Cleaning business insurance: what you need to know

Domestic and commercial cleaning are sectors where there’s a measurable risk involved in providing a cleaning service. Your employee might be injured in an accident, your client’s property might be inadvertently damaged, or your professional equipment might be stolen or broken on the job.

To protect yourself, cleaning business insurance can provide relevant coverage if a claim is made against you and the company, or if you need to replace key equipment.

Let’s explore exactly what cleaning insurance is, what policies are included and how you can find the most relevant and cost-effective insurance packages. 

What is cleaning business insurance?

Cleaning business insurance is a tailored package of business insurance policies that protects your company from the main risks of providing cleaning services.

The insurance will protect you against things like damage to the client’s property, injuries sustained while cleaning and any claims made against you by the client.

Protecting yourself and your cleaning business from risk and potential legal claims is essential in the cleaning industry. You’ll need cleaning business insurance whether you’re a domestic cleaner, a commercial cleaning firm or a self-employed cleaner. 

Without insurance, you leave the business open to claims for compensation and the associated damage to your industry reputation, customer pipeline and cash flow.

Do I need insurance for my cleaning business?

Not all insurance policies are legally required. But most cleaning clients and agencies will expect you to hold public liability cover before starting work. This protects you, or the agency, against claims for injury or damage caused to the general public. 

What does cleaning business insurance typically cover?

Exactly what’s included in a specific cleaning business insurance package will vary from insurer to insurer. Most packages will also allow you to customise the package to add other kinds of insurance coverage, tailored to your business needs.

A typical package will include cover for public liability, employers’ liability and equipment protection. Optional extras may include accidental damage to your clients’ property, loss of keys and business interruption.

What types of insurance should a cleaning business consider?

As a rule of thumb, your cleaning business insurance should have public liability insurance (to cover injury or damage to clients’ property), employers’ liability insurance (a legal requirement if you have employees) and equipment and tools insurance (to cover your cleaning equipment). 

There are also additional policies you should consider, such as product liability and personal accident cover, to ensure you’re fully covered.

What do these insurance policies actually cover?

It’s important to understand what each type of insurance policy covers, and why you need this mix of policies to fully protect your cleaning business and reduce risk. 

Let’s look at what each of the policies covers and why coverage may be needed. 

Here are the main policies the package will usually include:

• Public liability insurance covers your legal costs and compensation if a third party, such as a client or member of the public, suffers accidental injury or property damage due to your business activities.
• Employers’ liability insurance covers the cost of legal fees and compensation if one or more of your employees (e.g., a cleaner) becomes ill or injured as a result of the work they do for your cleaning company.
• Business equipment insurance, also known as equipment protection insurance, covers the cost of repairing or replacing your essential cleaning gear and machinery, such as industrial vacuums or carpet cleaners, if they’re damaged, lost or stolen.

These are some optional extras to consider: 

• Personal accident insurance provides a lump sum or weekly benefit if there’s a serious accident that causes injury that prevents you from working. This policy may cover you, as the owner, or a named, insured employee.
• Product liability insurance covers you for harm caused by chemicals or cleaning products that you use as part of your service. It protects you against claims for damages caused by these products. 
• Accidental damage insurance is often part of a wider public liability policy. It covers the cost of repairs or replacement expenses if your cleaning business damages a client's property while carrying out work on their premises. This may be needed as some public liability policies do not cover damage to property being worked on. You’ll need a specific extension to your policy to cover this. 
• Loss of keys insurance covers you for the expense of replacing a client's locks and keys if they're lost, stolen or accidentally damaged while entrusted to your care by the company. 
• Business interruption insurance covers you for any lost profits and operating expenses incurred if you temporarily can’t trade. This may be due to a covered event in the policy, such as fire or flood at your premises.

Do I need public liability insurance as a cleaner?

Yes. Public liability insurance is one of the most important policies for a cleaning business to have. It protects you against claims if you accidentally damage your client’s property or injure someone on the job.

What if I employ other cleaners?

You must have employers’ liability insurance if you have employees. Having employers’ liability coverage is a mandatory legal requirement as soon as you hire any team members. Having the coverage protects you if an employee is injured or becomes ill through their work at the cleaning business.

Insurance options by cleaning business type

The types of insurance coverage you need will vary, depending on the size of your business, your business type and the kinds of cleaning services you deliver. 

