Agency staff, a cleaning contractor or hiring directly: which is right for your business?

The three options side by side

Direct hire means you employ the cleaner or housekeeper yourself. An agency (legally an employment business) employs the worker and supplies them to work at your site under your direction. A cleaning contractor sells you a service: it employs and supervises its own team and is responsible for the result.

Cost: what you are actually paying for

Direct hire

The wage is the smallest part of the decision but the biggest part of the bill. On top of pay, the law requires:

• Minimum pay. The National Living Wage is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over, from 1 April 2026.
• Holiday pay. 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year. For irregular hours, holiday builds up at 12.07 per cent of hours worked.
• Employer National Insurance. 15 per cent on earnings above £96 a week, from 6 April 2026. Eligible employers can claim the Employment Allowance against this.
• Workplace pension. Staff aged 22 or over earning at least £10,000 a year must be enrolled, with an employer contribution of at least 3 per cent of qualifying earnings.
• Statutory Sick Pay when an employee is off sick and qualifies.

A cleaner paid £12.71 for 30 hrs a week costs about £16.21 per hour worked in pay, holiday pay, employer NI and pension. That figure leaves out recruitment, sick pay, cover, uniforms, training and the time spent on payroll. Work out your own figure in the staffing cost calculator.

Agency staff

You pay one hourly rate per worker for the hours worked, plus VAT. The agency pays the worker and carries the holiday pay, employer NI and pension. The rate also covers the agency's recruitment, checks, payroll and margin, so it is higher than the direct cost per hour. Rates usually go down as bookings get longer and steadier.

Our rates for cleaning and hospitality staff are £18.00 to £20.50 per hour plus VAT, depending on notice and booking length, with a premium for night shifts. The full table is on our pricing page.

VAT is charged at 20 per cent on agency and contractor invoices but not on wages. A VAT-registered business can normally reclaim it; if yours cannot, compare prices including VAT.

Cleaning contractor

You pay for the work described in the contract, for example a monthly price for a set cleaning schedule, plus VAT. Supervision, cover and often equipment and materials sit inside that price, so you usually do not see an hourly breakdown. To compare quotes fairly, ask each contractor for the hours they plan to staff per week and what the price includes.

Flexibility and contract length

Employees can only be let go fairly, with notice, and possibly with redundancy pay, so a directly employed team suits work you are sure will continue. A contractor is usually tied to a fixed term with a notice period, and changing the scope means agreeing a variation. Agency bookings are the easiest to scale up, down or end, within the notice set in the agency's terms. Our Hirer Terms ask for at least one week's written notice to end a booking.

Compliance: what stays with you

• Right-to-work checks. The employer must check every worker before they start. Employing someone without the right to work after an incorrect check can lead to a civil penalty for each illegal worker. If you hire directly, this is your job; with an agency or a contractor, it is theirs. Ask how they check.
• The Agency Workers Regulations. After 12 calendar weeks in the same job with you, an agency worker is entitled to the same basic pay and conditions as your own staff in that job. Use our AWR 12-week calculator to see when that starts. Equal treatment compares with your own pay, so if you employ no one in a similar job, the effect is usually small.
• Day-one duties with agency staff. You are responsible for their health and safety at your site, for access to shared facilities and for telling them about your vacancies.
• TUPE with contractors. Moving in-house cleaning to a contractor, or changing contractor, can transfer the staff doing that work, with their terms and length of service. Check before you tender.
• Transfer fees. If you take on an agency worker as your own employee, the agency may charge a fee within set periods. It must say so in your contract and offer an extended hire period instead.

Management time and quality control

With direct hire you recruit, train, rota, supervise and handle absence, discipline and leavers yourself. You also have the most control: you choose the people and they learn your site.

Agency staff work under your direction, so you still brief and supervise them on site, but the agency recruits, checks, pays and replaces them. Quality depends on giving a clear brief and on keeping the same workers where you can. Ask the agency to send the same people each time.

A contractor takes over supervision and is measured against the specification. You spend time writing that specification and checking the results, not managing people. The trade-off is less day-to-day say over who comes and how they work.

Cover for absences

When a directly employed cleaner is off, you find cover and may owe sick pay at the same time. A contractor arranges cover as part of the service. With an agency, you ask for a replacement; ours aims to replace a worker within 2 working days (Monday to Saturday), and keeps you informed.

How Gangal Go fits

Gangal Go is the agency option. We supply cleaning and hospitality staff in London, Yorkshire, the West Midlands and the North West. Gangal Recruitment Ltd employs and pays the staff, and every worker is right-to-work checked before every shift. We are not a cleaning contractor: our staff work under your direction.

• Instant price. The calculator shows the price for your hours, staff and start date, with VAT shown separately.
• See who is registered near you. The worker map shows registered and available workers by area, with no names or exact locations.
• Request online. A staff request takes about 2 minutes and no payment is taken. We confirm within 24 hours on working days (Monday to Saturday).
• Client portal. See who is on site, approve timesheets each week and download invoices in your client portal.

Request staff Create your client portal

Questions

Is agency staff more expensive than hiring directly?

Per hour, usually yes. An agency rate covers the worker's pay, holiday pay, employer National Insurance and pension, plus the agency's costs and margin, and VAT is added. Take a cleaner employed directly for 30 hrs a week on the National Living Wage of £12.71. In pay and statutory costs alone they cost you about £16.21 per hour worked, before recruitment, sick pay, cover and payroll time. Our rates are £18.00 to £20.50 per hour plus VAT.

Do agency workers get the same pay as my own staff?

After 12 calendar weeks in the same job with you, an agency worker is entitled to the same basic pay and conditions as someone you employ directly in that job, under the Agency Workers Regulations 2010. From their first day they can use your shared facilities, such as a canteen, and must be told about your job vacancies.

Who does the right-to-work check for agency staff?

The business that employs the worker. With an agency that employs and pays its workers, that is the agency. If you hire directly, you must do the check yourself before the person starts, and keep a record of it.

Can I take an agency worker on as my own employee?

Usually yes, but the agency may charge a transfer fee if you do so within a set period, and it must tell you about that fee in your contract. Instead of a fee, the agency must offer you an extended hire period, after which you can employ the worker without a fee. GOV.UK sets out the periods.

What happens to in-house cleaners if I switch to a contractor?

If an organised group of your employees mainly does the cleaning and the work moves to a contractor, TUPE (the Transfer of Undertakings regulations) may apply. Their jobs, terms and length of service usually transfer to the contractor. The same can happen when one contractor replaces another. Acas gives free advice on whether TUPE applies.

Is Gangal Go a cleaning contractor?

No. Gangal Go supplies cleaning and hospitality staff who work at your site under your direction. Gangal Recruitment Ltd employs and pays them. We do not run managed cleaning contracts or specialist cleaning.