[nat1]

Hi, have so far been doing Domestic cleans & 1 Office clean on my own but would now like to expand & take on staff.  However there are a few things im not sure about (ie) what happens when a customer goes on holiday & turns around & says they dont want the cleaner for 2wks? obviously that's not the cleaners problem & they are counting on a regular wage & still would be expected to be payed.  Also i've heard some cleaning companies hire staff on a self employed basis, what are the pro's & con's of this? and do most employers do a CRB check on all employee's?  any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance....... Nat

[nat1]

Hi any help at all would be great!!! many thanks......

[suffolkclean]

We used to provide a regular domestic cleaning service and employed 4 part time staff. Must get a CRB check done especially if they will be cleaning on their own, if anything goes missing you know who they will blame. CRB checks are really important as you want peace of mind too that the person isn't a shoplifter or something worse. We told our staff they would have UP TO 15 hrs per week some weeks it would be 10 wks, some 14 - that way if a customer is on holiday thats fine as your staff don't have an exact set amount of hours per week.
I've been told the 'self employed' cleaner is a bit of a sticky subject as if they work soley for you self employed - there actually employed by you, but I don't know much about the self employed side of things.
Hope this helps
barara

[nat1]

Thanks for advice Barara!!!

[Robert Parry]

Nat,

We dont touch the domestic side at all, but when you employ staff they have a whole series of rights as an employee.

Any member of staff is entitled to holiday pay, your prices to your customers must reflect this.

CRB checks are also advised, especially for lone workers in domestic premises, dont forget that you need to comply with the "Lone Working Regualations" to satisfy H & S as well, again this needs to be costed into your charges.

Regarding "hiring, self employed cleaners" as suffolkclean stated, this is not really on, but you would be shocked by the number of people who actually do this sort of thing all the time, most of the time they do unfortunately get away with it, but if something goes wrong........

Taking on staff, even one or two, is a decision that should not be taken lightly, the tax people etc, will tell you its really nothing to be concerned about, but you must be very careful to have systems, policies and procedures in place to deal with all eventuallities. Contact your local Chamber of Commerce, Business Link etc, and get yourself some real advice from an employment specialist.

Regards,

Rob