If you decide to get domestic help, it is likely that you are leading a very busy lifestyle and may not be able to be there when they clean. Therefore, you will be handing over keys to your property. Naturally, you must trust the person entering your house and carry out necessary checks to put your mind at ease.
Domestic cleaning industry in London is dominated by immigrant workers, therefore it is important to keep yourself up to date with employment law so you would not make crucial mistakes that may result in penalties. If you have decided to go through a cleaning agency, there might be an option for all this to be done by them. We at Amy Cleaning carry out careful vetting with each applicant; all documents are being monitored on a daily basis. If you decide to go solo and hire a cleaner yourself, there are few main immigration rules that you should know.
European Economic Area (EEA) and Swiss nationals are free to live and work in the UK. However, workers from A8 (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia) countries may need to get authorization from the UK Border Agency to work in the UK. This is known as workers registration scheme (WRS). They may be exempt from this because they came to the UK before the WRS started (1 May 2004) or they have already worked in the UK for 12 months without a break
A2 nationals (Bulgarians or Romanians) are free to come to the UK but they do need work permits.
Most of Romanians and Bulgarians walking through our agency doors will already have domestic cleaner/ student visa or blue or yellow cards permitting them work. If this will not be the case, they would need to apply for self employment straight away in order to work for us. Same as with A8 nationals, Romanians and Bulgarians no longer need permission to take on work after they have worked legally for 12 months. They do not need permit to work as self employed, but they do have to register. Current rules state that anyone working on a self employed basis must register within three months of starting.
Foreign students: most of student visas will allow 10 or 20 hours a week work during term time and full-time work during vacation periods.
Be vigilant though as new types of visa’s and permits are issued everyday and new employment laws are being introduced. Not knowing will not protect you from responsibility.
These days we have been flooded with news about the Home Office and employment rules regarding immigrants. It is always a tricky issue on the domestic cleaning sector and people are very concerned about their domestic cleaners and their right to work in this country.