Use this free calculator to see the fully loaded annual cost of an in-house cleaning team. Enter the number of cleaners, hours each works per week, and hourly pay, for a 2026 estimate of wages plus employer National Insurance, holiday cover, and equipment/management overhead. It is a guide only — it does not include VAT, which does not apply to your own employees' wages but does apply to an outsourced contract.
Fully loaded annual in-house cost
| Cost element | Annual amount |
|---|
| Gross wages | |
| Employer National Insurance (~15%, loaded) | |
| Holiday & absence cover (~12%) | |
| Equipment, consumables, supervision & management (~18% allowance) | |
How the estimate is worked out
Gross annual wages are calculated from the number of cleaners, hours per week and hourly pay you enter. On top of that, the calculator applies three loaded allowances that rarely show up in a simple hourly-rate comparison: employer National Insurance at ~15% (a simplifying figure applied to the full wage bill, not a precise per-employee calculation), holiday and sickness cover at ~12% of wages, and an 18% allowance for equipment, consumables, supervision time and management overhead. None of this is an invented "outsourcing saving" — it is simply what running a cleaning team in-house actually costs once you add up everything beyond the headline hourly rate.
What outsourcing folds into one fee
- Recruitment, DBS checking and staff vetting
- Holiday, sickness and turnover cover with a named relief cleaner
- Equipment, consumables and COSHH-compliant chemicals
- Supervision, quality audits and contract management
- Employer National Insurance and payroll administration, carried by the contractor
See the in-house vs outsourced cleaning guide for the full comparison, or use the cleaning cost calculator to see an indicative outsourced monthly price for your site.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does "loaded cost" mean?
The loaded cost is the true annual cost of employing your own cleaning staff, not just their gross wages. It adds employer National Insurance, holiday and absence cover, and the equipment, consumables, supervision and management time needed to run a cleaning team in-house. Most employers under-estimate this because it never appears as a single line on a payslip.
Why 15% for employer National Insurance?
From April 2025 the employer National Insurance rate is 15%, payable above the secondary threshold per employee. This calculator applies 15% across the full wage bill as a simplifying, slightly conservative loaded figure rather than modelling each employee's threshold individually — treat it as an estimate, not a payroll calculation.
Does outsourcing really remove all of this cost?
Outsourcing does not make these costs disappear — it folds them into one fixed monthly fee charged by the cleaning contractor, who carries the employment costs, recruitment, absence cover, DBS checks, insurance, equipment and supervision instead of you. Whether that fixed fee is cheaper than your loaded in-house cost depends on your specific team size, turnover, and management overhead, which is why we do not show a generic "saving percentage" here.
Is this calculator giving me a quote?
No. It estimates what your current or planned in-house team costs when fully loaded, so you can compare it fairly against a contractor's fixed monthly fee. For an actual outsourced price for your site, use the
cleaning cost calculator or request a free survey.
Last updated: 5 July 2026 · By Shepherd Nyakudya
