- Will I have to close?
- No. Cleans are booked overnight, after your last service, and finished before morning prep. If no night slot is free before your deadline, we tell you straight away.
- Will they accept it?
- A full-system clean to TR19® Grease by a VHR-registered contractor, with grease readings, photos and a certificate: what insurers' own risk guides ask for.
- How much?
- London kitchens typically pay £495–£1,200 for a small café, takeaway or pub and £1,200–£2,500 for a restaurant, plus VAT (market ranges, September 2026). A photo gets you a price for yours.
- Who does the work?
- An independent VHR-registered TR19® contractor. Nightshift arranges and manages the job, and the contractor issues your certificate.
- Will I get chased by five companies?
- No. You send one message. Your details go only to the contractor doing your clean.
What does my insurer actually require?
Look in your policy schedule and conditions for the words extraction, ducting, frying or cooking equipment. Here is what three real UK policy wordings and one insurer's guidance say:
| Wording | What must be cleaned | How often | By whom | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broker Express, pubs & restaurants | “The entire length of all extraction ducting including extraction motors and fans” | Ducting at least every 12 months; hoods, canopies and filters at least monthly | “the installers or a specialist contractor” | Records “kept in a safe place and available for inspection” |
| China Taiping, retail catering | “All internal surfaces of the extraction ducting and the extraction motors”; access points must be installed where missing | At least every 12 months; hoods, canopies and filters weekly | “a suitably qualified contractor” | Service record kept. No certificate from the last 12 months at inception: clean within 45 days |
| QBE, business combined (frying ranges) | Cooking range, extraction and electrical equipment | At least once a year | Under a service agreement, or you or your staff | A record of the work, “stored away from the premises” |
| Aviva risk guidance (not a policy) | Deep clean of the whole extraction system, fully to TR19® Grease | Guide: 3, 6 or 12 months by cooking hours, and any policy condition | On BESA's Vent Hygiene Register or LPCB LPS 2084 | Certificate, grease readings, photos, “cleaned in its entirety” Yes/No |
The first two are written as conditions precedent, which means the insurer only has to pay if you complied. The Broker Express frying equipment condition, which includes the duct cleaning clause, ends: “If You do not comply with this condition, We will not pay Your claim.”
None of the policy wordings names TR19. They ask for the “entire length” of the ducting, motors and fans to be cleaned by a specialist. A TR19® Grease clean with a post-clean report is how you show you did exactly that.
Does my insurer want TR19, or just “a specialist”?
Insurers' own guidance points to TR19®. Aviva's loss prevention standard says “It is very important that all kitchen extract duct cleaning undertaken fully complies with the BESA TR19 Grease best practice guidelines”, by a contractor certified under BESA's Vent Hygiene Register or the LPCB's LPS 2084. Zurich and NFU Mutual name BESCA's Vent Hygiene Elite scheme or LPS 2084, and Zurich adds: “It is also important to be aware of any provisions within your insurance policy that relate to ductwork cleaning.”
Every clean Nightshift arranges is carried out by an independent VHR-registered TR19® contractor, and your certificate names the contractor who did the work. If your policy names a particular scheme, tell us when you send the photo.
What will my insurer ask to see?
Aviva lists what a TR19 Grease compliant report will include:
- Completion certificate(s)
- Pre- and post-clean grease readings through the ductwork, with the mean across the system
- A clear Yes or No: was the system cleaned in its entirety? If No, what wasn't, and why
- A recommended cleaning frequency based on the pre-clean readings
- Before and after photographs that represent the system's condition
The policy wordings add one thing: the records must be available for inspection. One QBE wording goes further and says the record must be “stored away from the premises”. Keep a copy in your email or with your broker, because a paper copy in the office can burn with the kitchen.
Can my insurer refuse a claim if the ducts weren't cleaned?
Yes, if the policy makes cleaning a condition and the fire is the kind cleaning prevents. The Insurance Act 2015 limits this: under section 11, an insurer can't rely on a broken risk-reducing term if you show the breach “could not have increased the risk of the loss which actually occurred in the circumstances in which it occurred”. That protects you when the breach has nothing to do with the fire. When the fire starts in greasy ducting, that is a hard argument to make.
One 2024 Financial Ombudsman decision shows how it works. A takeaway's insurer declined a duct fire claim, citing three conditions, including duct cleaning. It later conceded it no longer had concerns about the cleaning. On the two conditions left, the ombudsman found the damage would have been the same without the breaches, and the claim had to be paid.
This is general information, not legal advice. Check your own policy or lease, or ask your broker or solicitor.
My policy says 12 months but TR19 says 6. Which do I follow?
Whichever comes round first. Insurers' guidance says both apply: Aviva says cleaning “should also comply with any policy conditions”, and NFU Mutual puts the deep clean at “a minimum of at least once every 12 months but dependent on the extent of use, the risk assessment and terms of any insurance warranty”. A busy kitchen on a 12-month policy can still be due every 3 or 6 months under TR19®. How often your kitchen needs cleaning.
Does a canopy and filter clean count?
Not for the ductwork condition. The policies treat them separately: hoods, canopies and filters weekly or monthly, and the ducting, motors and fans by a specialist at least once a year. A certificate that only covers the canopy doesn't show the duct was cleaned. See canopy cleaning and duct cleaning.
Renewal or a new policy coming up? How fast can it be done?
Tell us the date when you send the photo. Some policies give a short window: one retail catering wording says that if there's no certificate from the last 12 months when the policy starts, the clean must be done within 45 days. Cleans are booked overnight, so you don't lose a service, and the certificate and report come after the clean. What a clean costs in London.
Sources
- Broker Express, Pubs & Restaurants Policy Wording (frying equipment condition) (v3.3, April 2020).
- China Taiping Insurance (UK), Retail Catering Insurance Policy.
- QBE Europe, Business Combined Insurance Policy.
- Aviva, Loss Prevention Standard: Commercial kitchens, extract systems and cooking ranges (v1.4) (10 October 2024).
- Zurich, Risk Topic: Fire safety in commercial kitchens (2023).
- NFU Mutual, Fire safety guide to commercial kitchens.
- legislation.gov.uk, Insurance Act 2015, section 11 (terms not relevant to the actual loss).
- Financial Ombudsman Service, Decision DRN-5074719 (takeaway fire, extraction duct conditions) (October 2024).
All sources read on 27 October 2026.