Living Outside The Perfect Storm

Living Outside The Perfect Storm

It is quite possible that your domestic staff may ask for a pay rise as they read about the rising cost of inflation and shortages of candidates seeking new jobs.

Let us put things into perceptive. It is true that:

In the three months to May 2022, average weekly earnings for total pay in the United Kingdom grew by 6.2 percent, with regular pay growing by 4.3 percent, when compared with the same period in 2021. In the same month, the inflation rate for the Consumer Price Index was 9.1 percent, indicating that while wages are rising, price increases are currently outpacing this growth when it comes to regular pay.  UK wages in May 2022 continued to be eradicated by rising inflation, with the value of employees’ regular pay falling by 2.8% despite employers awarding strong pay increases.

The latest labour market figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that employees’ average total pay including bonuses grew 6.2% and pay excluding bonuses increased 4.3% in March to May 2022.

The situation looks likely to worsen with Bank of England predicting that inflation will rise to 11% by the end of the year.  But as the situation develops, there is one category of employees who stand outside of what has been termed this “perfect storm” of pay and employment issues.

If you are employing domestic staff on a tax paid live in basis, they are indeed standing outside of this “perfect Storm”. They have no tax to pay, their accommodation is included in their terms of work, their food costs are eliminated as they are absorbed within the overall employer budget….. In these times, they are in a better position than millions of employees

A gentle reminder of these benefits is, under the present circumstances, all you need to say in response to a pay rise request. To put it colloquially, they shouldn’t rock the boat.

The Graham Agency, keeping you informed.