How to Vet a House Cleaner in Slough: Insurance, DBS & Trust
If you've scrolled through Checkatrade or MyBuilder looking for a cleaner in Slough, you've probably noticed the same question coming up again and again: 'Are you insured?' followed by some version of 'How do I know I can trust you in my home?'. It's a fair question, and one that matters more in Slough than in many neighbouring commuter towns. The borough has one of the densest, most mobile populations in the South East — a constant churn of renters near the town centre, Langley and Chalvey, plus families moving in around Cippenham, Wexham and Upton who simply don't have the long-standing word-of-mouth network that someone in, say, Beaconsfield might rely on. That makes vetting harder and more important. This guide walks through exactly how to check a cleaner is who they say they are: what insurance actually covers, what a DBS check is (and isn't), how to verify ID and right to work, what good references look like, and the red flags that should make you walk away. By the end you'll have a short, repeatable checklist you can use whether you're hiring an independent cleaner off Facebook or booking through an established Slough agency.
- Public liability insurance (£1m+) is non-negotiable — always ask for the certificate, insurer name and policy number.
- A Basic DBS check is the right level for domestic cleaners; insist on one issued within the last 12 months.
- Verify ID and, where relevant, right-to-work — it takes minutes and resolves the most basic trust question.
- Slough's high rental churn means you can't rely on word-of-mouth; structured vetting matters more here than in long-settled commuter towns.
- Quotes far below the local market rate usually mean someone is uninsured, untaxed, or both — cheap is rarely a bargain.
Why vetting matters more in Slough than in nearby towns
Slough is unusual among Berkshire towns. The 2021 Census showed it as one of the most diverse boroughs in England, with a significantly younger population than the national average and a private rental sector that turns over far more quickly than places like Maidenhead or Windsor. For cleaners, that creates two effects worth understanding before you hire anyone.
First, demand is high and supply is fragmented. Around the trading estate, Bath Road corporate lets, and the new builds near the station, you'll find dozens of independent operators advertising on Facebook groups, Nextdoor and gumtree-style listings — many of them genuinely good, some of them not insured, and a small number who aren't who they claim to be. Second, because so many residents are newcomers, the traditional 'my neighbour has used her for ten years' recommendation simply doesn't exist for most households. You're hiring blind, often into a flat where you've only lived a few months yourself.
That combination — high churn, weak local networks, lots of cash-in-hand offers — is exactly the environment where proper vetting pays off. It's not about being suspicious of cleaners as a profession; the vast majority are honest people doing hard work. It's about protecting yourself against the small minority, and against ordinary accidents (a smashed TV, a flooded bathroom, a back injury on your stairs) that can become very expensive very quickly if there's no insurance behind the person doing the work.
The good news is that vetting doesn't need to be paranoid or awkward. A professional cleaner — independent or agency-employed — will expect these questions and have answers ready. If they don't, that itself is information.
Public liability insurance: what it actually covers
The single most important thing to confirm is that your cleaner carries public liability insurance, typically £1 million or £2 million of cover. This is the policy that pays out if something goes wrong: a cleaner knocks your laptop off the kitchen counter, a hoover gets caught on a radiator pipe and floods the flat below, bleach ruins a rug. Without it, your only route to compensation is a personal claim against the cleaner — which, if they're a sole trader with no assets, may be effectively worthless.
Ask to see the certificate. A legitimate policy will name the policyholder (which should match the trading name or person you're hiring), the insurer, a policy number, the cover limit, and an expiry date. Don't accept a screenshot of a quote or a 'we're insured through our agency' line without specifics — ask which insurer and what the policy number is. A reputable provider will share this within minutes.
There's a second, less-discussed policy: employers' liability insurance. This is legally required if the cleaner employs anyone else (for example, if two cleaners turn up together and one works for the other). Solo independents don't need it, but small Slough agencies that send teams should have it.
A third type, treatment risk or 'care, custody and control' cover, matters if you want full protection for items the cleaner is actively handling. Standard public liability often excludes damage to the specific item being cleaned — so the rug being shampooed may not be covered even though the rug across the room would be. For specialist work like carpet or upholstery cleaning, ask specifically whether the policy includes treatment risk. Established specialists such as Carpet Bright UK (Slough) will have this as standard; a general cleaner advertising 'I also do carpets' may not.
