Cleaner rights: contract cleaning, agency shifts and unpaid hours

The office is clean before anyone arrives. The school is locked after everyone leaves. If your employer pays only for the time with a mop in your hand, the missing minutes can take you below minimum wage. This guide is for office, school, hotel and hospital cleaners, whether you work for the site, a cleaning contractor or an agency. Start with the hours your payslip leaves out.

The hours your employer must count

Minimum wage and holiday rights cover employees and other workers, including agency cleaners, but not the genuinely self-employed. The contract’s label does not settle your status. Check our false self-employment guide if the firm directs your work but calls you self-employed. Sick pay and dismissal rights have different eligibility rules.

This guide states Great Britain law as at 1 October 2026. Minimum wage rates are UK-wide, but Northern Ireland has separate agency, working-time, service-change and tribunal rules. Do not use the Great Britain claim deadlines for a Northern Ireland case. See Northern Ireland employment law.

For hourly paid cleaners, required opening, alarm-setting, key collection and lock-up count for minimum wage. Required waiting at or near the workplace can count too. Record who told you to be there. Voluntarily arriving early is different from waiting for a supervisor with the keys.

Required travel between assignments during the working day also counts, including necessary waiting at transport connections. Ordinary commuting from home to the first site and from the last site home does not count for minimum wage.

Counting an hour for minimum wage does not automatically entitle you to your advertised rate for it. Your contract may do that. The statutory test divides qualifying pay by all the hours that count over the pay reference period. Meeting minimum wage does not excuse a breach of your contract.

Test each pay reference period, up to one month. Start with qualifying gross pay before tax and employee National Insurance, subtract costs that reduce minimum wage pay, then divide by the hours that count. From 1 April 2026, hourly rates are £12.71 for ages 21+, £10.85 for ages 18 to 20, and £8 for under-18s above school-leaving age. Apprentice rules differ. See how to check minimum wage.

Split shifts and last-minute cancellations

A 6am office clean followed by a 6pm school clean can leave a day you cannot use and hours you cannot bill. A genuine gap free from work duties does not normally count for minimum wage. Required travel or waiting is different. Calling it a “split shift” does not decide the hours.

For cancellations, check guaranteed hours, cancellation pay and any term allowing unpaid lay-off. A text saying “don’t come in” does not by itself erase guaranteed wages. Save the rota and cancellation message. See shift cancelled at the last minute.

Agency shifts, umbrella deductions and holiday pay

A cleaning contractor is not necessarily an agency. If it employs you to deliver its own cleaning service, agency equal-treatment rules do not automatically apply. If an agency supplies you under a hirer’s supervision and direction, they may. Check your contract, payslip and who directs the work.

Agency cleaners have minimum wage, holiday and unlawful-deduction protection from day one. Statutory holiday is normally 5.6 weeks annually, adjusted for your working pattern and capped at 28 days. Day-one hirer rights include shared facilities and vacancy information. Our agency worker guide separates the responsibilities.

After 12 qualifying calendar weeks in the same role with the same hirer, you gain equal basic pay and working conditions, including relevant overtime, holiday and working-time terms. Not every staff benefit qualifies. Breaks and absences can pause, preserve or reset the clock. Anti-avoidance rules can catch assignments arranged to defeat these rights.

If an umbrella pays you, ask for a breakdown from the agency’s assignment rate to your gross wage, then each deduction from that wage. What are the “margin” and employer costs? Where is holiday pay? An unexplained fee needs an answer, but the fee’s name alone does not establish a breach. See umbrella pay and deductions.

Regular-hours workers get holiday pay when taking leave. Rolled-up holiday pay is permitted only for qualifying irregular-hours and part-year workers for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024. It must be additional to work pay and separately itemised. It does not remove your right to time off. Ask for your holiday balance and payment record.

When they charge you for uniform, supplies or training

A tabard, vacuum bag or compulsory training course can eat into your wages. A deduction can be authorised by your contract and still breach minimum wage law. Your agreement does not let the firm pay below the floor.

Required job costs, including uniform bought from another shop, can reduce minimum wage pay. Suppose you earn £381.30 for 30 hours at £12.71 and the firm deducts £25 for uniform and supplies. That leaves £356.30 / 30 = £11.88 an hour. The shortfall is £25.

