A cleaning contract template saves time, but only if it covers the things that cause arguments later. Problems between businesses and cleaning companies often start with a vague scope, an unclear standard or nobody knowing who supplies the bin liners. This guide sets out the sections a cleaning contract should include, in the order they usually appear, with notes on what to agree under each heading. It is a practical outline, not legal advice, so have a solicitor review any contract of real value before you sign it.
Why a written cleaning contract matters
A contract turns a verbal agreement into something both sides can check. The Department for Education’s guidance for schools buying cleaning services is a useful public example. It lists scope, resources, frequency, standards, responsibilities, insurance, COSHH, vetting and contract length as things to settle before you go out to quote. The same headings work for an office, a gym or a clinic.
Cleaning contract template: the sections to include
1. The parties and the site
Name both businesses in full, with registered addresses and company numbers where they have them. List every address covered by the contract, and the areas within each site that are included.
2. Scope of work
This is the heart of the contract. Describe each area and the tasks in it: for example, vacuum carpeted areas, mop hard floors, clean and restock toilets, wipe desks that have been cleared, empty bins and clean kitchen surfaces. Say just as clearly what is not included, such as IT equipment, high level windows or specialist floors, so there is no confusion later.
Attach the full task list as a schedule. It is easier to update a schedule than to rewrite the contract.
3. Frequency and timing
For each task, state how often it happens: daily, weekly, monthly or periodically. Record the days and hours when cleaners can access the site, and whether any work needs to happen outside opening hours. Include periodic deep cleans, such as carpet cleaning or holiday period cleans, with their timing. Our guide to how often an office should be cleaned can help you set realistic frequencies.
4. Who supplies what
Agree who provides labour, equipment, cleaning products, consumables such as toilet roll, hand soap and bin liners, and utilities such as water and power. If the cleaning company supplies consumables, agree how they are priced and how stock is checked.
5. Standards and quality checks
Write down what a good result looks like and how it will be checked. Common approaches include a monthly inspection with the contractor’s supervisor, a simple scoring sheet, and an agreed time to put right anything that falls short. Agree who the day to day contacts are on each side and how issues are reported.
6. Staffing, vetting and keys
Set out how cleaners are vetted, whether a DBS check is needed for your setting, and how holiday and sickness cover will work. Agree how keys, fobs and alarm codes are issued, recorded and returned, and who is responsible for locking up.
7. Health, safety and COSHH
The contract should require cleaning products to be labelled and stored in line with COSHH, with safety data sheets available on site. It should also confirm that the contractor will carry out risk assessments for their work and train their staff to use equipment safely.
8. Insurance
State the insurance the contractor must hold, such as public liability and employer’s liability cover, and ask for copies of certificates each year.
9. TUPE
If you are moving from an in-house team or another cleaning company, the existing cleaners may be protected under TUPE. GOV.UK’s guidance on business transfers and TUPE gives switching to an outside cleaning company as an example of a likely transfer. Your contract should say how staff information will be shared and how any transfer will be handled. Take advice early if TUPE might apply.
10. Price, invoicing and changes
Set out the price, what it covers, when invoices are issued and the payment terms. Include how extra work is requested and priced, and when the price can be reviewed.
11. Length, notice and ending the contract
Record the start date, the initial term and any option to extend. The DfE guidance gives the example of a two year contract with the option of a further year. Include the notice period for ending the contract and what happens to keys, equipment and staff information when it ends.
12. Data and confidentiality
Cleaners see sensitive areas. Include a confidentiality clause, and if the contractor will handle any personal data, set out how they will protect it.
Before you sign
Read the contract against a normal week on site. Ask whether every task you expect is listed, whether the hours work for your business, and whether you would know how to raise a problem. If you are comparing quotes, our guides to how much commercial cleaning costs and our commercial cleaning checklist will help you check like with like.
Cleaning contracts for Luton, Dunstable and Bedfordshire businesses
Most of the contracts we agree are with offices, schools, clinics and managed properties in Luton, Dunstable, Houghton Regis and Leighton Buzzard, plus sites across Bedford, Milton Keynes and west Hertfordshire. A contract for a Luton town centre office near the station is usually built around early morning or evening access, because the building is busy all day. A school in Dunstable or Houghton Regis needs work fitted around term dates and the holiday deep clean. A block of flats in Bedford or St Albans tends to need communal areas cleaned on a fixed weekly day so residents know when to expect us.
If you want a contract that reflects how your site actually runs, we will visit, walk the building with you and put the schedule, tasks and frequency in writing. We cover sites within about an hour of Luton.
Commercial cleaning in Luton and Bedfordshire
ST HECS provides commercial cleaning for offices, schools and other workplaces across Luton and Bedfordshire. See our cleaning services or contact our team to talk through your site.
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