Your cleaners work across several sites. Someone covers an extra shift, a clock-out is missing, and one site manager has not confirmed the hours. Payroll is due, but the office is still piecing together what happened.
For a cleaning company, an easier payday starts with a reliable record of each person's work: where they worked, which rate applies, what needs correcting and who has approved it.
This guide shows how to prepare those records, using a two-site example. It covers travel, different rates and holiday pay, then explains where Workmax can support the move from approved hours to payroll.
Payroll for cleaners: getting hours and pay right
Before calculating pay, bring together these six items for each cleaner:
- Hours by site: dates, start and finish times, and breaks actually taken.
- Agreed pay rates: including cover shifts or other work paid at a different rate.
- Travel records: relevant journeys between assignments, kept distinct from mileage expenses.
- Corrections: missing or inaccurate entries, with a reason and supporting information.
- Leave and absence: approved holiday and the information needed to assess statutory or contractual pay.
- Approval: confirmation from someone who can check the work before the payroll cut-off.
Assign responsibility for each site and a deputy when its manager is away. Give cleaners a clear route for reporting missing time. An unresolved clocking entry needs investigation; it should not simply disappear from the pay calculation.
Worked example: one cleaner, two sites and a missed clock-out
Consider Sam, a fictional cleaner aged 25 who is paid weekly. In this illustrative week, Sam works at two offices and travels directly between them. The employer has agreed £13 an hour at Site A, £14 at Site B and £13 for the travel time.
On Friday, Sam clocks in at Site B at 10:00 but forgets to clock out. Sam reports finishing at 12:30. The manager checks the account against the site supervisor's confirmation, records the reason for the correction and approves the additional 2.5 hours.
Before that correction, Site B had 7.5 complete hours. The approved total is 10 hours. Payroll should use the corrected record once, without adding a second payment for the same shift.
| Approved item | Hours | Agreed hourly rate | Gross earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleaning at Site A | 15 | £13.00 | £195.00 |
| Cleaning at Site B, including Friday's correction | 10 | £14.00 | £140.00 |
| Travel directly between assignments | 2.5 | £13.00 | £32.50 |
| Total | 27.5 | — | £367.50 |
Without the correction, earnings would have been £35 lower. Without the travel entry, another £32.50 would have been missing from the agreed pay.
Illustrative example; figures show gross earnings before deductions, with no other pay adjustments. Employer costs are separate. This is not a captured Workmax pay run.
The useful record is more than the £367.50 total. It explains the hours at each rate, the correction and the approval, so the office can answer a pay query later.
Travel time: check the journey as well as the cleaning hours
For minimum-wage purposes, relevant working time includes travel between work assignments and required training. Ordinary travel between home and work generally does not count. A genuine rest break needs to be distinguished from a journey made for work. See GOV.UK's working-time guidance.
Keep journey duration and expense reimbursement as separate records. Recording mileage alone does not establish how long the cleaner spent travelling. Document the contractual treatment of travel and check the minimum-wage position across the applicable pay reference period.
Why a headline rate can hide a shortfall
Take a separate simplified weekly example: a cleaner aged 25 receives £65 for five cleaning hours at £13 an hour, plus spends one hour travelling directly between assignments. Assume this is all their work and relevant pay for the week, with no other adjustments.
The effective rate is £65 ÷ 6 = £10.83 an hour. That is below the £12.71 National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over from 1 April 2026. The shortfall against that statutory floor is £11.26; contractual pay obligations may be higher. Source: HMRC's 2026/27 rates.
Use the minimum wage checker for an initial rate comparison, then review the full pay period. Required uniform purchases or deductions can also reduce pay for minimum-wage purposes. HMRC explains the uniform rules.
Different rates need clear records
A single total of 25 cleaning hours would hide the distinction between Sam's £13 and £14 work. Keep each block of hours attached to the applicable agreed rate and check the effective date of any change.
For cover shifts, establish the rate before the work is approved. If a cleaner covers another person's site, confirm the rate that applies to the covering employee rather than assuming it matches the absent person's pay.
Also distinguish what the customer is charged from what the cleaner earns. A customer contract price is useful for reviewing the site's commercial performance, but it does not replace the employee's agreed pay terms.
Holiday pay for cleaners depends on their working arrangement
The holiday methods below describe the rules in England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has separate rules: do not apply the 12.07% accrual method or rolled-up example below automatically. NI Direct's holiday guidance states that holiday pay cannot be included in the hourly rate as rolled-up holiday pay.
Start with the contract and working pattern. A cleaner working regular part-time hours does not automatically qualify for the irregular-hours holiday rules. Likewise, a school cleaning contract needs an assessment of the actual arrangement before applying part-year rules.
