Cleaner insurance

Cleaner insurance can combine cover for customer injury claims, damage to their property and your business equipment. Public liability covers a different risk from employers’ liability, which you may need if people work for you.

Compare cleaner insurance quotes through Simply Business. Check that the quote includes your cleaning services, methods and chosen cover.

Compare quotes Check customer-property cover

Quote comparison through Simply Business · Referral link pending approval

What insurance does a cleaner need?

Use this table to identify cover to consider. These options are not automatically included or available in every quote.

What could happen?	Cover to consider	Important check
A customer, visitor or other person alleges injury	Public liability	Insured services, legal liability and applicable terms.
A customer alleges damage to their property	Public liability and any additional cover for cleaning-related damage	Surrounding property may be treated differently from the item being cleaned.
An employee alleges work-related injury or illness	Employers’ liability	Actual working arrangements and applicable obligations.
Cleaning equipment is stolen or damaged	Relevant tools or equipment cover	Insured items, values, locations, security and transit.
Customer keys or access devices are lost	Specific cover for lost keys, if available	Items and costs covered, limits and reporting conditions.
An employee is accused of theft or dishonesty	Specific relevant cover, if available	Do not assume general liability covers dishonest conduct.

Public liability insurance for cleaners

Public liability insurance can help pay compensation and legal costs if your business is legally responsible for injury to customers or other members of the public, or damage to someone else’s property. The incident must arise from insured business activities, and the policy’s terms, limits and exclusions apply.

The examples on this page illustrate possible claims, not confirmed liability or insurance outcomes.

Example: A visitor claims they slipped in an area your business had recently cleaned and seeks compensation. Liability and cover depend on the circumstances and policy terms.

Employers’ liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance concerns an employee’s own work-related injury or illness. It differs from a customer claiming that an employee injured them.

Do not assume the business owner’s own injury is automatically an employee claim. Explain who works for the business and their working arrangements when discussing cover.

Tools and equipment insurance

Check cleaning machines, hand tools and office equipment against the policy’s definition of insured property. Review:

which items are insured;
the amount insured and how equipment is valued when a claim is paid;
limits for individual items;
covered locations, including business and client premises and transit; and
storage, security and unattended-vehicle conditions.

Do not assume theft cover applies in every location, or that accidental-damage cover includes mechanical breakdown or wear and tear.

Does cleaner insurance cover damage to a customer’s property?

Damage to an item you are cleaning may be treated differently from damage to other property nearby. Relevant liability cover may respond, but not every accidental breakage or cleaning-related loss is automatically insured.

Damage to surrounding property

Example: A customer claims you damaged their cabinet while moving cleaning equipment. The cabinet was not being cleaned.

Check how the policy treats this type of damage, including restrictions affecting the property involved.

Damage to the item or surface being cleaned

Example: A customer says a cleaning product damaged the finish on their wooden table.

Ask how the policy treats damage caused by the cleaning process or products. Check any additional cover, sometimes called an extension, and any separate excess or sublimit (a smaller limit for a particular type of claim). The headline public liability limit may not apply to every loss.

A complaint that cleaning did not meet expectations is different from an allegation of physical damage or injury. Do not assume refunds, re-cleaning or contractual penalties are insured.

Understanding different property restrictions

Check these questions separately:

Treatment risk: does the wording address damage caused by your cleaning process or products?
Property being worked on: what restrictions apply to the item or area you are cleaning?
Care, custody or control: how does the policy treat property your business holds, looks after or controls?

These terms describe different restrictions. Check the policy definitions and any additional cover separately; one extension may not remove every restriction.

What cleaning work should your insurance cover?

Tell the insurer what you clean, how you clean it and where you work. Include occasional services as well as your main work, and explain who carries out the jobs.

Domestic and commercial cleaning

Describe work in homes, offices and other commercial premises. A small office and a specialist industrial site may involve different cleaning methods, equipment and policy restrictions.

Methods, products and additional services

Tell the insurer if you clean carpets or upholstery, use pressure or steam cleaning, or provide other specialist services. Include relevant products, external cleaning and work at height.

Ask the provider to confirm that the policy covers these activities and premises before relying on it.

Self-employed cleaners and small cleaning teams

Working alone does not remove the risk of injuring a customer or damaging their property. Self-employed cleaner insurance should reflect your services and equipment, even where employee-related cover is not required.

For a team, describe people’s roles and working arrangements. Employees, casual help and subcontracted cleaners may need different information and cover checks.

What should you check about lost keys and employee dishonesty?

If you hold customers’ keys or send staff into their premises, check these covers separately. Do not assume public liability includes them.

Customer keys, locks and access devices

Check whether lost-key cover is available and which keys, fobs or other access devices it includes. Ask about the costs included, limits, excess and reporting conditions.

Do not assume it pays for every replacement lock, access-system change or further loss following lost keys.

Theft and dishonesty allegations

Ask whether cover for specified losses caused by dishonesty, sometimes called fidelity cover, is available. General public liability should not be assumed to insure theft or dishonest conduct.