Finally, check the policy is current. Insurance lapses. A certificate from 2022 means nothing in 2025.
DBS checks: what they prove and what they don't
A DBS check (Disclosure and Barring Service, formerly CRB) is a criminal record check. For domestic cleaners, the relevant level is almost always Basic DBS, which discloses unspent convictions and is available to anyone over 16 in England and Wales. Enhanced DBS — the kind that includes spent convictions and barring lists — is generally only legally available for roles involving children or vulnerable adults, so a standard house cleaner can't usually obtain one, and you should be slightly cautious of any small operator who claims they have one without explaining why.
A Basic DBS certificate costs around £25 and takes a couple of weeks to come back. It shows the holder's name, date of birth, and any unspent convictions on the date it was issued. That last point is critical: a DBS is a snapshot, not an ongoing status. A certificate from two years ago doesn't tell you anything about the last two years. Reasonable practice is to ask for a certificate issued within the last 12 months, or to use a provider who runs the DBS update service so checks stay current.
Large franchises and platforms tend to do this as part of their onboarding. Operators like Molly Maid (Maidenhead & Marlow, serving Slough) and Diamond Home Support Slough advertise DBS-checked cleaners as standard and will confirm in writing. Independent cleaners often have one but won't volunteer it unless asked — so ask, politely, and offer to view the original certificate when they arrive for the first clean.
What a DBS doesn't prove: that someone is good at their job, careful with your belongings, reliable on a Tuesday morning, or who they say they are. It needs to sit alongside ID verification and references, not replace them. A clean DBS plus a fake name is worse than no DBS at all, because it gives false confidence.
ID, right to work, and verifying the person in front of you
This is the step most homeowners skip and it's the cheapest one to do. Before a cleaner starts work — ideally at the initial visit or quote — ask to see photo ID. A UK passport, driving licence, or BRP/share code for non-UK nationals is standard. Match the name to the name on the insurance certificate and DBS. It sounds bureaucratic; in practice it takes thirty seconds and resolves the most basic question of all: is this person who they're telling me they are?
If you're hiring directly rather than through an agency, you also have right-to-work obligations, though they're lighter for domestic arrangements than for businesses. The Home Office's online share code system lets anyone with a UK immigration status generate a code you can check at gov.uk in a couple of minutes. Most professional cleaners are entirely happy to provide one — they deal with this routinely.
For agency hires, this is the agency's job, not yours. A reputable Slough operator will have already done right-to-work, ID and DBS checks before sending anyone to your door, and will confirm so in their service agreement. If they hesitate, push back. Local established firms like Buzz Maids Services and platform operators with strict onboarding tend to be transparent here; you should expect named, vetted, consistent cleaners rather than whoever happens to be free.
One practical tip: take a photo of the ID and certificate on first meeting, with the cleaner's consent, and store it with your booking confirmation. If something ever goes wrong — theft, damage, a dispute — you have the basics on file. Most cleaners will respect this; the ones who refuse photographs of documents they've voluntarily shown you are telling you something.
References, reviews and the question of 'real' feedback
Online reviews are useful but easy to game. Treat a Google profile with twelve five-star reviews all posted in the same week with the same caution you'd give a suspiciously perfect Airbnb listing. What you want is depth: a trading history of at least a year or two, reviews that mention specific Slough postcodes or streets, named reviewers whose profiles show other plausible activity, and a mix of ratings — nobody real has a flawless record over hundreds of jobs.
For independents, ask for two references from current clients and actually call them. Not text — call. Ask open questions: how long has she cleaned for you, what does she do well, has anything ever gone wrong, how was it resolved. Five minutes on the phone tells you more than fifty written reviews.
For agencies and franchises, ask how cleaners are recruited and retained. High turnover is a quiet red flag: it usually means the cleaner showing up at your door has been with the company for two weeks and may be gone in two more. Companies that pay above minimum, train properly, and keep cleaners long-term tend to deliver more consistent work. This isn't always obvious from a website, but the question 'how long has my assigned cleaner been with you?' is a fair one to ask before booking.
