Letting a cleaning contractor into a home, office or site out of hours means trusting them with access, keys and often an empty building. Most of that trust is reasonable to ask to be backed up with paperwork, and a genuine contractor should have no problem showing you what you ask for.
This is a general buyer's guide to what those checks and documents mean, so you know what to ask for and why, rather than a description of any single company's specific policy limits or certifications. Fresh n Clean is happy to provide our own documentation on request when quoting for a job.
The short version
- Ask to see evidence of public liability and, where staff are employed, employers' liability insurance
- Basic DBS checks confirm unspent convictions; enhanced checks apply where more sensitive access is involved
- Right to work checks should be standard practice for any employer, not an optional extra
- A written method statement and risk assessment should exist for any commercial or industrial job
- Keyholding arrangements should be agreed and documented, not left informal
- References from previous similar work are reasonable to ask for and reasonable for a contractor to provide
1. Insurance: what it covers and why it matters
Public liability insurance covers claims from third parties, such as a member of the public or a client, injured or having property damaged as a result of the contractor's work. This matters for any cleaning job, since equipment, chemicals and wet floors all carry some risk, and you want to know that risk sits with the contractor's insurer rather than becoming a dispute between you and them.
Employers' liability insurance is a separate, legally required cover for any business that employs staff, protecting employees if they are injured or made ill through their work. If a contractor uses employed staff rather than sole traders, this cover should exist alongside public liability.
It is reasonable to ask any contractor for a summary or certificate showing that both covers are in place and current, without needing to know the specific limits or every clause. A contractor who is reluctant to show any evidence at all is worth being cautious about.
2. DBS checks: basic against enhanced, and when each applies
A DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check confirms whether someone has a criminal record, and there are different levels depending on the type of work and access involved. A basic DBS check shows unspent convictions only and can be requested for any role. This is generally the relevant level for cleaning work carried out in offices, retail units, warehouses and most commercial or domestic settings.
An enhanced DBS check, which can also show spent convictions, cautions, and in some cases local police information, is a legal requirement for roles involving certain regulated activity, most commonly work in schools, care settings, or unsupervised contact with children or vulnerable adults. Whether this level is needed depends on the specific site and role rather than being a blanket standard across all cleaning work.
If your site is a school, nursery, care home or similar setting, it is entirely reasonable to ask specifically whether the level of check held matches what that environment requires, rather than accepting a general assurance that "staff are DBS checked" without knowing which level.
- Basic DBS: unspent convictions only, appropriate for most commercial and domestic cleaning
- Enhanced DBS: broader disclosure, required for regulated activity such as schools and care settings
- Ask which level applies to the specific site, not just whether a check exists
3. Right to work checks
Any legitimate employer in the UK is required to check that staff have the legal right to work before they start, and to keep evidence of that check on file. This is not something a client can usually verify directly for someone else's employees, but it is fair to ask a contractor to confirm that these checks form part of their standard recruitment process, since it reflects on how carefully staff are vetted more generally.
4. Method statements and risk assessments
For commercial and industrial jobs in particular, a written method statement sets out how the work will be carried out step by step, and a risk assessment identifies hazards on site, such as wet floors, chemical use, working at height or operating machinery near vehicle or pedestrian routes, along with how those risks are managed. Many sites, particularly factories, warehouses and larger commercial premises, will require these documents before allowing a contractor on site at all, as part of their own health and safety procedures.
Even where it is not formally required, asking a contractor whether they can provide a method statement and risk assessment for the specific job is a fair test of how seriously they take planning and safety, and a professional operator should be able to produce one without difficulty.
5. Keyholding and access arrangements
Out-of-hours cleaning, particularly for offices, retail units and some commercial sites, often means the contractor holds keys, fobs or alarm codes and lets themselves in and out without a client representative present. This should be a documented arrangement, not an informal one: who holds which keys, how they are logged, what happens if a member of staff leaves, and what the process is if access needs to be changed at short notice.
It is reasonable to ask how a contractor manages keyholding, including whether keys are individually tagged rather than labelled with an address, how they are stored when not in use, and how quickly access can be revoked or changed if needed.
Why this matters more for out-of-hours and unsupervised work
The level of scrutiny that makes sense scales with the level of unsupervised access being granted. A daytime office clean carried out while staff are present is a different risk profile to an evening or overnight clean of an empty building with keys and alarm codes, or a site holding sensitive stock, data or vulnerable occupants. It is reasonable to expect a contractor to apply a more thorough vetting and documentation standard as the access being granted increases.
This is also why it is worth asking these questions specifically for the site in question rather than accepting a generic answer that covers the whole company. A contractor might be entirely satisfactory for a daytime retail clean but need to demonstrate more before being trusted with an empty warehouse full of stock overnight.
6. References and track record
Asking for references from similar work, ideally a comparable type of site or job size, is a normal and reasonable part of choosing a contractor, and a contractor with genuine, satisfied clients should be willing to put you in touch with one or provide contact details for a recent similar job. Be wary of a contractor who cannot or will not provide any way of checking their track record at all.
A short checklist to take into any quote conversation
Putting the points above together, here is a simple list to work through when comparing contractors, whether for a one-off commercial clean or an ongoing contract.
- Can you show evidence of public liability insurance, and employers' liability if you employ staff?
- What level of DBS check do your staff hold, and does it match what our site needs?
- Do you carry out right to work checks as part of recruitment?
- Can you provide a method statement and risk assessment for this job?
- How is keyholding and access managed and documented?
- Can you provide a reference from a similar job?
What Fresh n Clean can provide on request
We are happy to provide documentation covering insurance, staff vetting and method statements when quoting for commercial and industrial work, and to talk through keyholding and access arrangements before any contract starts. If your site has specific requirements from its own health and safety procedures, tell us at quote stage and we will make sure we can meet them before work begins.