Cleaning business insurance, priced on published figures

What insurers print for this trade

The cover a cleaning contract actually needs

1. Check for damage to property being worked on. General public liability often excludes the very item you were cleaning, which for a cleaner is most of the job. Look for a treatment or custody extension that answers for damage to goods in your care, custody or control, and read the limit on it, which is usually far lower than the liability limit.
2. Add loss of keys cover before you hold any. Holding client keys creates a liability that is expensive out of all proportion: a lost master key to a commercial building can mean rekeying the whole site. Loss of keys is a named extension, it is inexpensive, and it is the cover cleaning firms most often find they never bought.
3. Get employers' liability right for part time and agency staff. Cleaning runs on part time, evening and weekend labour, and employers' liability is compulsory for employees whatever their hours. Where staff are genuinely self employed or supplied by an agency the position differs, so establish which arrangement you actually have and insure to it.
4. Match the limit to the contracts you want. Commercial and public sector cleaning contracts routinely set a minimum public liability limit and require evidence before award. Buying the limit the contracts ask for is cheaper than buying twice, and the tender documents will tell you the number.
5. Declare specialist work separately. Working at height, jet washing, oven and duct cleaning, end of tenancy work and biohazard or trauma cleaning are rated differently from general office and domestic cleaning. A policy bought as 'domestic cleaning' rarely answers for a gutter clear from a ladder.

Common questions

What insurance does a cleaning company need in the UK?

Public liability is the core, and employers' liability is compulsory once there are employees. Cleaning firms also need damage to property being worked on and loss of keys cover, plus equipment cover for machines. Contract cleaning clients will usually state the limits they require.

Am I covered if I damage a customer's carpet or furniture?

Only where the policy carries a treatment or custody and control extension. That is the exclusion most likely to catch a cleaner out, because the item you damaged is the item you were paid to clean, and the general liability section commonly excludes it.

Do I need cover if I clean alone with no staff?

Employers' liability is not required with no employees, but public liability still is in practice: domestic clients, letting agents and commercial sites ask for it, and a single claim for water damage to a flat is beyond what most sole traders could meet.

Is cover needed for cleaners who hold keys?

Holding keys is its own exposure and needs its own extension. Without it the policy answers for injury and damage but not for the cost of replacing locks and keys after a loss, which is usually the largest single bill a cleaning firm faces.

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