Shift notice and cancellation pay for cleaning staff
The coming rights to reasonable notice of shifts and pay for short-notice cancellations, with cleaning examples and how to get ready.
Updated 30 September 2026 · Written by RotaProof
Cleaning rotas change all the time: a client cancels an evening clean, an office closes for a day, a school moves a deep clean. The Employment Rights Act 2025 will give casual and low-hours workers the right to reasonable notice of their shifts, and to be paid when a shift is cancelled, moved or cut short at short notice. This guide explains how that's expected to work for a cleaning company.
The three rights
- Reasonable notice of shifts. Workers should be told of a shift, including when it starts and ends, with reasonable notice.
- Reasonable notice of changes. The same applies when you cancel, move or shorten a shift.
- Payment for short-notice changes. If you cancel, move or cut short a shift with less than the "short notice" period, you pay compensation for the hours they lose.
They apply to zero-hours and low-hours workers, including agency workers. Self-employed cleaners aren't covered.
What's still being decided
| Detail | What's been proposed |
|---|---|
| What "short notice" means | The Act says it can't be more than 7 days. Options were 1, 2, 3, 5 or 7 days, possibly with a separate "very short notice" band and a higher payment. |
| How much is paid | A percentage of what the worker would have earned for the lost hours (or of that pay at minimum wage). Options were 10%, 30%, 50%, 65% or 80%, and never more than the full shift pay. |
| Low-hours threshold | Somewhere between 8 and 48 hours a week, with 8 to 20 preferred. It may differ from the guaranteed-hours threshold. |
| Agency workers | Covered. The agency pays the short-notice payment and can recover it from the business that cancelled. |
| Penalty for not paying | Preferred option: 50% of what's owed, at least £100 and at most £5,000 per worker. |
Cleaning examples
These assume short notice means less than 7 days, the longest the Act allows. How much you'd pay depends on the percentage finally chosen: the options run from 10% to 80% of the pay for the hours lost.
| What happened | Notice | Likely outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Client cancels Saturday's 4-hour office clean. You tell Grace on Friday morning. | About 1 day | Short notice: a payment is due, worked out from the pay for the 4 hours she lost. |
| School term dates change, so you drop Liam's shifts for half-term. You tell him three weeks ahead. | 21 days | Enough notice: no payment. |
| Maria asks to swap her Thursday shift with a colleague. | Any | She asked for the change, so it isn't your cancellation. Note that she asked. |
| Office closes at 7:30 instead of 8:30 because of a fire drill, sending Tomasz home an hour early. You tell him that morning. | Same day | Shift cut short at short notice: a payment is due for the lost hour. |
How to get ready
- Publish rotas further ahead. A rota that's settled two weeks out gives far fewer short-notice changes than one made on Friday for Monday.
- Log every change to a casual or low-hours cleaner's shift: when you made it, who made it, who asked for it, and the old and new times. Without that record you can't show how much notice you gave.
- Check your client contracts. If a client can cancel a clean the day before without paying, you may be the one paying the cleaner. Consider a cancellation charge that covers it.
- Record hourly pay for each person, so you can work out what's due quickly and pay it with their normal wages.
- Keep offering spare shifts fairly. Offering extra shifts at short notice is still allowed; the rules are about notice and pay, not banning last-minute work people choose to take.
These rights come in alongside guaranteed hours. See guaranteed hours for zero-hours cleaners.
How RotaProof helps
RotaProof is rota, clocking-in and timesheet software made for cleaning companies. Plan the week by site or by person, let cleaners clock in from a link on their phone, approve the hours and download them for payroll. On the Assured plan it also tracks guaranteed hours and logs every shift change with the notice given. It won't put anyone on a shift until their right-to-work check is in order, and you can try it free for 30 days.
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Sources
This guide explains the rules as we understand them on the date above. It isn't legal advice. GOV.UK, Acas and the legislation are the final word, and if your arrangements are complicated, get advice from an employment lawyer.