How to start a cleaning business in the UK

What the law requires

You do not need a licence or a qualification to run a domestic cleaning business. You do need to register with HMRC for Self Assessment once your income passes the £1,000 trading allowance in a tax year, by 5 October after the tax year you started. Our self-employment guide covers tax and National Insurance.

If you keep customers’ names, addresses and key codes on a phone or computer, you probably need to pay the ICO data protection fee: £52 a year for most small businesses, or £47 by direct debit.

DBS checks and keys

A DBS check is not a legal requirement for domestic cleaning, but many customers ask for one, especially older people and busy families who give you a key. A basic DBS check costs £21.50 from GOV.UK for anyone in England or Wales aged 16 or over. Scotland and Northern Ireland use Disclosure Scotland and AccessNI.

Keep keys labelled with a code, never an address, and check whether your insurance covers lost keys. Key cover is often not included in a standard public liability policy.

Chemicals and safety

• COSHH: HSE warns that cleaning products can cause dermatitis, allergies and asthma, and some are corrosive. Use gloves, keep products in their original containers, ventilate rooms and look after your hands.
• Never mix products with bleach. HSE says mixing other chemicals with bleach can give off chlorine gas.
• Lone working and lifting: HSE names cleaners as an example of lone workers. Tell someone where you are working, and avoid lifting or moving heavy furniture alone.

Startup costs

Estimates from Xero’s 2026 cleaning business guide. Add a car if you need one between jobs.

Insurance

• Public liability: covers damage to a customer’s property or injury to them. Simply Business reports that 10% of its cleaning customers paid £67.30 a year or less in the first half of 2026, and 91% chose £1 million of cover. Commercial contracts often ask for £2 million to £5 million.
• Employers’ liability: a legal requirement once you employ anyone outside your close family, with at least £5 million of cover. The fine is up to £2,500 for each day without it.
• Key cover and damage to surfaces: check these are included, because policies differ.

What to charge

Other published rates are higher: Checkatrade’s 2026 guide puts an independent cleaner at about £25 an hour, and Bark’s data shows £15 to £25. Rates depend on your area and whether you bring your own products. A weekly three-hour clean at £20 an hour is £60 a visit, or about £3,100 a year from one regular customer.

End of tenancy cleans are priced by the job. Published UK prices are roughly £180 to £300 for a two-bed flat outside London. In England, the Tenant Fees Act 2019 means a landlord cannot require a tenant to use a professional cleaner, although they can expect the property back clean and claim reasonable costs from the deposit if it is not.

Hiring cleaners

If you take on cleaners, decide whether they are employees or self-employed based on how they actually work, not what you call them. GOV.UK’s signs of an employee include regular minimum hours, a manager deciding how and when work is done, not being able to send a substitute, and the business supplying the products. HMRC’s Check Employment Status for Tax tool gives its view.

Employees must be paid at least the minimum wage. From 1 April 2026 the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 an hour. Getting employment status wrong can mean unpaid tax and penalties.

Finding clients

1. Start with people you know and ask each happy customer to recommend you to a neighbour.
2. Set up a Google Business Profile as a service-area business, listing the areas you cover and hiding your home address.
3. Collect Google reviews from every customer. Never offer a discount for a review; that breaks Google’s rules and UK consumer law.
4. Get a simple website that shows your areas, hourly rate, insurance, DBS status and a quote form. People who hear about you will check you online before they hand over a key.
5. Partner with estate and letting agents for end of tenancy work, and with local window cleaners, gardeners and handymen who visit the same homes.