Required PPE must be free. In Great Britain that duty has covered employees and qualifying workers since 6 April 2022. Separately, wage deductions generally need a statutory basis, a contractual term notified in advance or prior written consent. Claims for a series of unlawful deductions generally have a two-year recovery cap in Great Britain. See unlawful deductions.

When a new contractor takes over: TUPE

A contractor loses the office park, another wins it, and you are told to reapply on lower pay. Often you do not have to.

TUPE can apply where an organised group of employees mainly serves that client, the client stays the same and the activities remain fundamentally the same. A group can be one cleaner. Assigned employees normally transfer automatically with contractual pay, hours, accrued holiday, continuity and relevant liabilities. Refusing to take the staff does not switch TUPE off.

Agency workers supplied to the outgoing contractor are not usually its employees. Do not assume they transfer, or that people with worker status never do. Acas identifies worker coverage as legally complex. Get advice on your arrangement.

A new firm cannot normally cut £12.90 to £12.71 just to match its staff. An economic, technical or organisational reason involving workforce changes may permit an agreed variation. Other exceptions include a valid contractual power. “We priced the tender lower” is not a free pass. Check Acas’s contract-change guidance before signing.

Dismissal mainly because of the transfer can be automatically unfair. A qualifying economic, technical or organisational reason changes that analysis; dismissal must still be fair. The usual unfair-dismissal service requirement can still apply. Both firms must inform affected staff and consult where measures are proposed. Ask for proposals through your union or representative. Our TUPE guide explains the tests.

Chemicals, protective kit and lone working

You should not have to choose between finishing a bathroom and breathing safely. Your employer must assess and control hazardous substances under COSHH and provide understandable instructions and training. Do not mix cleaning products. Required protective kit must be free, but is not a substitute for controlling the hazard.

Lone working needs a risk assessment too. Empty offices, locked schools and hotel corridors need arrangements for getting help and checking in. Report trapped exits, threats or lack of emergency contact. The client controlling the premises can also have duties. Pointing at the contractor does not solve the danger.

Report hazards in writing. For urgent danger, get to safety rather than wait for a reply. In Great Britain, HSE generally covers factories, schools, hospitals and government premises. Councils generally cover ordinary offices, shops, hotels, catering and leisure. Check HSE’s authority list. Northern Ireland has separate regulator arrangements.

Sick pay when you hold two cleaning jobs

Since 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay, or SSP, has no waiting days or lower earnings limit. Eligible people receive the lower of £123.25 weekly or 80% of average weekly earnings, for up to 28 weeks. Payment starts on the first qualifying day, normally a day you would work. See GOV.UK’s SSP rates.

You normally need employee status for SSP purposes, some work already done for that employer and at least one full working day of illness. Agency workers can qualify. Tell each employer by its deadline, or within seven days if none is set. Check SSP eligibility and our two-jobs SSP guide.

If you fear reporting: language, visas and where to go

Limited English does not cancel your rights. A union or adviser can help. The government complaint page says Acas offers free translation. You can ask HMRC not to disclose who complained to your employer. That does not guarantee the employer cannot guess.

If your right to work is uncertain, get confidential employment and immigration advice before choosing a route. Status can affect enforcement. We cannot promise a firewall between labour enforcement and immigration authorities. Save any sponsorship threats and consult an independent adviser. See visa threats over wage complaints.

HMRC enforces minimum wage for the Fair Work Agency through the complaint route above. The FWA also handles agency standards in Great Britain, including unlawful work-finding fees and certain unpaid agency wages. Do not assume it covers every holiday or equal-treatment dispute. Check the current remit and our FWA reporting guide. Ask Acas or your union about tribunal claims.

Do not let a grievance use up your claim time

In Great Britain, most claims about events on or after 1 October 2026 have six months less a day. Earlier events generally retain three months less a day. For wages, time normally starts at the incorrect payday; deduction series need care. Notify Acas within the applicable limit. Timely early conciliation pauses it. A grievance or enforcement complaint does not.

Acas’s example gives incorrect pay on 1 October 2026 a deadline of 31 March 2027, before conciliation adjustments. Scottish tribunal breach-of-contract claims retain three months less a day for breaches before 9 November 2026, then six months less a day for later breaches. That is not the Scottish unlawful-deduction limit. Get your particular deadline checked.