For a cleaner working regular hours throughout the year, statutory entitlement is normally 5.6 weeks of paid leave, subject to the 28-day cap. Someone working three days each week would therefore receive 16.8 days. With fixed hours and fixed pay, a week's holiday normally attracts a week's pay; regular overtime or variable pay can require further calculation. Holiday pay is paid when leave is taken, rather than using rolled-up holiday pay for regular-hours workers. See the guidance on holiday entitlement and holiday pay.
For eligible irregular-hours and part-year workers, the statutory rules for leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024 include accrual at 12.07% of hours worked. Rolled-up holiday pay is an option for these workers: it is added to pay and identified separately on the payslip. They must still be able to take leave. Read the government guidance and definitions.
As a separate illustration, suppose an eligible irregular-hours cleaner's total pay for work in the period is £300, including work at any different rates, and the employer uses statutory rolled-up holiday pay. The holiday-pay addition is £300 × 12.07% = £36.21, giving £336.21 before deductions. This illustrates holiday pay, not hours of holiday entitlement, and assumes no enhanced contractual entitlement.
For each cleaner, record the leave year, entitlement, calculation method and any more generous contractual terms. Check the applicable rules for their arrangement before changing methods.
How Workmax connects approved hours to payroll
With Time Tracking and Payroll enabled, approved hours feed directly into payroll preparation in Workmax. You can review rates and earnings, calculate pay, check exceptions and complete payroll reporting in the connected workflow. Explore Workmax Payroll.
Your payroll team works through three stages:
- Review recorded time. Start with the cleaner's hours and any missing or disputed entries. Establish what needs checking before approval.
- Prepare earnings. Follow approved hours into payroll preparation and review the resulting pay inputs.
- Check the run. Review gross pay, deductions, contributions and net pay before completing payroll and HMRC reporting.
Bring a sample like Sam's to the walkthrough and confirm how your different rates, travel and corrections would be handled. Those details should be demonstrated for your setup before you rely on them.
Workmax's payroll component with fictional example data: hours, hourly rate and regular earnings appear together for review. This Storybook capture illustrates the payroll input screen; it is separate from Sam's example above.
Time Tracking and Scheduling are optional modules priced separately from Payroll. Employee payments remain within your existing banking workflow.
How integrated payroll software can save time and money
Connecting time records, manager approvals and payroll can reduce repeated data entry and the time spent chasing information. For a cleaning business, that can mean less paid administration and more time available for organising cover, supporting cleaners and managing customer sites.
Consider an illustrative business that reduces payroll preparation by two hours a week. At a total employment cost of £25 an hour, that releases 104 hours a year, worth £2,600 in staff time across 52 weekly runs. These are assumed inputs, not measured Workmax customer savings.
Less paid overtime or external administration can mean cash savings. Time released for salaried staff creates capacity for other work, even when the salary bill stays the same.
Measure preparation time before and after the change, including site managers' time. Compare the benefit with additional software, setup and training costs, counting each saving once and retaining essential payroll checks.
A checklist before completing cleaning payroll
Use this check for each pay period:
- Reconcile recorded work, cover shifts and corrections across every site.
- Complete site-manager approval before the payroll cut-off.
- Confirm rates, effective dates, travel and any additional working time.
- Review holiday, sickness and other authorised adjustments.
- Check minimum wage using the applicable hours, pay and deductions.
- Assess pension duties where earnings vary; part-time hours alone do not settle eligibility. The Pensions Regulator's guidance explains the assessment.
- Compare proposed pay with the previous period and investigate unexpected changes.
- Confirm the reporting, payment and payslip steps, retaining the records behind the approved figures.
The Workmax Payroll Hub provides further payroll guides and checklists.
Two situations deserve attention during onboarding. If you engage self-employed cleaners, check their status rather than relying on the label in the contract; HMRC's CEST tool addresses tax status. If you take over a cleaning contract, assess whether TUPE applies before changing inherited employee terms. Acas uses office cleaning as an example of a possible service-provider transfer.
Questions about payroll for cleaners
How do I run payroll for cleaners working at different sites?
Keep hours and rates identifiable by assignment, resolve corrections with the responsible manager, then bring the approved records together for each employee's pay period. Check that a shift has not been omitted or counted twice when combining site records.
Can I use scheduled hours for payroll?
Scheduled hours are a useful starting point for review. Check them against work performed, contractual guarantees, absences and approved changes before determining pay. A rota alone cannot explain an extra shift or a missed clock-out.
Do I need to replace my existing payroll software?
First identify where the problem occurs. If managers cannot provide complete, approved hours, improve that process even if you retain your current payroll provider. If you want to bring approved hours and payroll together in Workmax, we can walk through your requirements and explain the modules and migration steps you would need.
See how approved cleaning hours become payroll in Workmax
Bring an example working week, your pay frequency and the way each site approves hours. Include any different rates, travel or corrections so the walkthrough addresses your actual payroll questions.
