Using self employed cleaner?

[Guest]

We are looking into the possibility of using a self employed cleaner for two hours every weekend. Problem is, we've no idea how to go about it - I assume an agreement has to be in place? What needs to be in the agreement to confirm that they would be self employed? They'd also need CRB check as we are in purpose built premises, and even though they wouldn't come into contact with children our learning journals and register aren't locked away.

[diesel10]

why would it be better to have them self employed? Even if they are police checked you should lock the paperwork away.

[Guest]

I'm not saying it would be better, but we currently can't find anyone to employ to do the cleaning. Anyone who has been interested have been self-employed and have refused as it would mean having to be a member of staff - I don't know the difference this makes to them, but we've had 3 people say the same thing.

[lsp]

Haven't had experience with this but I would think that you are buying in the services of the cleaner so they would invoice you for this service. They would need their own insurance. If you insist that a dbs is needed it is up to them to provide this, at their own expense. They would be responsible for informing HMRC etc.

[Running Bunny]

One of our members of staff is our cleaner, at the weekend. She has a separate cleaning agreement that sets out her hours and rate of pay. She adds this to her overtime, but in this case, they would simply invoice you.

 

You'd keep records of their bank details for payment but they would be responsible for other things such as tax, pension etc (if applicable)

 

We have a cleaning schedule too, so some things get cleaned every week and then there are 'deep clean' areas that need focussing on. Our staff member initials them when they are done so that we have a record of what has/hasn't been cleaned.

 

Them being self employed keeps them totally out of your books, and if they are already set up as self employed, it could complicate things to be staff for one role and self employed for another. Just go through safer recruitment procedures as you would with a member of staff and get personnel stuff and children's records locked away.

[Guest]

Thank you for the replies, very helpful!

[diesel10]

We have a cleaning sheet as two different people are employed to clean throughout the week. Some jobs are daily and some weekly.

 

Another problem with self employed is they could sub out to someone else and then your dbs check wouldn't be much good. Although I've never police checked a cleaner but they are people I've known a long time and not in the building at the same time as the children. I have checked the gardener as she works in the mornings.

[lashes2508]

I would be concerned that your learning journals and register are not locked away , maybe they should be ?

A self employed cleaner can just invoice you for their work and you pay accordingly , I would put in place a lone worker agreement too as she / he would be working alone , In case of accidents / fire etc occurring , manual handling too.

[BroadOaks]

Yep pretty much summed it up in the replies!

 

If you trust her why not add her to your business as a partner and get a £10,500 tax relief whilst your at it - joke of course this can be be very dangerous for your business hehe