HOW TO HIRE · CLEANING

How to hire a domestic cleaner in the UK
The checks, the questions and the paperwork.

No register applies to domestic cleaners. Agree the list, the keys and insurance, and check your cleaner is self-employed.

  • Search and compare — no account needed
  • Nearest to you first
  • One score from Google, Trustpilot and Locufy reviews

TWO WAYS TO BUY THIS

Which do you need?

An individual by the hour

One domestic cleaner who comes on the same day each week or fortnight for an agreed number of hours and follows your list. You pay per hour, and the same person learns the house.

A company for the job

An agency or cleaning company employs or places the cleaner, supervises the work, sends cover for holidays and illness, and holds the insurance. You agree a written scope and a price per visit.

What changes

Rate per hour against a price per visit; one regular cleaner against a pool that covers absences; your own instructions against a written scope; and 20% VAT from a registered agency, none from a sole cleaner under the threshold.

THE 60-SECOND VERSION

Hiring a domestic cleaner in five steps

  1. Write the weekly listRooms and tasks your cleaner covers each visit.
  2. Self-employed or employee?If they are not self-employed, you may be their employer.
  3. InsurancePublic liability for breakages.
  4. Keys and codesHow they are kept, and a basic record check if you are out.
  5. Notice both waysFor holidays, illness and ending the arrangement.

BEFORE YOU BOOK

Check before you book

No register applies

Nothing licenses domestic cleaners in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, so a regular clean can be offered by anyone; trader status, insurance and references carry the weight. Insurance is not a legal condition here, yet public liability cover is what pays when a regular clean marks a floor or breaks a fitting. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, a regular clean that damages something through carelessness is the trader's to put right.

Ask for a business name, an invoice for the regular clean and the name of the insurer. Before the regular clean, ask the domestic cleaner for the insurer and the cover level.

Self-employed or your employee

gov.uk describes a self-employed person as running their own business: quoting, invoicing, paying their own tax and National Insurance, with no holiday or sick pay. HMRC can take its own view. A domestic cleaner who works only for you, to your hours, may legally be your employee.

Ask whether your cleaner invoices you and cleans for other households. gov.uk →

Basic criminal record check

No law requires one for a regular clean, but a self-employed cleaner can request their own basic check from DBS (England and Wales), Disclosure Scotland or AccessNI and show you the certificate.

If the regular clean means someone working in your home alone, ask to see a recent basic check. gov.uk →

Cleaning chemicals and COSHH

HSE applies the COSHH rules to self-employed people carrying hazardous products onto someone else's premises. For a regular clean, that means knowing what each degreaser, descaler or biocide is and how to use it safely.

Ask which products the regular clean uses, and whether they are safe on your surfaces. hse.gov.uk →

VAT

Regular domestic cleaning is standard-rated at 20%. An agency above £90,000 in turnover must be registered, charge it and show it on its own line; a domestic cleaner working alone under £90,000 does not charge VAT and has no VAT number to give.

Ask an agency for its VAT number and for the 20% on each invoice; ask a sole cleaner whether they are registered. gov.uk →

“Do you clean for other households and invoice as a domestic cleaner?”

A good answer: Yes, with an invoice each visit; that is what self-employed looks like.

“What does your cleaning cover each week?”

A good answer: A list agreed at the start.

“What is your minimum visit?”

A good answer: Two or three hours for most cleaners.

“Are you insured if something breaks while you clean?”

A good answer: Public liability, insurer named.

“Do you have a basic record check?”

A good answer: A recent certificate, or willing to apply.

“How do you handle holidays and illness?”

A good answer: Notice given, a missed week rather than a stranger.

“Do you bring cleaning products, or use ours?”

A good answer: A clear answer, with care for delicate surfaces.

Getting the quote right

  • From an agency: the price per visit and the weekly list of tasks in a written scope
  • Who actually attends each week, whether they are employed or subcontracted, and who comes as cover
  • The agency's VAT number, with 20% VAT shown on its own line
  • Products and equipment supplied by whom
  • Booked by the hour instead, the domestic cleaner settles the rate per hour, the minimum visit and the weekly list, with ID checked and a rating, and no VAT if unregistered
  • Notice period and missed-visit policy

Walk away if

  • Asks for a key before the first clean
  • Will not give a surname or address
  • Wants weeks paid in advance in cash
  • Takes rubbish away with no waste carrier number
LOW
£13
TYPICAL
£16
HIGH
£25

What a domestic cleaner costs: £13–£25 per hour

Domestic cleaners charge by the hour, usually with a minimum of two or three hours a visit. Regular Domestic Cleaning price guide →

Guide prices compiled by the Locufy team from published Irish and UK provider price lists and 2026/27 cost guides. Updated 2026.

KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR? NOW FIND ONE

Domestic cleaners near you, with the badges that matter shown

ID checked, trader status and one score from every review — on the card, before you message anyone. Nearest first. No account needed to look.

Or post the job free and let them come to you, or book by the hour.

  1. First walk-roundRooms, products and anything fragile shown.
  2. Kitchen and bathroomsWhere dirt builds fastest.
  3. DustingHigh to low.
  4. FloorsVacuumed and mopped.
  5. Bins and checkBins out and the list ticked off.

Self-employed
Running your own business and invoicing clients.
Minimum visit
The shortest booking a cleaner takes.
Public liability
Insurance for damage caused by the work.
Basic check
A record check a cleaner can request themselves.
COSHH
HSE's rules on hazardous substances.
National Living Wage
The legal minimum hourly pay for workers aged 21 and over.

AFTER

When the job is done

Keep a record of visitsDates, hours and payments.
Review against the listAfter the first few visits.
Raise problems earlyIn writing, the same day for breakages.
Rate the jobTell the next person how the regular clean went — time kept, mess left, price held. Under four stars, the domestic cleaner is offered the chance to fix it first through make-it-right.

STEP 1Complain to the domestic cleaner firstRaise it with the domestic cleaner in writing while it is fresh. The regular clean came with a legal promise of reasonable care and skill under the 2015 Act; ask for the shortfall to be fixed at no cost, and if it cannot be, for an appropriate refund.
STEP 2Use the make-it-right stepA score under four stars opens the make-it-right step: you choose whether the domestic cleaner gets the chance to put the regular clean right first, and we chase it to an end before you publish.
STEP 3Trading Standards, through the helplinesFor advice about the regular clean, or to have the complaint passed to Trading Standards, call the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133 (England and Wales), Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 800 9060, or Consumerline on 0300 123 6262 in Northern Ireland.
STEP 4Small claims, if money is owedIf money is still in dispute over the regular clean, the small claims routes need no solicitor: up to £10,000 in England and Wales on the small claims track, £5,000 in Scotland under simple procedure, and £5,000 in Northern Ireland's small claims court.

Hiring a domestic cleaner: questions people ask

No. No licence or register applies anywhere in the UK.

Possibly, if they are not self-employed; gov.uk's employment status guidance sets out the test.

Not by law, but a self-employed cleaner can request a basic check and show you.

£13–£25 an hour, about £16 outside London. The detail sits in the regular domestic cleaning price guide, and the search above lists cleaners working near your town.

Ask about public liability insurance.

Two to three hours for most homes.

MORE GUIDES

More hiring guides in cleaning

How to hire: House CleaningHow to hire: One-Off CleaningHow to hire: Deep CleaningHow to hire: Spring CleaningHow to hire: Oven CleaningHow to hire: Window CleaningHow to hire: Carpet CleaningHow to hire: End of Tenancy CleaningAll 701 hiring guides →

Domestic cleaners near you

Domestic cleaners in LondonDomestic cleaners in ManchesterDomestic cleaners in BirminghamDomestic cleaners in GlasgowDomestic cleaners in BelfastAll domestic cleaners on Locufy →Do it yourself: keeping a home clean week to week →

Sources — checked October 2026

  1. gov.uk — employment status: self-employed and contractor
  2. gov.uk — basic DBS check
  3. mygov.scot — Level 1 (basic) disclosure
  4. nidirect — apply online for a basic check (AccessNI)
  5. HSE — does COSHH apply to the self-employed?
  6. gov.uk — National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates
  7. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 49 — reasonable care and skill
  8. Citizens Advice — more help with a consumer issue (England)
  9. VAT rates — VAT rates for goods and services: standard rate 20% on most goods and services
  10. GOV.UK — Register for VAT: when to register