience is that just about all of her clients wouldn't pay for if they were on holiday and would cancel her at short notice. Ideally she would have worked for clients that lived a short distance from each other and organised her routine like that but it didn't work out in practice because you had to work the hours the client wanted you to work and it was always better working for someone you trusted not to play your around.

I guess it is supply and demand. There is enough demand in my area that cleaners, particularly good ones, can find enough work and organise their day so that they don't need to do much travelling.

silvercar

cmthephoenix said:

silvercar said:

she gets a Xmas bonus of an extra weeks wages. I would guess that all this is tax free, though I don’t know that for sure. 

I've just also seen you're a forum ambassador and yet you're employing someone you allege to be committing tax fraud?? What basis do you have for the allegation and if you do believe that then stop employing them because that in my opinion makes you just as culpable!

Don't make the mistake of thinking that forum ambassadors are any different from anyone else, just because we spend too much time here and have volunteered to help out.

I'm guessing, I may be wrong. Either way she is self employed as far as I'm concerned as she dictates her rate and when she works.

Grumpy_chap

silvercar said:

Shocked at the 20% increase, I don’t think many people are getting 20% in other industries. Also shocked that the going rate has gone up so much. This is house cleaning in day time, so no offices, no early starts and actually no long distance travelling - all her clients are within 2 miles of where she lives and she has a car.

In tasks like cleaning, the rate goes up in rather a fits-and-starts approach and set at something that works for easy payment should customers be paying cash.  So £12 is an easy pay.  If the rate goes up by 10% that equals £13.20 which is all rather more messy.  The next "easy pay" increment is probably £15.  That increase happens in one event, but probably not after just one year at the previous rate.

As a comparison, our window cleaner charges £27.  I can't remember how long ago that became the rate (from £25 before).  I fully expect the next rise will be to £30.  

silvercar said:

We’ve now been sidetracked but if you want comparisons to the NHS £15 per hour is definitely more than band 4 NHS workers, so that would be more than newly qualified nurses.

I don't have any knowledge on nursing rates but that £15 per hour as a salary equates to around £27k per year which happens to be a rate mentioned on the BBC in a recent news article for nurses at the start of their career.

That salary rate is subject to income tax and employee's NI, but the cost to the employer is also higher as they have to meet employer's NI and pension contributions on top, plus on-going training, various absences, etc.

The £15 per hour for the cleaner is the earnings by the employer / company rate.  If the cleaner works for a business / agency, the salary is less than that £15 per hour.  The difference is there are opportunities to be a self-employed cleaner and still charge the same rate to customers but with an efficiency in the operating cost and business model so that less taxation is incurred.  That can yield more for the individual than working via an employing company but at the cost of some security / benefits, but it still does not work out that the full £15 is direct salary.