Employ cleaners: pay, travel time, status and checks

Employing cleaners brings duties that work differently from other trades: insurance, pay for travelling between clients, employment status and criminal record checks. Pay and status rules apply across the UK. Criminal record checks differ by nation.

Steps that are the same for every employer are in the hiring guides linked at the end. They include right to work checks, PAYE and pensions.

Insure your employees before they start

Take out employers' liability insurance before your first cleaner starts work. The duty covers employees, so check each cleaner's status first.

Pay the minimum wage for travel between clients

You must pay at least the minimum wage for every hour a cleaner works, and travel between clients is part of the working day. If you pay only for the time spent cleaning, unpaid travel between clients can pull the cleaner's average hourly pay below the minimum wage.

Check the rate for each cleaner's age before you set pay.

Cleaners with no fixed place of work may ask about the journeys between home and the first and last client. Minimum wage law does not require you to pay for those journeys. A European court ruling treats them as working time under the working time rules, which govern rest breaks and the 48-hour week. If a cleaner collects products from your premises first, the journey from there to the first client counts for the minimum wage.

Decide whether a cleaner is employed or self-employed

A cleaner you call self-employed but control like an employee can still be an employee. Pay, insurance and employment rights then follow.

For cleaners, the factors usually show up in how the work is set up. A cleaner is likely to be an employee or worker where you:

• set their hours and the order of their jobs
• supply the products, equipment and uniform
• set the price the client pays
• expect them to do the work themselves
• do not let them turn down jobs

A cleaner is more likely to be self-employed where they:

• quote their own price
• bring their own kit
• can send a substitute
• carry the cost of a job done badly

A tribunal decides status in a dispute.

If a self-employed cleaner does a clean at the end of building work, the Construction Industry Scheme can apply to what you pay them. HMRC treats a clean on completion of construction work as a construction operation. Routine cleaning of existing premises is outside the scheme.

Ask for the right criminal record check

No law requires a DBS check for cleaning work as such. Cleaning homes and offices is not regulated activity. A check above Basic depends on where the cleaner works and what the duties are, not on the job title.

In England and Wales, a household cannot request a DBS check on a self-employed cleaner who works for them or their family. The cleaner applies for their own check and shows the household the certificate.

These checks apply in England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland run their own check systems.

Where this fits in hiring

Once you know whether you are taking on employees, the generic hiring duties apply. These include right to work checks, registering as an employer for PAYE and workplace pensions. Guidance on each is linked below. If you also need cleaner-specific safety duties, such as chemicals and lone working, see Work safely and securely in customers' premises as a cleaner.

For questions about pay, travel time and status, contact the Acas helpline. In Northern Ireland, contact the Labour Relations Agency.