UK Window Cleaners Statistically A Hit With Under 35's

The research found that one in four households have a window cleaner and nearly a fifth – 17per cent - employ gardeners.

Return of the cleaner: One if three families now pays for domestic help: A third of households hire domestic help and the trend is driven by under-35s. An influx of migrants from other EU states has created a pool of cheap workers. Twice as many people under 35 have a cleaner compared to older people.

As a result, it is not just the well-heeled who can pay others to do the hoovering and ironing or tidy the garden, according to the study by insurers esure. A spokesman said: ‘The idea of having regular help coming to your home is something that is traditionally associated with the well-to-do but it is becoming more mainstream. ‘In fact one in four of those on modest household incomes – earning up to £20,000 per year – now hire regular help.’ 

Researchers found that twice as many people under the age of 35 have a cleaner compared to older people – 16 per cent versus 9 per cent. While this may appear to be laziness, it could simply be that young adults and parents are working long hours to fund life’s essentials. Across the nation, working long hours and a busy social life are given as the main motivation for hiring a cleaner. While one in three simply say it is just easier to use a professional to do chores properly.

A quarter of young adults said they would rather do other things with their free time than dust and vacuum, and a further one in four find the work too boring to do themselves. The research found that one in four households have a window cleaner and nearly a fifth – 17 per cent - employ gardeners. One in 20 households hire handymen for simple jobs. Interestingly, a higher proportion of men rather than women brought in an expert - 6 per cent versus 4 per cent.

Other studies suggest today’s young men have never learned basic DIY skills and simply would not know where to start on changing a tap washer or putting up a shelf. Generation Y are forking out the most for their hired help with the under 35s spending an average of £204 last month compared to the average of £127. Despite the significant sums of money being handed over, the majority of people – 87per cent – do it on a ‘cash in hand’ basis.

Esure said people bringing in strangers to work around their home are not being as careful as they should. Fewer than one in four check references and four in five do not have a formal written contract. The study suggests the total sum paid for help around the home adds up to £26billion a year. 

Ethics & Fraud In Window Cleaning

CSG provides window cleaning services for low, mid and high rise buildings. They are also empowering employees by supporting & maintaining high ethical and professional standards to combating fraud in the workplace.

CSG Launches Ethics & Fraud Reporting Hotline - Contract Services Group, Inc. (CSG), a leading building services contractor, announces the launch of the CSG Ethics & Fraud Hotline. The CSG Ethics & Fraud Hotline is designed to empower employees to support maintaining high ethical and professional standards and combating fraud in the workplace.

From its inception CSG has always been guided by the standard established by its founder, provide quality services to our clients at competitive prices, always treat our employees with dignity and respect, and abide by all government rules and regulations.

“CSG’s business practices are centered on what we call our Core Values,” said John Pearce, Founder and CEO of Contract Services Group, Inc. “We will not tolerate dishonest conduct or time theft. We strive for the highest ethical standards,” commented Casey Pearce, President of Contract Services Group, Inc.

The CSG Ethic & Fraud Hotline will allow any employees to call without identifying themselves to report any work related issues that are detrimental to all our best interests. All callers may remain anonymous. All calls will be thoroughly investigated.

Click here to download pdf file.

CSG joins Starwood, Hilton, and Marriot and many others in establishing ethics initiatives to support integrity in business practices. CSG has refined the systems, procedures and resources essential to maintain and enhance janitorial and hospitality cleaning services. CSG provides facilities services and specialty cleaning services for hospitality, timeshares, luxury apartments, office facilities, universities and government and technology facilities throughout California, Nevada and Arizona. CSG also designs and installs window washing systems nationwide.

Failure by tradesmen to declare earnings said to cost economy £2billion a year. More than half of homeowners (54 per cent) believe there is nothing wrong with paying a builder in cash, as well as a window cleaner (56 per cent) and a gardener (53 per cent).

Cash in hand economy booms in Britain - Nearly a third of Brits have paid ‘cash-in-hand’ for a tradesman three times or more in the last year, according to new research. According to research from Confused.com, 81 per cent of Brits have paid cash-in-hand to a tradesman to help solve expensive household and maintenance issues. Nearly a third (30 per cent) of people in the UK have paid cash-in-hand three times or more in the last year alone.
 

More than one in seven (14 per cent) of those questioned would rather pay less money for a service by paying cash, even if they knew the tradesman was avoiding tax. Additionally, more than one in six people in the UK have paid cash knowing that their tradesman is avoiding tax. Treasury Minister David Gauke has sparked debate after saying it was “morally wrong” for homeowners to pay tradesmen cash-in-hand knowing they intended to avoid paying tax on it.
 

Over half (51 per cent) of homeowners, however, do not believe there is anything wrong with paying tradesmen cash in hand. Many claim this is to save money, with 42 per cent explaining this is their motivation to pay in cash. The government is now concerned, however, as under the table payments are costing the UK economy an estimated £2 billion a year. There is no law against paying someone in cash, but tradesmen are under legal obligation to disclose their earnings to HMRC to determine whether they are liable for income tax or VAT.
 

