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Cleaning checklists

Cleaner Onboarding Checklist

Most cleaning businesses lose a new cleaner in the first fortnight, and most of the reasons are set in the first two days. This covers the legal checks you must do before anyone starts, and the practical ones that decide whether they stay.

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Cleaner Onboarding Checklist

Sections 1 and 2 must be complete before the first shift. Keep this record.

Name
Start date
Role
Manager
Completed by

1. Before the first shift: legal

These are obligations, not good practice. Complete and record every one.

  • Right to work in the UK checked and a dated copy retained
  • Identity verified against the original document, in person or by approved digital check
  • Employment status decided and documented: employed or self-employed
  • Written statement of employment particulars issued on or before day one
  • Starter checklist or P45 obtained for PAYE
  • Payroll set up; National Insurance number recorded
  • Pension auto-enrolment assessed
  • Bank details recorded securely
  • Emergency contact recorded
  • DBS check completed where required by the client or the work
  • Employer's liability insurance confirmed to cover the new starter

2. Before the first shift: health & safety

  • Health and safety induction delivered and signed
  • COSHH training for every chemical they will use
  • Correct dilution and colour-coding explained and demonstrated
  • Manual handling briefing
  • Equipment training for every machine they will operate
  • PPE issued and fitted; replacement process explained
  • Lone working procedure explained, including check-in and what happens if they do not
  • Accident and incident reporting explained: who to tell and how
  • Any relevant risk assessments read and signed
  • Emergency procedures for the sites they will attend

3. Practical setup

  • Uniform issued and fitted
  • Equipment and consumables issued, with a record of what
  • Keys, fobs and alarm codes issued and recorded against them
  • Key return process explained
  • Cleaner app installed on their phone and login tested
  • Rota access confirmed and the first fortnight shown to them
  • Travel arrangements and mileage policy explained
  • Timesheet or clock-in method demonstrated
  • Who to call when something goes wrong, and when it is acceptable to call

4. First shift

Nobody should attend a site alone on their first visit.

  • Accompanied on the first visit to each site, not sent alone
  • Site-specific access, alarm and parking explained in person
  • Client preferences and any no-go areas explained
  • Introduced to the client where appropriate
  • The specification for that site walked through room by room
  • Shown where equipment and chemicals are stored on site
  • Confirmed they know how to report a problem from that site

5. First fortnight

This is where retention is won or lost. Do not skip it because they seem fine.

  • Day two check-in: how did it go, what was unclear
  • End of week one review, in person or by phone
  • First pay confirmed correct, on time, and explained
  • Any equipment or PPE problems resolved
  • Feedback from the client on the first visits gathered
  • Any additional training needs identified and booked
  • End of fortnight conversation: are the hours, sites and travel working
  • Probation period expectations confirmed in writing

Right to work checks must be completed before employment begins. A correctly conducted and retained check provides a statutory excuse against a civil penalty; a check done late does not.

This is an operational checklist, not legal advice. Employment status, in particular, is a question of fact rather than of what a contract says: see our guide on employed versus self-employed cleaners.

Free to print, copy and use commercially, including with your own clients and staff. From CleanFlo, cleaning business software for UK companies.

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Onboarding that finishes itself

CleanFlo invites a cleaner by text, WhatsApp or email with a single-use link, holds their employment documents, training records and issued keys against them, and puts them on the rota the same day.

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Why the first fortnight decides whether they stay

Cleaning has one of the highest staff turnover rates of any UK sector, and the losses are heavily concentrated in the first weeks. The reasons given at exit are rarely pay. They are that the work was not what was described, that nobody explained the site, that the first pay packet was wrong, or that they could not get hold of anybody when something went wrong.

All four are onboarding failures and all four are cheap to fix. A cleaner accompanied on their first visit to a site, called at the end of week one, and paid correctly on time is a cleaner who is still there at three months.

The economics are stark: replacing a cleaner costs advertising, interviewing, checks, induction, training and the productivity gap while they learn the round, and it usually costs a client complaint as well. Our guide on reducing staff turnover goes into what actually moves the number.

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The checks you cannot skip

Three of the items in section 1 carry real consequences if they are missed, and all three are missed routinely in small cleaning businesses.

  • Right to work. The check must be done before employment starts and the evidence retained. Done correctly, it gives you a statutory excuse against a civil penalty for employing someone without permission to work. Done late or not at all, it does not, and the penalties are substantial.
  • Employment status. Calling a cleaner self-employed does not make them self-employed. The test is the reality of the arrangement (control, substitution, mutuality of obligation), and getting it wrong means back-dated tax, National Insurance, holiday pay and potentially minimum wage liability. See our guide to employment status.
  • Written particulars. Employees and workers are entitled to a written statement of the main terms on or before their first day, not within two months as was once the case.

Keys, and why they need a record

A cleaning business holding client keys is holding the client's security, and the record of who has what is the thing that matters when somebody leaves suddenly. Most small operators keep it in their head, which works until it does not.

Record every key, fob and alarm code against the person holding it, on the day it is issued. Have a written return process and follow it on the day someone leaves rather than the week after. Never label a key with the address it opens.

If a key goes missing, the cost is not the key: it is a lock change, potentially across a whole site, and a conversation with a client about whether to tell their insurer.

Frequently asked questions

01 What checks do I need to do before a cleaner starts work in the UK?
A right to work check before employment begins, with dated evidence retained. You must decide and document employment status, issue a written statement of employment particulars on or before day one, set up PAYE with a starter checklist or P45, assess pension auto-enrolment, and confirm your employer's liability insurance covers them. A DBS check may be required depending on the sites they will attend.
02 Do cleaners need a DBS check?
Not automatically. It depends on where they work and who is present. Cleaning in schools, care settings, healthcare premises or private homes where vulnerable people live commonly requires one, and many commercial clients specify it in the contract regardless. Check the client's requirement before the first visit rather than after.
03 Can I take on cleaners as self-employed?
Only if the arrangement genuinely is self-employment, judged on the facts rather than the label: whether you control how and when the work is done, whether they can send a substitute, and whether there is an obligation on both sides to offer and accept work. Most cleaners working a fixed round to your specification with your equipment are employees or workers, and misclassifying them creates liability for back tax, National Insurance and holiday pay.
04 What training does a new cleaner legally need?
COSHH training for every hazardous substance they will use, manual handling, equipment training for any machine they operate, and instruction on the risk assessments relevant to their sites. All of it should be recorded, because in an incident or an audit the record is the only evidence it happened.

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