How to choose a cleaning company: insurance, checks and what to ask

Hiring someone to clean your home or business means giving them access to your space, sometimes unsupervised, so it's worth doing a bit more homework than simply picking whoever quotes the lowest price. A handful of specific questions cover most of what actually matters.

Insurance is the first thing worth checking, and it's worth understanding what type applies to whom. If a company employs cleaners directly, UK law requires it to hold Employers' Liability insurance, covering at least £5 million, under the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 — a business operating without it can be fined up to £2,500 for every day it goes uninsured. This protects the company's own staff if they're injured at work; it isn't primarily there to protect you as the customer. What protects you and your property is Public Liability insurance, which covers accidental damage or injury caused during the job — a spilled cleaning product on a carpet, a broken ornament, a fall on a wet floor. It's reasonable to ask any company or independent cleaner directly whether they carry public liability cover and for how much, rather than assuming it's automatically in place.

Whether a cleaner is employed or genuinely self-employed matters more than it might seem, and it isn't just a technicality for the company to worry about. Employment status in the UK depends on the actual working relationship, not on what a contract or invoice says: a cleaner who works for several different clients, can send a substitute if unavailable, and supplies their own equipment looks genuinely self-employed, while someone working fixed hours for one client under close direction looks more like an employee, whatever label is used. This matters practically because a genuinely self-employed cleaner is responsible for their own tax and National Insurance, and is not automatically covered by an employer's Employers' Liability policy, whereas an employed cleaner should be on the company's payroll, paid at least the National Living Wage (£12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over from April 2026), and covered by that policy while working. If a price seems unusually low, it's worth asking, diplomatically, how the company structures its cleaning staff — a company knowingly misclassifying employees as self-employed to dodge these costs is a red flag beyond just the immediate job.

DBS checks come up often, particularly for anyone hiring a cleaner who'll have unsupervised access to a home, but it's worth knowing what level of check is actually appropriate rather than assuming "more checks is always better." Most independent cleaners and sole traders working in ordinary homes or offices only need — and typically only have — a Basic DBS check, which shows unspent convictions. An Enhanced DBS check, which can include a check against barred lists, is generally only relevant where the work involves regulated activity or regular unsupervised contact with children or vulnerable adults, such as cleaning in a care home, school or certain healthcare settings. For a standard domestic clean, asking whether a cleaner has at least a Basic DBS check is a reasonable, proportionate question; demanding an Enhanced check for an ordinary home clean is asking for something that isn't really designed for that context.

Beyond insurance, employment status and vetting, a few other practical questions round out a sensible checklist. How long has the company or individual been operating, and can they provide any references or reviews from existing customers? What's the policy if something is accidentally damaged during a clean — is there a clear process for reporting and resolving it, backed by the public liability cover already discussed? And for a recurring arrangement, what happens if your usual cleaner is unavailable — is there a backup, or does the visit simply get cancelled? None of these questions are unreasonable to ask, and a professional, established cleaning company or self-employed cleaner should be able to answer all of them clearly and without hesitation.

Reviews and references are worth treating as a starting point rather than the whole picture. A handful of genuine, detailed reviews mentioning specifics — reliability, care around belongings, communication when something changes — tell you more than a high star rating with little detail behind it. It's also reasonable to ask a company directly how long a specific cleaner has worked with them, particularly for a recurring domestic arrangement, since continuity matters both for consistency of work and for the practical comfort of having the same trusted person in your home each visit.

Finally, it's worth putting the basics in writing before the first visit, even for a fairly informal domestic arrangement — what's included in a standard visit, the agreed rate and how often it might change, and how much notice either side gives to alter or end the arrangement. This doesn't need to be a formal contract for a simple domestic booking, but a short written confirmation, even just by email or text, avoids the kind of misunderstanding that otherwise tends to surface only once something has already gone wrong.

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