Professional Cleaning

Why Professional Cleaning Is Becoming More Expensive

Understanding the real costs behind today’s cleaning services

Many customers have noticed that professional cleaning services cost more than they did a few years ago. While rising fuel, materials, and equipment costs play a part, a significant driver of increased prices is something less visible: changes in employment law and modern HR practices.

Cleaning is a people-led service. When the cost of employing people responsibly increases, the cost of delivering the service must follow.

Cleaning is a labour-intensive service

Unlike some industries, cleaning cannot be automated or scaled without people. A thorough end of tenancy clean, deep clean, or regular clean depends on:

  • time
  • attention to detail
  • trained, reliable staff

Wages therefore make up a large proportion of the overall cost of cleaning.

Over recent years, statutory wage rates have increased, and many responsible employers choose to pay above the minimum to attract and retain reliable cleaners in a physically demanding role.

The true cost of employing staff goes beyond wages

For compliant employers, wages are only part of the picture. There are additional statutory costs, including:

  • Employer National Insurance contributions
  • Workplace pension contributions
  • Holiday pay and holiday entitlement, travel time and travel expenses
  • Payroll, administration, and compliance

These costs are not optional — they are legal requirements and form part of the real cost of providing a professional cleaning service.

“Compliant employer” isn’t a slogan — it’s a cost base

In cleaning, some of the biggest price differences come down to whether a company is operating as a fully compliant employer. Being compliant typically includes:

  • PAYE payroll and correct deductions
  • right-to-work checks
  • correct employment status (not misclassifying staff)
  • pension auto-enrolment compliance
  • correct holiday entitlement/holiday pay processes
  • employer National Insurance and thresholds paid correctly
  • insurance, training, health & safety, and supervision

A company that follows best practice will usually have higher overheads than one that doesn’t — but you’re far more likely to get consistent, reliable standards (and fewer problems).

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP): an important change from April 2026

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is another area that significantly affects labour-intensive businesses.

Up until April 2026, SSP has generally only been payable from the fourth qualifying day of sickness (often referred to as “Day 4”), meaning the first three waiting days were unpaid unless an employer offered enhanced sick pay.

From April 2026, this will change. Under government guidance, SSP will be payable from Day 1 of sickness absence.

Why this matters in cleaning

In practical terms, this means:

  • SSP will be payable immediately, even for short-term absences
  • Employers will have increased sick pay costs across their workforce
  • Cleaning services still need to be delivered, so cover often has to be arranged

For a cleaning business, this can mean paying:

  • SSP to the absent employee
  • wages to another cleaner covering the work

While SSP is an important protection for workers, it does represent a significant additional cost for compliant employers — and one that must be factored into pricing.

Why these changes affect cleaning more than some other services

Cleaning operates on relatively tight margins and relies heavily on consistent staffing. There is limited flexibility to absorb rising employment costs without adjusting prices.

As statutory obligations increase, responsible businesses are faced with limited options:

  • raise prices gradually to reflect real costs
  • reduce service quality (which many reputable companies refuse to do)
  • or become unsustainable

Most professional cleaning companies choose the first option in order to continue delivering reliable, high-quality services.

A difficult truth: cleaning is increasingly becoming a luxury service

Historically, cleaning has often been viewed as an affordable convenience. Increasingly, it is being recognised for what it truly is: a skilled, physically demanding, professional service delivered by people who deserve to be employed fairly and safely.

As employment standards rise, professional cleaning may feel more like a considered purchase than a casual one — but that change reflects the true cost of responsible service provision.

While government policy is often presented as strengthening workers’ rights (and in principle, many of these protections are positive), the reality on the ground is more complex.

For compliant cleaning companies:

  • each new obligation increases fixed costs
  • each increase must be reflected in pricing to survive

As prices rise, some customers understandably choose to cancel or reduce services. When that happens:

  • demand drops
  • hours are reduced
  • jobs are lost
  • and, in some cases, businesses are forced to close

Ironically, the workers these policies aim to protect are often the first to feel the impact — through reduced hours, fewer opportunities, or job losses — when compliant businesses can no longer operate sustainably without significant price increases.

The real divide: compliant businesses vs corner-cutting models

This is where a clear divide is emerging in the cleaning industry.

On one side are fully compliant employers, who:

  • follow employment law
  • pay SSP, holiday pay, pensions, and National Insurance correctly
  • insure, train, and support staff

On the other side are operators who:

  • misclassify workers
  • avoid employment responsibilities
  • undercut prices by cutting compliance

As employment costs continue to rise, this gap widens — making it harder for ethical, compliant businesses to compete purely on price.

Final thoughts

Cleaning is becoming more expensive not because businesses want it to be, but because doing things properly costs more than it used to.

Employment law changes —  a wider shift toward higher employment standards. For cleaning companies that operate compliantly, adapting to these changes means adjusting prices in order to continue providing reliable services and secure jobs.

Understanding these factors helps explain why professional cleaning prices are changing — and why quality, reliability, and fairness remain at the heart of responsible cleaning services.