What an office cleaning job actually looks like
Most people picture a mop and a bin bag. In practice, an office cleaner is responsible for a defined list of areas, completed to a schedule that the client has signed off. A typical shift covers desk and meeting-room dusting, vacuuming under desks and in corridors, kitchen surfaces and microwaves, washroom cleaning and restocking, and waste separation — recycling streams are taken seriously in most British workplaces now.
Larger sites add extras. You may be a key holder, expected to disarm the alarm, switch off lights and lock up. You may work alone for the whole shift, with a supervisor visiting weekly. Some contracts require a basic DBS check, particularly in banking, government buildings, schools and healthcare sites. You will also be asked to follow COSHH guidance on chemicals and report hazards, which is why induction training matters more than it sounds on a job advert.
The work is physical in short bursts: stairs, lifting, repetitive movement. Cleaners with long careers tend to pace themselves and use trolleys properly rather than carrying everything by hand.
The pay picture across the UK
Advertised rates for office cleaning have moved up in recent years, and the spread between regions is wider than most applicants expect. National minimum standards set a floor, but commercial contracts often sit above it because employers compete for reliable staff.
The most recent ONS earnings survey puts the median hourly rate for cleaners and domestics in the low teens, with London clearly ahead of the rest of the country. Recent job adverts from facilities companies list £12.50–£14.50 per hour for standard office cleaning outside the capital, and £14–£17 for comparable roles in London and parts of the South East. Supervisory positions add roughly £1–£2 per hour on top.
| Contract type | Typical weekly hours | Advertised pay band | What works well | What to watch |
|---|
| Agency cover cleaner | 6–20, often variable | £12.50–£14.50/hr | Quick start, no interview panel, extra hours in holiday season | Hours can drop at short notice, travel between sites |
| Part-time permanent, office contract | 10–20, fixed shift pattern | £12.50–£14.50/hr | Predictable routine, same building each day, statutory holiday and pension | Early starts or late finishes, limited progression |
| In-house cleaner, council or NHS | 15–35 | £12.50–£14/hr plus local authority terms | Pension, holiday, sick pay, structured training | Recruitment rounds take weeks, application forms are long |
| Cleaning supervisor | 25–37.5 | £14–£16.50/hr | Better pay, less lifting, responsibility for audits | Paperwork, covering staff absence at short notice |
| Self-employed domestic and office work | Your choice | Set your own rate | Control over clients and hours | No sick pay, chasing invoices, insurance and tax admin |
A note on London weighting: a cleaner in Croydon commuting into the City may earn more per hour but lose the difference in travel. Compare take-home pay after transport, not the headline rate.
Getting hired with no recent experience
Employers in this sector are less interested in your CV's length than in three things: you turn up, you can follow a written schedule, and you can be trusted in a building after hours.
Right to Work checks are mandatory, so bring a passport, birth certificate plus NI evidence, or a share code if you have settled status. References matter — a previous employer, a college tutor, or a volunteer coordinator all count. If you have been out of work for a while, a short trial period through an agency is often the fastest route in, and it gives you a referee.
Sarah, a 41-year-old returner in Leeds, started with two hours a night at a solicitors' office after a decade at home with her children. Six months later she took on a second site and now supervises a three-person team. Her advice is blunt: ask at the interview what the actual shift finish time is, because "approximately" can mean forty minutes of unpaid tidying.
Training you can ask for, and often get: manual handling, COSHH awareness, colour-coded equipment use, and BICSc-style cleaning qualifications. Some employers fund these; a certificate makes you more attractive for hospital and laboratory contracts, which pay better and offer steadier hours.
Where the vacancies are, and how to search well
National facilities management firms carry the bulk of commercial office contracts and advertise continuously. Council and NHS trusts recruit in-house through their own portals. Universities, shopping centres, gyms and business parks often list directly on their own websites.
Search terms that surface relevant results: office cleaner jobs near me, part time office cleaning jobs, early morning cleaner, office cleaning supervisor jobs, and school or term-time cleaner if you need holidays off. Set alerts rather than refreshing pages — good shifts in dense employment areas are filled within days.
A word of warning on umbrella companies and unpaid trial shifts. Legitimate employers pay for trial hours and explain payroll clearly. If a recruiter asks you to register as self-employed for a role with fixed hours and a set supervisor, ask questions before signing.
Practical steps to take this week
- Write a one-page CV that lists availability, travel range and any cleaning, catering or care experience. Availability is the headline employers scan for.
- Apply to three facilities firms and two in-house employers, rather than twenty agencies. Duplicate applications slow everything down.
- Prepare for the site walk-round: you will likely be shown the building and asked whether you can manage stairs, lone working and the shift times.
- Confirm in writing the hourly rate, pay frequency, holiday entitlement and whether a DBS check is required and who pays for it.
- Keep a note of every site you have worked on and your supervisor's name. It becomes your reference list.
One last thing worth knowing
The best-paid office cleaning roles rarely appear on job boards — they come through supervisors who remember the person who covered a shift at short notice and left the kitchen spotless. Treat the first month as an audition, and the second offer tends to arrive without you applying. If you are weighing up a move, start with the part-time permanent contracts in the table above, then ask about supervisor training once you know the buildings well enough to run them.
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