Insuring a cleaner in Switzerland (2026): accident insurance, costs and what happens after an accident

The insurance your employee needs

This guide concentrates on accident insurance. The linked lawful-employment guide explains AHV registration and the other steps.

Accident insurance is compulsory from the first hour

Employees working in Switzerland are compulsorily insured against accidents under Article 1a of the Accident Insurance Act (UVG/LAA). For household employment, you must arrange cover with an approved accident insurer. Four points are often misunderstood.

Arrange cover beforehand. Insurance starts when the employment begins or entitlement to wages first arises, at the latest on the journey to work (Article 3(1) UVG). You cannot buy a policy retrospectively. Arrange it before the employment starts.

• Use an approved insurer. Domestic work is outside Suva’s remit. Arrange a policy with an approved accident insurer or use VAVplus through the compensation office if eligible. The Federal Office of Public Health publishes the list of approved insurers.
• Low wages do not normally remove the duty. Outside household employment, employers paying no more than CHF 2’500 a year need not pay a premium before an accident. This exception expressly excludes private households: occupational cover is required even for CHF 1’000 annual wages. Small jobs paying no more than CHF 750 a year to people through their 25th birthday year follow the youth rule below.
• Health insurance is not a substitute. It covers accidents only where accident insurance does not respond (Article 1a(2) of the Health Insurance Act, KVG/LAMal). The Substitute Accident Insurance Fund states that health insurance is not liable where compulsory UVG cover should have existed.
• Each employer needs cover. Insurance arranged by another household does not replace the policy for your employment. Each household employer arranges its own insurance.

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The eight-hour rule: work, leisure and commuting

The threshold concerns weekly working hours with you, rather than the total across all households (Article 13 of the Accident Insurance Ordinance, UVV/OLAA).

Three consequences matter in practice. Check the employee’s total existing cover before changing health-insurance accident cover. A person can have occupational cover in several small jobs and non-occupational cover through another employer.

When weekly hours vary, insurers use a shared recommendation whose calculation method the Federal Supreme Court has accepted as lawful. The nature of the employment and the parties’ agreement matter. Assess the actual hours over the three or twelve months before the accident, using the more favourable result. Non-occupational cover applies where the average reaches eight hours a week or weeks with at least eight hours predominate. Use whole weeks. If weeks with work predominate, omit weeks without work from the average. Where actual hours do not establish cover, the recommendation allows sickness or accident absence days to count at average daily hours rounded up to whole hours; holidays, public holidays and military absences do not receive this credit. For fixed terms, the agreed duration matters. This is insurer guidance rather than a promise that a particular claim will be accepted. Keep agreed hours in the contract, retain timesheets and ask your insurer to confirm borderline cases (Recommendation 7/87; BGE 139 V 457).

• Below eight hours, check other cover. Without non-occupational insurance through another employer, the employee must keep accident cover in health insurance. Five jobs of four hours each do not reach the eight-hour threshold with any employer. Another job with non-occupational cover can, however, protect leisure accidents and wage loss across all jobs.
• With full UVG cover, health-insurance accident cover can be suspended. If your employee is fully insured for accidents under UVG, they can ask their health insurer to suspend accident cover, reducing that premium (Article 8 KVG).
• Give written notice when cover ends. The employee must tell their health insurer when leaving employment or non-occupational cover; you must remind them in writing (Article 10 KVG). If hours fall below eight, report the change and confirm the actual end of your non-occupational cover with the insurer. Take subsequent cover and other-employer insurance into account. Without your written notice, the health insurer may recover the accident-cover premium and interest from you. Non-occupational cover ends 31 days after entitlement to at least half wages ceases. Extension by agreement can provide up to six more months; it must be arranged before cover ends (Article 3 UVG; Article 8 UVV).

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What does accident insurance cost? VAVplus or your own policy

There are two ways to arrange cover.

VAVplus through the compensation office. Since 2025, household employers using the simplified payroll procedure can also settle accident insurance through their cantonal compensation office. Zurich, Basel-Stadt, Thurgau and Vaud publish the 2026 rates shown here.

