Trauma cleaning cost in the UK

The figures above are prices firms advertise, not invoices for finished jobs, and each firm describes its jobs differently. No reliable UK average can be worked out from them, which is why the estimator shows the lowest and highest figure rather than a single number.

Some firms’ own pages disagree. UK After Death Cleaners gives different figures in its price bands and its FAQ; Ideal Response’s FAQ gives a different overall range from its bands; Clean Team Scotland’s table starts decomposition cases at £1,000 while its text says £5,000 or more. Checkatrade’s crime scene guide gives £3,500 as an average, excluding VAT, and ICE Cleaning’s article repeats that figure from Checkatrade, so it is one source, not two.

Within one kind of job, these are what change the price:

Published prices cover the clean itself. UK After Death Cleaners, for example, lists an assessment, surface cleaning, sanitising, HEPA filtering, odour treatment and a report for a recent unattended death.

New floors and walls: ask. Where contaminated carpet, underlay, floorboards or plaster have to come out, the bands that mention floors describe lifting and removing them. None of the published bands says it includes laying new floors or replastering, so ask whether a quote does. UK After Death Cleaners includes an assessment of restoration in its extended decomposition band, but no price for the work. We found no firm or council that publishes a price per square metre for treating a contaminated subfloor.

Odour treatment is already in several after-death prices. Check before paying for a separate odour package, and remember that treating a smell is a different job from removing its source.

Belongings: ask the firm to list in writing what it will dispose of, and tell it what you want kept.

Of the 74 prices we collected, 17 say they exclude VAT, none says it includes VAT, and 57 do not say. Emergency Clean UK’s after-death prices and Checkatrade’s crime scene figure, for example, exclude VAT. A price that excludes VAT will be higher on the invoice if the firm charges VAT, so ask for the total including VAT in writing before agreeing to anything.

Some home insurance policies pay for damage caused by body fluids, but it depends on the exact wording of the policy. We found no reliable figure for how many UK policies cover this work.

• Saga Select Home Insurance (March 2026 wording, underwritten by Ageas Insurance Limited) covers accidental damage to contents from human bodily fluids after a death, an injury needing medical attention, an illness or a disease. It does not pay where nobody permanently lives in the home after the only resident has died, where the damage involves an illegal act, or where the claim falls under the policy’s optional accidental damage cover.
• Aviva’s archived Distinct Home 150 wording has “Trauma and Assault cover”, which pays for things such as counselling, temporary accommodation and security after specified violent incidents. The name does not mean it pays for cleaning after a natural death.
• Buildings insurance can include decontamination as part of repairing damage the policy covers, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) explains.

Contact the insurer early, before anything is thrown away. The ABI advises taking photographs, and samples where appropriate, before disposal, but do not go into a home the police have not released, or one that may be unsafe, to take them. Send the insurer the written quote and ask it to confirm before work starts. If you disagree with its decision, complain to the insurer first; after its final response, or eight weeks without one, you can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service free of charge.

Our page on who pays for cleaning after a death covers the estate, landlords and council tenancies as well as insurance.

Police forces and councils also buy this kind of cleaning. Staffordshire Police awarded Crime Scene Cleaning UK Ltd a contract worth £250,000, excluding VAT, in December 2020 for its buildings, custody cells, vehicles, forensic rooms and crime scenes. Aberdeenshire Council awarded Perfect Clean Edinburgh Ltd £50,000, excluding VAT, in 2025 for clean-up after road traffic incidents and trauma on council sites. Gwent Police’s £9 million contract (excluding VAT) covers routine cleaning of 39 or more premises and vehicles as well as sudden-death and crime scenes.

These values are totals or ceilings for whole contracts, and none of the notices publishes the rates, so they cannot be divided into a price for one household job. Nor do they mean the police or council will arrange or pay for cleaning a private home: ask the investigating officer who will arrange the cleaning, rather than assuming.