It was found that more than half (54 per cent) of people believe that there is nothing wrong paying a builder in cash, as well as a window cleaner and a gardener, even if they understand that are unlikely to pay tax. However, only one in 10 (10 per cent) of Brits say they would report a tradesman to HMRC for tax evasion, even if they knew they were actively avoiding paying tax.

Window Cleaning News Revisited

John Lockwood knows who’s who and what’s what in the hood.

Keeping it real with some old friends: John Lockwood is a neighborhood character who I have known and photographed many times over the years. Anyone who has spent any time on Avenue A is familiar with John. He makes his living washing windows. He owns and runs his own company, Rose Window & Awning Cleaning. John is getting to be one of the last of the old school, independent, go-to street guys who knows who is who, and what is what, as far as the goings-on in the hood. That said, he is not a gossip, but if there is a need to know, good chance John can give an insider’s tip. John earns his money, is hard-working, honest and a stand-up guy. Remember this Harlem Window Cleaner who turned his life around?

Groupon under fire in Germany over bad deals: Groupon recently launched in Austria from America but in Germany the company has been panned. A German man and his family made the first complaint when he bought a Groupon voucher online for the "Great China" restaurant in Hamburg. The man named as Marc W., 21, paid 147.60 Euro instead of 200 for the voucher but as it turned out the restaurant does not except any vouchers. Since then Marc is trying to contact Groupon to get his money back but said he had had no reaction since then.

Another woman Katrin Wege (44), the owner of the "Blaue Blume", lost about 10,000 due a Groupon deal. The offer for her restaurant in Hamburg was supposed to be online for 24 hours but actually was available for 48 hours, she said. Some 700 vouchers were sold for 14,50 each with an original value of 30 Euro. Groupon keeps about half of the price for themselves with the rest going to the firm. Martin Harneit, pictured (33) who owns a window-cleaning service and was hoping for some advertising through Groupon also suffered, with a similar story to Katrin Wege. Groupon also sold more vouchers than he agreed on, and still owes him 800 Euro. Now, the small business of his is under threat of being bankrupt if they do not get the money back. Similar blogs here & here.

The Salary poll:  The results of the Sunday Province's poll on managerial and executive wages are in. More than 1,000 of you voted on whether 20 different Lower Mainland salaries were too high or too low. Unsurprisingly, the overwhelming response for nearly every job was "too high." Only highrise window washers, teachers and the manager of Stanley Park were seen as underpaid by the public, according to the online survey. One surprise was the mayor of Vancouver - the voting was split 50/50. $31,200 Highrise window washer -

 96% said UNDERPAID & said 4% OVERPAID 

"Are you kidding me? I make decent money but you couldn't pay me enough to do that job. Maybe not skilled labour, but how dangerous is that? Without these guys, the CEOs would not have a beautiful corner office view." - Brian Z., Agassi. Another blog on window cleaners salary here & here.

Don't moralise on tax, Gauke: Oh dear! David Gauke has made himself look a right wally by telling the British public that paying people cash-in-hand is 'morally wrong'. Last week exchequer secretary to the Treasury Gauke lambasted members of the British public who pay cash to tradesmen, cleaners, window cleaners and anyone else who may ask for cash payment. He trilled that cash-in-hand payments have left a £2 billion black hole in the economy and proceeded to judge the moral standing of those that pay cash – but what he failed to add is that paying someone cash is perfectly legal.

You can pay everyone in cash if you wish, it's up to the person you pay cash to, to declare their income, including the cash payments. It's not up to any customer to ensure the person or company they purchase an item or service from is paying the correct amount of tax.

What Gauke seemed to want to say, but couldn't, is that he thinks tradesmen and others who rely on cash are dodging tax and he doesn't like it. This is all a bit rich from the man who used to make a living out of helping the wealthy avoid tax. Gauke was a solicitor at Macfarlanes, a company which specialises in tax structuring – which translates as helping rich people pay less tax. Research last year showed tax avoidance costs the UK economy £69.9 billion a year, putting the £2 billion lost to cash-in-hand operations into perspective. Gauke looks like a fool. While he judges those who pay labourers and cleaners, people who are typically on low wages and may be struggling hard to pay bills and find enough work, his own governmental department, the Treasury, strikes deals to allow companies to escape millions of pounds of tax. Original blog here.

Bungling burglar jailed after being recognised by unique tattoo: A man’s distinctive neck tattoo helped police identify him as a bungling burglar who pretended to be a window cleaner and hooked a handbag inside a house with his broom. Neil Simpson (24), of Francis Gardens, Peterborough, had asked a woman if she wanted to have her windows cleaned on June 15. Later that day, the woman saw him feed a broom through her window and try to steal her handbag by hooking it with the stick. The would-be-burglar was caught in the act by the homeowner, and fled the property empty-handed. She called the police and told them of the distinctive tattoo on his neck, which was a large black symbol.