SVA Zurich and the Thurgau social insurance centre expressly state that there is no CHF 100 minimum premium and that contributions, flat-rate withholding tax and accident insurance appear on one annual bill. VAVplus requires eligibility for the simplified procedure. Its 2026 conditions include wages no higher than CHF 22’680 per employee and a total annual payroll no higher than CHF 60’480, without subtracting the retirement allowance. All contribution-liable wages must use the procedure; leaflet 2.07 explains further conditions and exclusions. If you use an association compensation office, ask it about availability. For example, Basel-Stadt excludes the simplified procedure for cross-border employees living in France.

Your own policy with an insurer. This is the route under the ordinary payroll procedure. The insurer sets its tariff. A minimum premium may be applied, but the statutory ceiling on that minimum is CHF 100 a year per insurance branch, including surcharges (Article 119 UVV). Occupational and non-occupational cover can therefore each have a minimum. The actual tariff premium can exceed CHF 100. SVA Zurich describes a flat annual premium of around CHF 100 as usual for a few weekly hours. One published product example is Mobiliar: its product page checked on 6 October 2026 states CHF 100 a year, available online when household employees together work fewer than eight hours a week and annual payroll is below CHF 10’000. It offers personal advice for other cases. These are that product’s conditions, not statutory thresholds or a recommendation.

2026 calculation example. We use a gross hourly amount expressly rounded to CHF 32.50 and 48 paid working weeks, assuming four weeks of holiday. The amount is approximately CHF 30 plus an 8.33% holiday allocation. Paying a holiday supplement with each wage is only permissible in legally qualifying irregular part-time work, with the supplement agreed separately in the contract and shown separately on every payslip. Regular weekly work retains paid holidays: this cost illustration does not recommend replacing leave with cash. The premium uses insured wages, including relevant holiday pay.

These are calculations using the 2026 VAVplus rates, rather than an offer. The own-policy column illustrates an assumed CHF 100 occupational minimum, the statutory ceiling for a minimum premium; it does not give a universal policy price. Below annual insured pay of around CHF 19’800, the VAVplus occupational premium is less than CHF 100 (CHF 100 divided by 0.505%). This comparison alone does not establish the cost of an individual insurer’s policy.

Deduct the non-occupational premium correctly. You owe the insurer the whole premium and can deduct the employee’s share from wages. The deduction is only permitted in the same or immediately following pay period; a missed deduction cannot be recovered months later (Article 91(3) UVG). Show it on the payslip. The linked take-home-pay guide explains gross and net pay.

• Occupational accident premium: 0.505% of insured wages in 2026, paid by the employer (2025: 0.518%).
• Non-occupational accident premium: 1.432% of insured wages in 2026, deductible from the employee’s wages (2025: 1.467%).

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Special cases: retirement, young people and several households

• Employees at AHV reference age. UVG has no age limit. AHV contributions at reference age normally apply only above CHF 16’800 a year per employer; early retirement does not give this allowance, and employees may waive it. The accident-insurance premium does not use this allowance. Wages exempt from AHV because of age remain insured earnings (Article 22(2)(a) UVV), on which accident premiums are assessed (Article 115). An employee at reference age earning CHF 6’000 a year therefore has occupational cover below eight weekly hours and additional non-occupational cover from eight hours. Premiums use the whole CHF 6’000, even where AHV contributions are absent because the allowance was not waived. A payslip is still necessary. VAVplus is also available for eligible employees at reference age; ask the compensation office how to declare the exempt portion.
• Small jobs for young people through age 25. If annual pay from your household is no more than CHF 750, accident premiums are not collected beforehand through 31 December of the year the employee turns 25. Accident protection still exists. The Substitute Accident Insurance Fund deals with an insured accident and may recover ordinary replacement premiums for up to five years. Above CHF 750, normal premium collection applies to the whole pay. This also applies to young people who do not yet pay AHV contributions: these start on 1 January after the 17th birthday, but accident premiums above CHF 750 are still due. The AHV exemption up to CHF 750 can be waived at the employee’s request. Penalty multipliers for unlawful avoidance are a separate issue and do not apply to the lawful advance-premium exception.
• Employees with several households. Each employer insures its own employment. Only hours with that employer count towards its eight-hour threshold. The daily accident allowance, however, takes wages from all employments into account, including jobs with occupational cover only (Article 23(5) UVV), subject to the insured-earnings ceiling. An accident at your home can therefore lead to benefits covering wage loss at other households. For an occupational accident, the insurer for the employment where it happened handles the claim; a leisure claim generally goes to the insurer of the last non-occupational-insured employment worked in. Coordinate benefits with wage continuation rather than promising duplicate payment.

