Cleaner Salary 2026/27: What You Take Home
Cleaners earned a full-time median of £24,130 in ONS ASHE 2025 (SOC 2020 9223), measured in April 2025. From 1 April 2026 the National Living Wage is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over, so a full-time cleaner's pay floor is now higher than the April 2025 median. Most cleaning work is part-time, so the all-employee median is far lower, at £11,852.
Typical pay & take-home
- Median gross
- £24,130
- ASHE 2025, 25th to 90th percentile
- £20,942–£33,113
- Take-home at median
- £19,774 England, after the 5.8% LGPS pension contribution, Income Tax and NI.
At the median for this profession, you earn 38% below the UK full-time median (£39,039), placing you between the 10th percentile (£23,990) and the 25th percentile (£29,262) of UK full-time earnings.
See exact take-home for £24,130 →
Council posts are graded on the national pay spine: NJC pay scales 2026/27 →
What influences cleaner pay
The ONS ASHE 2025 full-time median for cleaners and domestics was £24,130 (provisional, Table 14.7a annual gross pay, SOC 2020 code 9223), with the middle half between £20,942 and £27,960 and the 90th percentile at £33,113. Those are April 2025 figures. The National Living Wage rose to £12.71 an hour from 1 April 2026, so pay at the bottom of the range has had to rise since the survey was taken.
Cleaning is dominated by part-time and split-shift work, which is why the "all employees" median was only £11,852 - less than half the full-time figure. ONS does not split the group by type of cleaning or employer, so there is no official figure for what specialist or supervisory cleaning pays.
A full-time cleaner on the median is a basic-rate taxpayer: after the £12,570 personal allowance, pay is taxed at 20% Income Tax plus 8% Class 1 NI up to £50,270. A part-time cleaner earning less than £12,570 across the year pays no Income Tax and no National Insurance on that job.
Career progression
- Part-time or contract cleaner: at least the National Living Wage, £12.71 an hour from April 2026 for workers aged 21 and over, pro-rated to hours worked.
- Full-time cleaners, ASHE 2025 lower quartile: £20,942.
- Median: £24,130.
- Upper quartile: £27,960.
- 90th percentile: £33,113. Supervisory and contract management posts are the usual progression.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the take-home for a full-time £24,130 cleaner?
- On £24,130 in a council post the Local Government Pension Scheme contribution is 5.8%, the band that applies at that salary, and take-home is about £19,774 a year, or £1,648 a month, after £1,400 of pension, £2,032 of Income Tax and £925 of National Insurance. A cleaner employed by a contractor rather than the council is more likely to be on a workplace scheme at the auto-enrolment minimum, which leaves slightly more in the hand and a great deal less in the pension. Whether a household can also claim Universal Credit depends on its circumstances; the Universal Credit calculator on this site works it out.
- Why is the average cleaner salary so much lower than £24,130?
- Because most cleaning work is part-time. The £24,130 is the median actually paid to cleaners working more than 30 hours a week; the ONS all-employee median for cleaners and domestics, part-time included, was only £11,852, reflecting how many cleaners work a few hours rather than full-time.
- Do part-time cleaners pay Income Tax?
- Often not. The personal allowance is £12,570, so a cleaner earning below that across the year pays no Income Tax, and no National Insurance below the £12,570 threshold. Cleaners with several part-time jobs should check their tax codes, as a second job is usually taxed under a BR (basic rate) code by default.