For context on what reasonable pricing looks like — and why suspiciously cheap quotes often correlate with uninsured or undocumented work — it's worth reading our 2025 Slough price guide alongside this one. A quote that's 40% below the local market rate is almost always cutting a corner somewhere, and that corner is usually insurance, tax, or both.
Red flags, green flags, and a short pre-hire checklist
After all the above, hiring decisions usually come down to pattern recognition. Here's what to watch for.
Red flags include: cash-only with no receipt or invoice; reluctance to share an insurance certificate ('I'll bring it next time'); no fixed business address or landline; pressure to pay upfront for multiple cleans; vague answers about who exactly will turn up; a phone number that's been live for three weeks; reviews that all sound oddly similar; refusal to provide ID; quotes dramatically below the Slough average; and any version of 'we don't really do contracts'.
Green flags include: a written service agreement, even a simple one, covering scope, cancellation, key handling and damage; an insurance certificate produced without being asked twice; a stable trading history you can verify on Companies House if it's a limited company; a named point of contact who isn't the cleaner themselves; transparent pricing with VAT status clear; and a willingness to do a paid trial clean before any longer commitment.
A short pre-hire checklist to run through, ideally in writing by email so you have a record:
- Confirm public liability insurance: insurer, policy number, expiry, cover amount.
- Confirm DBS status: date of certificate, who holds it, can it be viewed.
- Confirm ID and, if relevant, right-to-work share code.
- Confirm who exactly will clean — same person each visit, or rotating.
- Confirm key handling: how keys are stored, labelled, returned.
- Confirm what happens if something is damaged — claims process and timeline.
- Confirm cancellation terms on both sides.
- Get two contactable references for independents.
This takes maybe twenty minutes of back-and-forth before a first booking. Set against the cost of a bad hire — replaced electronics, a missing watch, a flooded downstairs neighbour — it's the cheapest insurance you'll buy.
Frequently asked
Do I legally need to check my cleaner's right to work in the UK?
If you're hiring an individual directly as a worker (not through an agency), the legal position is nuanced — domestic arrangements are treated more lightly than business hires, but you can still face penalties if you knowingly employ someone without the right to work. The safe practice is to ask for a share code from gov.uk and verify it. If you book through an agency or franchise, this is their responsibility and you don't need to do it yourself.
What's the difference between a Basic and Enhanced DBS for cleaners?
Basic DBS shows unspent convictions and is available to any adult — it's the appropriate level for a standard house cleaner. Enhanced DBS shows spent convictions plus barring list information and is legally restricted to roles working with children or vulnerable adults. A regular domestic cleaner can't usually obtain an Enhanced check, so be slightly wary of anyone claiming one without a clear reason (for example, they also do care work).
Is it rude to ask a cleaner for ID and an insurance certificate?
No, and any professional cleaner will expect it. The way you ask matters more than whether you ask — frame it as standard practice ('I just want to keep records straight for my home insurance') rather than suspicion. Cleaners who get defensive about basic documentation are usually the ones you most need to check.
Are agency cleaners always more thoroughly vetted than independents?
Generally yes, but not always. Large platforms and franchises run standardised checks — ID, right to work, DBS, references — before onboarding. An experienced independent who's been cleaning the same streets in Cippenham or Langley for ten years may be excellent and well-insured, just less paperwork-heavy. The vetting questions in this guide apply equally to both; the difference is who answers them.
What insurance should a cleaner have for end-of-tenancy work?
End-of-tenancy cleans carry higher risk because the standard is exacting and disputes with letting agents are common. You want public liability cover (£1m minimum), and if the cleaner is handling carpets or upholstery, treatment-risk cover too. For more on what to expect from a deposit-grade clean, see our end of tenancy guide for Slough.
What should I do if a cleaner damages something in my home?
Tell them immediately, in writing (text or email is fine), with photos. A professional cleaner or agency will have a claims process: they'll either compensate directly or pass it to their insurer. Keep receipts for the damaged item if you have them. If they refuse to engage, you can claim on their public liability insurance directly — which is exactly why confirming the policy details before hiring matters.