How much to pay?

I would not pay less than £10 an hour. When you consider the minimum wage, which was recently increased, I wonder how anyone could have a decent standard of living on this .Many get AA. However you would not be entitled to this if your needs were based on domestic purposes ie changing your bed ,shopping and every day household tasks.

Ok didn't want a carer, she wanted help with chores which defeat her on a daily basis.
I would put up with a badly made bed between changes, my cleaner changes ours every other week, and buy in ready prepared veg. All the major supermarkets do this and get them delivered.
All much cheaper than £5/10 daily and no relying on someone.

£5 for half an hour is not much, if she is going to do that every day it would be £35 a week. I think £50 would be fairer and make it more worth her while. If you went to an agency it would cost a lot more .

I think £15 an hour would be more the going rate for a carer and like others have said, you may be entitled to a carer’s Allowance. I have had experience in dealing with carers for my own father who passed away in the latter part of 2015. This was the going rate then for private carers, which he had to have 24/7 in his final months. I am in the south east ( nit London)

Not living in the UK I can't help with the prices, but in my experience, unless you can get this lady to tell you straight out how much she charges for an hour's work, you are walking into a minefield.

If you offer her an amount she finds too little, she will be offended and you no the wiser as to what she wants, so tell her politely that you are much more comfortable about the whole thing if she states a price.

Synonymous .... I have arthritis in my back and hands .... I swim... I walk miles... but the duvet cover was beginning to defeat me! Simple ... I went back to a blanket and sheet, it may be old -fashioned but SOoo much easier. I had asked my non-arthritic husband to change the duvet covers but you would not believe the mess he got into! So blankets it is from now on...a bonus is I sleep better as not so hot! And it was only a 3 Tog!

Are you claiming Attendance Allowance to help with costs?
The forms can look very daunting but don't give up. I had to claim this for my Dad a couple of years ago and ended up having a two and a half hour interview with a very helpful lady from Age Concern (by appointment) who knew exactly what to put on the form - I was concentrating on the wrong things.
It was worth the effort though as he got the full amount of about £87 per week.

Have you checked if you are entitled to Attendance Allowance? My mother gets this and it doesn’t cover the entire cost of a carer twice a day but it certainly goes a long way towards it.

I would imagine that the reasons she is being vague, but happy to take a small sum is because she'll do it for cash in hand.
Not ideal long term, but as a temporary solution, I can see the advantages. When the time comes to make the arrangement more formal, you will have a much clearer idea of what to put on the forms.
Theoretically, you are not really legal, one reason I would not do this long term. But no-one is likely to get upset for a short while. I would make sure that you have public liability on your house insurance, for your 'friend who pops in to help'.

Thank you for your thoughts everyone. The lady who offered to help was one who was sent by the cleaning agency to do my weekly clean when my regular lady was on holiday. She has had all the checks done etc., lives just down the road and can just slot me in between other clients if I am willing to be flexible. The agency charge me £12 an hour and the ladies receive £8 plus mileage, they are provided with their uniforms and I can call on the agency for emergency cover and extra cleaning whenever needed. She wants to make this a private arrangement which is fair enough as she is self employed and has an accountant to sort it all out for her. I will just have to push her to say what she wants to be paid.
We do have a duvet and also use sheets because we sleep better with them. Physically I just cannot manage the duvet as hands don't work because of arthritis and I have ME amongst other things post stroke. I don't need a lot of help but do need just a few things doing each day to make life easier. If I push myself to do things the recovery time can get longer and longer and the pain level increases dramatically so it is better to buy the help I need. I receive financial help to employ someone to help me but it isn't that easy to find someone so am tempted to try how it works for us both if I can get the payment right.

I have bumped the previous thread about employing help in the home called Employing Someone which covers all the pros and cons. You will find it in the Active Threads or near the top of the Care and Carers forum.

I am inclined to agree with the others. I would not get out of bed for a fiver putting it bluntly. Also little can be done in that time and I agree, increase the time to an hour but less frequently throughout the week.

Sorry, OK does have a regular cleaning lady ........ that will irritate people. Yes I know I should read everything thoroughly.......
And I should have a sense of humour! Failed again!

Perhaps you could look at what you need doing. Assist with bed making? Could you not just have a duvet ? I can pull that straight easily each morning and 'make the bed' Perhaps if she changed the sheets once a week.
And preparing vegetables? Can you not buy ready prepared veges or frozen peas etc.? Or even complete ready meals?.
£5 for 30 minutes is not enough. And what about your cleaning and shopping? I think an hour 3 times a week would be better.

Are you getting all the benefits available, synonymous? I have no idea how old you both are but there are benefits like attendance allowance available which are not means tested.

That might give you more options so it's well worth getting a benefits check if you haven't already.

Well to be brutal, unless you were a good friend or totally desperate for money I wouldn’t be working for you for £5. By the time I had put on my coat and walked or driven to your house I’d have already taken quarter of an hour.
How much could she do in half an hour anyway.
Why not have her on alternate days for an hour and give her £12.50.

It would seem reasonable to ask what is meant by ‘not much’, saying you need to better understand and wouldn’t want there to be confusion. I think it’s more than reasonable to expect someone providing a service to be clear about their charges. I hope it works out for you and eases some pressure.

I think I would expect to pay £10 and let her do what you want her to well instead of rushing it.
With travel she may well be out an hour and £5 Doesn't seem enough somehow..
However £70 a week does seem rather expensive for you.
Sorry, not much help really.

I think you have to leave it up to this person to set her price. Offering someone £5 who has had to get to your house and back plus 30 minutes work is a bit insulting.

Then you will have to weigh up what she asks against how useful she has been.

Surely if your regular lady is from an agency they cover holidays and sickness whereas your new person wouldn’t ? Or have I read that wrong ?

I think that £10 to £12 per hour would be fine for just bed making and food prep. But if they are only coming for half an hour, would it be worth their while? If they have to get the car out or get a bus then probably not.

It's a weird thing isn't it? I would think that £5 for the person hardly makes it worth while going out but £10 an hour is the going rate for a cleaner round here.

Do you need someone every day or would a longer period, less frequently, be as useful?

How many days is your lady going to be coming?
£5 for half an hour seems reasonable.
I have cleaned for somebody just for an hour, and that was £10.
To be honest, just for an hour I would have sooner not done it, but it was more of a favour.