How to price a cleaning tender: rates, on-costs and the lowest-price trap
Most of a cleaning contract's cost is people. Price the hours too low and you lose money every week of the contract; price the on-costs wrong and a buyer may question the whole bid. This guide shows how to build a cleaning tender price from the rates that apply from April 2026, line by line. It doesn't give you a finished rate, because yours depends on your hours, site and overheads.
Start from the hours, not a rate
Work out the labour the specification needs before you think about an hourly charge:
- the areas, frequencies and tasks in the specification, and the hours each takes
- the times of day, and whether staff work alone or in teams
- periodic work, such as deep cleans, windows and floor care
- cover for holiday and sickness, so the hours still get done
- supervision and management time
Then cost those hours with the on-costs below.
Labour: the National Living Wage and what changes in April 2027
The National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 an hour from April 2026, and the National Minimum Wage for those aged 18 to 20 is £10.85. From April 2027 those rates rise to £13.21 and £11.27.
If the contract runs past April 2027, price the later years at the new rates, or check whether the contract lets you change the price when the legal minimum rises. If the buyer asks you to pay a set rate above the legal minimum, price that instead.
The on-costs every cleaning tender price needs
| On-cost | What applies (2026 to 2027) |
|---|---|
| Employer's National Insurance | 15% on earnings above the secondary threshold of £5,000 a year (£96 a week, £417 a month), for most employees |
| Employment Allowance | Eligible employers can cut their annual National Insurance bill by up to £10,500 |
| Workplace pension | At least 3% from the employer, 8% in total, on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 a year in most automatic enrolment schemes |
| Holiday | 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year for almost all workers (28 days for most people working 5 days a week) |
On top of those, add the costs that are yours to work out: sickness and holiday cover, training, uniforms and equipment, materials, supervision, travel between sites, insurance, overheads and margin. Keep your workings. If a buyer asks you to explain your price, you'll need them.
What happens if your price is too low
Under the Procurement Act 2023 (section 19), a buyer may disregard a tender whose price it considers abnormally low for the contract. Before it does, it must tell you it considers the price abnormally low and give you a chance to show you can do the work for that price. If you can satisfy the buyer that you can perform the contract for the price offered, it can't disregard your tender on those grounds.
So a low price has to be one you can explain with your workings. Our guide to why tender bids get rejected covers the other common reasons.
TUPE: pricing a cleaning re-tender
GOV.UK uses cleaning as an example of when TUPE is likely to apply: a cleaner employed by a company that switches to an outside cleaning company is likely to be protected. On a re-tender, the staff already doing the work may transfer to you on their existing terms.
Under the TUPE regulations (regulation 11), the outgoing employer must give the new employer employee liability information at least 28 days before the transfer, unless special circumstances make that not reasonably practicable. Ask the buyer what staff information it can share at tender stage, and price the actual terms of the staff who'd transfer, not your own standard rates.
How many bids cleaning tenders get (our figures)
From our own count of the public data:
- Find a Tender carried 67 cleaning tender notices from 1 September to 28 October 2026. 20 of them had a stated value under £500,000.
- Contracts Finder recorded 45 cleaning contract awards from 1 July to 28 October 2026. 14 of them (31%) went to SMEs.
- On Find a Tender award notices for cleaning published from 1 September to 28 October 2026 that reported a bid count (21 lots), the median was 7 bids.
That's a small sample, so treat it as a rough guide. Quality and social value answers still count. For more on bid numbers, see how many bids public tenders get, and for winning the work in the first place, how to get cleaning contracts.
Questions
How do you price a commercial cleaning contract in the UK?
Start from the hours the specification needs, then cost them at the right wage with employer's National Insurance, pension, holiday and cover. Add training, equipment, materials, supervision, insurance, overheads and margin. Keep your workings in case the buyer asks.
What hourly rate should I charge for contract cleaning?
There's no single rate. Your charge has to cover at least the National Living Wage, £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over from April 2026 and £13.21 from April 2027, plus your on-costs, overheads and margin.
What on-costs go into a cleaning tender price?
For 2026 to 2027: employer's National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 a year, at least 3% employer pension on qualifying earnings in most schemes, and 5.6 weeks' paid holiday. Then add cover, training, equipment, materials, supervision and insurance.
What happens if my cleaning tender price is too low?
A buyer may disregard a tender it considers abnormally low. Under section 19 of the Procurement Act 2023, it must first tell you and give you a chance to show you can do the work for that price.
Does TUPE change how I price a cleaning re-tender?
It can. GOV.UK says a cleaner whose employer switches to an outside cleaning company is likely to be protected by TUPE, so staff may transfer on their existing terms. Price their actual terms, using the employee liability information the outgoing employer must give at least 28 days before the transfer.
Want to know which tenders are worth your week?
UK Tender Desk, from Your Evenings Ltd (that's us), is a done-for-you tender shortlist for small businesses in construction trades, training, transport, care, cleaning and catering. For £149 once, you get a readiness check, up to 5 live tenders that fit a business your size with our verdict on each, and the three things to fix before your next bid. It comes by email within 5 working days of your answers to a short form. One payment, no subscription, no call. If no live tender fits, we say so and why. Late? You don't pay. Full refund if it's not with you within 5 working days of your form. Get my diagnostic · £149
Not ready for that? Try the free readiness score on our UK Tender Desk page: 17 questions.
Sources
- GOV.UK: National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates (read 31 October 2026)
- GOV.UK: Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 (read 31 October 2026), for National Insurance and Employment Allowance
- GOV.UK: Workplace pensions, what you, your employer and the government pay (read 31 October 2026)
- GOV.UK: Holiday entitlement (read 31 October 2026)
- Procurement Act 2023, section 19 (read 31 October 2026), for abnormally low prices
- GOV.UK: Business transfers, takeovers and TUPE (read 31 October 2026)
- The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, regulation 11 (read 31 October 2026)
- Your Evenings Ltd analysis of Find a Tender notices (1 September to 28 October 2026) and Contracts Finder awards (1 July to 28 October 2026), from the services' public data
This guide summarises the official sources above. It isn't legal advice. Check the notice and tender documents for each contract.
Written with AI assistance by the Your Evenings team at Your Evenings Ltd. Last updated 31 October 2026.