What to do today

1. Record one pay period. Note work, required waiting and travel. Subtract job costs that reduce qualifying pay and check against the minimum for your age or apprentice status. Keep payslips and rota messages somewhere outside your work account.
2. Ask for a correction. For example, “My payslip covers 20 hours but omits 2.5 hours of required site-to-site travel. Please explain the minimum wage calculation and correct any shortfall.” Keep the reply. Get advice first if you fear retaliation.
3. Check charges and holiday. Ask the payer to explain deductions, your holiday balance and any missing holiday pay. Ask the agency for its qualifying-week and equal-pay calculation.
4. Save transfer evidence. Keep your contract, rotas and messages identifying the client you serve. Ask both firms what will change. Do not resign or sign new terms without advice.
5. Get backing before time runs out. Contact a union or adviser. In Great Britain, notify Acas before the applicable tribunal deadline. Choose the minimum wage recovery route with advice.

Outsourced cleaners can consider UVW, IWGB or CAIWU. UNISON and GMB also organise cleaners, including in schools, councils and the NHS. Ask about site representation and support for an existing dispute. Acas, Citizens Advice and law centres are other advice routes. See which union to join.

Questions people ask

Does site-to-site travel earn your normal hourly rate?

It counts towards minimum wage. Your contract determines whether you also get your stated rate for it. Ordinary commuting from home to the first site and from the last site home is excluded from minimum wage hours.

Must your employer pay for a shift cancelled by text?

Check guaranteed hours, cancellation terms and any unpaid lay-off provision. New statutory shift-notice and cancellation rights are scheduled for 2027, not in force on 1 October 2026.

Must you sign the new cleaning contractor’s contract?

If TUPE applies, existing terms normally transfer without a replacement contract. Cutting them just to match the new firm’s staff is not a lawful reason by itself. Get advice before signing or resigning.

Can you get sick pay from both cleaning jobs?

You can qualify through each separate employer. Each normally pays the lower of £123.25 weekly or 80% of average weekly earnings from that employment. There is not one shared cap.

Sources

1. National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates, GOV.UK. Rates from 1 April 2026.
2. National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015, legislation.gov.uk. Pay reference periods, qualifying pay and working hours.
3. Minimum wage regulation 34, legislation.gov.uk. Travel for time work.
4. National Minimum Wage Manual: travelling time, HMRC.
5. Minimum wage regulation 13, legislation.gov.uk. Required employment expenditure.
6. Holiday entitlement, GOV.UK.
7. Rolled-up holiday pay, Acas.
8. Agency Workers Regulations 2010, regulation 7, legislation.gov.uk. Qualifying period.
9. Agency Workers Regulations guidance, GOV.UK. Equal treatment and agency arrangements.
10. Employment Rights Act 1996, section 13, legislation.gov.uk. Wage deductions.
11. Deduction from Wages (Limitation) Regulations 2014, legislation.gov.uk. Recovery cap.
12. TUPE Regulations 2006, regulation 3, legislation.gov.uk. Service-provider changes.
13. What a TUPE transfer is, Acas. Coverage, worker-status uncertainty and organised groupings.
14. Changing a contract after TUPE, Acas.
15. Personal protective equipment regulations 2022, HSE.
16. Control of Substances Hazardous to Health, HSE.
17. Lone working, HSE.
18. Is HSE the correct enforcing authority?, HSE. Offices and other premises.
19. Statutory Sick Pay: what you will get, GOV.UK.
20. Statutory Sick Pay: eligibility, GOV.UK.
21. Statutory Payments Manual: multiple employments, HMRC.
22. Employment Rights Act implementation roadmap, GOV.UK. Scheduled reforms, not current entitlements.
23. Fair Work Agency enforcement statement, Department for Business and Trade, updated 26 August 2026.
24. Complain about pay and work rights, GOV.UK. Reporting, confidentiality requests, translation and tribunal-route restriction.
25. Employment tribunal time limits, Acas, updated 1 October 2026.
26. £6 million repaid to workers as government cracks down on underpaying employers, Department for Business and Trade, 17 October 2025. First reality check.
27. Letter on non-payment of tribunal awards, Ministry of Justice to the Work and Pensions Committee, 13 November 2017, citing 2013 research. Second reality check.
28. Cleaners, United Voices of the World; IWGB; CAIWU. Union support routes.