Simpson was then arrested for another matter the following day, and was immediately linked to the burglary when officers saw a large black tattoo on his neck. He pleaded guilty to burglary and six other break-ins across New England and Dogsthorpe at Peterborough Crown Court on Monday, July 23. Simpson has been sentenced to two years in prison. Detective Constable Tom Rowe said: “Simpson was a serial burglar and we are committed to ensure we catch those responsible for such offences. “I hope this sends out a strong message to others that we will bring offenders to justice.” Also see here: UK Window Cleaner Filmed Stealing Credit Card.

UK Window Cleaners Targeted In Politics

So far cash-in-hand builders, hospital consultants, home tutors, plumbers, window cleaners and eBay traders have all been targeted by HMRC inspectors, pulling in an extra £500million in tax since 2007.

Tradesmen's anger over cash-in-hand claims: Tradesmen have accused the Government of letting them down after David Gauke, a Treasury minister, criticised those who accepted cash-in-hand payments in order to cheat the tax man. Labour MP John Mann accused Mr Gauke of "attacking the working class". He said: "George Osborne and his team cannot resist attacking the working classes in Britain, whilst leaving millionaires and large multinationals free to hide money in UK secured overseas territories. "First it was pasties, then caravans and petrol. Now it is everyone in Britain who goes to car boot sales. Have George Osborne and David Cameron ever visited a car boot sale in their life? Can we now expect George Osborne to tramp around car boot sales in order to try to extract a few pennies in tax? "If we are looking at issues like this then we need every Cabinet Minister to reveal any potential benefits they have received that are theoretically taxable, including all cash payments made by them over the last five years, including payments to window cleaners, car washers and gardeners."

A spokesman for Rated People, a website which advertises the services of builders, carpenters and other workers, said that the "reality" for many was that they would go out of business if they did not accept cash payments. Tariq Dag Khan accused ministers of failing to understand the realities faced by small tradesmen in the current economic climate. Ryan Notz, of the MyBuilder website which has 60,000 builders on its books, also criticised Mr Gauke. He said: "Going after the little fish is a distraction from larger mistakes that have been made over tax avoidance by large corporations and the like. "The real problem here is VAT on building work, which should be zero-rated for all building work as it is on new builds. Tradesmen are not asking for cash in hand to dodge the odd few pounds on income tax, but rather to stay under the VAT threshold, as they know that once they hit that threshold they have to add 20 per cent to every invoice, which in the current market can often mean pricing themselves out of a job."

They spoke out after Mr Gauke told the Telegraph that it was "morally wrong" for tradesmen to offer a reduction in their fee in return for cash, saying that if they then failed to pay tax by keeping their work off the books they would effectively be robbing those who did. Mr Khan said: “David Gauke’s comments that it is morally wrong to pay tradesmen in cash do little to help tradesmen who are struggling in a difficult economic climate. "For the reality is that there is little or no alternative to cash payments for many tradesmen, and criticising the whole industry belies a misunderstanding of the situation many customers and tradesmen are in."

Morality Tsar David Gauke 'never pays cash-in-hand' - what about the window cleaner Minister? Exchequer Secretary David Gauke has come under fire after warning that people who pay for services cash-in-hand are contributing to UK tax avoidance. The Treasury minister has said: "Getting a discount with your plumber by paying cash in hand is something that is a big cost to the Revenue and means others have to pay more in tax. "I think it is morally wrong. It is illegal for the plumber but it is pretty implicit in those circumstances that there is a reason why there is a discount for cash. "That is a large part of the hidden economy."

The Government loses about £2 billion each year to the black economy as tradesmen fail to pay VAT or income tax by not declaring payments and keeping them "off the books". Mr Gauke told BBC2's Newsnight some Tory ministers may have previously paid workers in cash, but denied doing so himself. "I've never said to a tradesman, 'If I pay you cash, can I get a discount?'," he said. No doubt, this claim will be forensically examined over the coming days - just to ensure nothing has slipped his mind - from cleaners and gardeners to window cleaners. 

Paying tradesmen cash in hand morally wrong, says minister - Mr Gauke said cash payments were "facilitating" the hidden economy. Treasury minister David Gauke has said it is "morally wrong" to pay tradesmen such as plumbers, builders and cleaners in cash in the hope of avoiding tax. He argued the practice came at "a big cost" to the Treasury and meant other people had to pay more. But Treasury sources stressed Mr Gauke was answering a specific question rather than proposing a policy change. Labour said the government should be focusing on "clamping down" on "large-scale tax avoidance". Asked if he ever had paid cash to tradesmen to reduce his costs, London Mayor Boris Johnson said: "I've certainly paid a lot of cash in hand." In response to the same question, Local Government secretary Eric Pickles said: "Certainly not." The government is estimated to lose about £2bn each year to the black economy as tradesmen fail to pay VAT or income tax by not declaring payments and keeping them "off the books". Mr Gauke told BBC Two's Newsnight there was nothing wrong with paying in cash, but doing so actively to avoid tax was wrong.