Let’s outline the kinds of policy and coverage levels you may need:

• Domestic cleaning typically focuses on public liability insurance to cover accidental injury to your clients or damage to their property inside the home. Loss of keys cover is also an important consideration. This provides coverage to pay for replacement locks and keys if they’re lost or stolen.
• Commercial cleaning often requires significantly higher public liability limits due to greater risk exposure while working in corporate business premises. Employers' liability cover is also mandatory if you have employees on the books, even part-time.
• Window cleaning has some unique hazards, so you’ll often need specific extensions for working-at-height. This covers you for injury or damage while using ladders or scaffolding. Robust public liability protection is also essential in case the general public is injured by falling ladders or equipment.
• Carpet and upholstery cleaning requires strong treatment liability or product liability to cover damage from cleaning chemicals or processes. You’ll also need extensive equipment Insurance to cover expensive, specialist machines like industrial steamers and vacuum cleaners, etc.

How much does cleaning business insurance cost in the UK?

The price you’ll pay for cleaning business insurance packages can fluctuate greatly, based on the type of cleaning service you offer and your business type. 

Package prices will also increase as you add additional policies to increase your overall coverage and protection levels.

Below we’ve outlined some example prices from the current UK market* – bear in mind that some of these prices are the minimum starting price and that once you start adding policies that the price may increase substantially.

There’s also a good breakdown of prices for cleaning business insurance on the Money Supermarket website, where the average annual price for insurance covering a domestic cleaner is £61.78 and the average for commercial cleaners is £64.77.*

What factors will influence the price you pay for insurance?

As we’ve outlined, the price you pay for your cleaning business insurance can vary considerably. But what are the main factors that influence the price you pay?

Factors that drive your quoted price will include:

• The type of cleaning services you offer and the perceived danger and risk of delivering these services to your target customer audience. 
• The number of employees you have and how this impacts your employers’ liability coverage. More employees = higher prices.
• The turnover of your business and how this translates into the risk profile for your cleaning services. Higher turnovers will generally mean more clients, more employees, more services and a higher risk to the insurer.
• Your claims history and whether you have made insurance claims in the past. Multiple claims can translate into a higher risk profile as an insuree. 

How does bundling multiple covers together reduce the cost?

Buying a cleaning insurance package is more economical than buying the same policies separately and paying those prices. 

Bundling reduces the insurer’s administrative, sales and underwriting costs, allowing them to offer a bulk discount. So, it’s cheaper to buy public liability, employers’ liability, product liability and personal accident insurance in one all-inclusive package under a single premium.

How to choose the best cleaning insurance provider

Choosing an insurance provider isn’t something you should rush into. As with any important business decision, take the time to do some research. This means you can make an informed choice about which insurance package is right for your business.

To begin with, compare policies from major insurers that offer specialist cleaning cover and see how they measure up. Comparison sites, like Simply Business and MoneySupermarket, are a good place to start as you can access a wide range of policy and price options across the current UK market. 

Make sure you check:

• Claim limits: check how much you can claim against things like public liability insurance. Are you covered up to £10 million or only £1 million?
• Exclusions: What kinds of claims are excluded from your insurance policies? Read the terms and conditions in detail to check this. 
• Customer reviews: Does the insurer receive good reviews from existing customers and are there any negative reviews or customer experiences?
• Response times: If you make a claim, what’s the insurer’s stated response time? To get back up and running, you need a claim to be settled fast. 

If you’re time-poor and looking for bespoke cover, it’s worth talking to an insurance broker. Brokers have a wide knowledge of the market and can act as an intermediary between your business and the insurer. It’s a great way to get truly tailored cover at a competitive price for the business.

Covering business costs beyond your insurance premiums

Insurance is just one element of managing your risk and cash flow. 

For instances where insurance doesn’t cover an issue, or you’re waiting for a payout, a flexible loan can help provide peace of mind and keep your business moving. iwoca’s flexible business loans offer up to £1,000,000 to help you cover these expenses, alongside reliable insurance protection.

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• Borrow from £1,000 to £1,000,000, based on your business needs
• Only pay interest on what you use so you control your costs
• No early repayment fees – repay when you want
• Fast online applications, with decisions often in hours
• No need to switch banks — we work with most UK business accounts

Apply for an iwoca Business Loan

*prices and policy details are correct as of October 2025

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