Check these questions:

Whose actions are covered?
Whose loss is insured?
What limits and other conditions apply?
What must be reported, and when?

An allegation alone does not establish a covered loss. Cover for employees should not be assumed to include every subcontractor or agency worker.

What should you declare about staff and subcontractors?

Explain the arrangements for employees, casual or temporary help, working family members, subcontracted cleaners and agency workers where relevant. Actual working relationships matter, rather than only the label used or hours worked.

Prepare details of:

the services each person performs;
workforce numbers and other information requested;
who engages and directs the work;
your responsibility for subcontracted services;
any requirement to check another party’s insurance and retain evidence; and
changes in workforce that may need reporting.

Someone else’s policy does not automatically remove your business’s potential liability. Our guide to employees and subcontractors explains the wider questions to resolve with the provider.

What exclusions and conditions should cleaners check?

Read the quote alongside its wording, schedule and endorsements, which are documents changing the terms. Match the conditions to your actual services and working arrangements.

Type of claim or restriction	What to check
Specialist methods and premises	Confirm that the policy covers the specific services and settings.
Chemicals and products	Describe relevant activities and check restrictions on products or processes.
Heights and external cleaning	Check insured activities, limits and conditions; there is no universal height allowance.
Damage during cleaning or treatment	Check treatment and worked-on-property restrictions.
Customer property held or controlled	Check custody and control definitions.
Keys and dishonesty	Confirm any specific cover rather than assuming general liability applies.
Equipment	Check equipment definitions and location/security conditions.
Limits and excesses	Check smaller payment limits and contributions towards claims.

Our guide to business insurance exclusions explains how restrictions fit together.

Is cleaner insurance a legal requirement?

Whether insurance is compulsory depends on the type of cover and your circumstances. Customers and sites may also set their own insurance requirements.

Most employers must arrange employers’ liability insurance, subject to applicable exemptions. Great Britain and Northern Ireland have separate frameworks. Check the actual workforce arrangements rather than assuming family help, part-time work or a self-employed label settles the obligation.

Motor insurance is required to drive a vehicle on UK roads. Check that it permits your actual business use; a cleaning-business package should not be assumed to provide it.

Public liability is generally voluntary, but customers, sites and contracts can require it and specify limits or evidence. Insurance also does not replace relevant safety duties.

How much cover does a cleaner need?

Start with contractual requirements and the possible consequences of injury or damage at the premises you clean. A claim could be much larger than the fee you charged.

Check the amounts under each relevant part of the quote:

Public liability: the limit, client requirements and whether defence costs count towards the limit or are paid in addition.
Employers’ liability: applicable legal requirements and offered terms. Do not assume ordinary excess choices apply to compulsory cover.
Cleaning and property provisions: any separate payment limit, excess or condition affecting treatment damage or customer property.
Equipment: replacement values, how claims are valued and limits for individual items.
Keys or dishonesty: specific limits and conditions if those covers are offered and selected.

There is no single suitable limit for every cleaner. Read about choosing public liability cover for the liability part of the decision.

How much does cleaner insurance cost?

The price depends on your business and the cover selected. The price of public liability alone does not show what you would pay to include equipment or additional cover for particular losses.

These factors help explain why quotes can differ:

Cleaning services: routine cleaning and specialist treatment can create different types and sizes of loss.
Work locations: premises affect the property and people involved, as well as the activities the insurer is willing to cover.
Workforce: turnover and staffing information requested helps describe the scale of the work and who performs it.
Cover selected: liability, equipment and additional cleaning-related cover address different losses.
Limits and excesses: amounts insured and relevant contributions towards claims change the cover and price being compared.
Claims history: previous claims and relevant problems can affect the insurer’s assessment and offered terms.

Compare property restrictions, accepted methods and equipment conditions alongside the total price and payment terms, including any instalment charges. For more on the liability part of your quote, read our public liability cost guide.

What information do you need to compare quotes?

Have the following information ready when comparing quotes through Simply Business:

business details, all services and methods, relevant product use and premises, including occasional work, specialist activities and heights;
turnover and workforce information requested, including employees, casual help, subcontracting and agency arrangements;
claims history and known problems that could lead to a claim;
equipment values, storage and transport arrangements if seeking that cover;
customer keys and access responsibilities where relevant;
contractual requirements and required limits; and
preferred start date.

Describe the work accurately. If the activity category does not fit, clarify it with the provider before buying.

Business insurance requires a fair presentation of the risk. This generally means clearly disclosing material information your business knows or ought to know. Alternatively, give enough information to alert the insurer to ask further questions.

Material information could influence whether the insurer accepts the risk and on what terms. Answering the application questions alone may not be enough.

Ask the broker or insurer if you are unsure what to disclose.

Requesting a quote does not start insurance. Confirm cover and its start date before relying on it. Our guide to comparing business insurance quotes explains how to review the options.

Your questions