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An accident: who pays treatment, benefits and wages?

Example: your cleaner has worked for you for more than three months, every Tuesday for four hours. On Tuesday 10 November 2026, they slip while cleaning a window and cannot work for three weeks. Pay hours already worked normally. For the remaining lost hours that Tuesday, the waiting-period rule in this established-employment example gives at least 80% pay. An applicable standard employment contract can require more. In Zurich, indefinite employment under the NAV means full wages for the lost accident-day hours and during the applicable wage-continuation period, unless a valid written departure applies; the accident benefit then belongs to the employer. Wednesday and Thursday are also waiting days, but no work was scheduled with you. From Friday 13 November, the insurer pays the allowance for every calendar day, including the later Tuesdays. With a fixed weekly working day, the waiting period may therefore fall partly on days without work.

• Report the accident promptly. The employee tells you about an accident requiring medical treatment or causing incapacity. Once you know, notify your insurer without delay (Article 45 UVG). This also applies to a leisure accident covered by your non-occupational policy; use the employee’s account in the report (Article 53(2) UVV). With VAVplus, report directly to the accident insurer, not the compensation office.
• Medical treatment. Accident insurance pays for appropriate treatment of the consequences, such as medical care, medicines and hospital treatment in the general ward (Article 10 UVG).
• Daily allowance from the third day after the accident. With full incapacity, this is 80% of insured earnings (Articles 16 and 17 UVG). It is paid for all calendar days, including Sundays and public holidays (Article 25 UVV). Partial incapacity reduces the allowance accordingly.
• Your part during the waiting period. No daily allowance is paid for the accident day or the following two days. Where wage continuation is owed, Article 324b(3) of the Code of Obligations requires at least 80% of lost wages during this period. Check Article 324a and the applicable NAV: Article 324a refers to employment lasting more than three months or entered into for more than three months; a NAV can create an earlier entitlement. Afterwards, your obligation is discharged insofar as statutory benefits cover at least 80%; a shortfall can require a top-up. A NAV can require more. Zurich’s default for indefinite employment is full gross wages from the start: three weeks in year one, eight weeks in year two, then one additional week per year, capped at six months within twelve. During that continuation, the loss-of-pay benefit belongs to the employer, unless a valid written departure applies (Article 11 NAV). Basel-Stadt also provides wage continuation from the start (§39).
• Leisure accidents below eight weekly hours. Your occupational policy does not cover them. First check for non-occupational cover through another employer: its daily allowance can take wages from all jobs into account. Without such cover, health insurance with accident cover pays medical costs. Lost wages follow limited sickness wage continuation where Article 324a conditions are met or the applicable NAV requires more. Whether a daily sickness policy also covers accidents depends on its conditions.

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Illness: continued wages and daily sickness insurance

Ordinary illness is not an accident; UVG does not pay, unlike an insured occupational disease. Without equivalent insurance, Article 324a of the Code of Obligations requires wage continuation where employment has lasted more than three months or was entered into for more than three months. In the first service year this is three weeks, then an appropriately longer period unless an agreement or NAV provides more. Some NAVs start earlier, including Zurich for indefinite employment and Basel-Stadt from the beginning. Daily sickness insurance can replace this duty only where agreed in writing or provided by the applicable NAV or collective agreement, and with at least equivalent protection (Article 324a(4)). The five cantonal examples below differ substantially.

A valid written departure from a NAV still leaves mandatory federal wage continuation or an equivalent solution. For other cantons, consult the applicable domestic-work NAV. Zurich expressly makes an employer without required insurance liable for uninsured risks (Article 13a). Ask about a suitable policy before employment starts. Difficulty finding insurance for a small weekly job does not remove the duty imposed by a NAV.

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What happens without the required insurance?

Accident insurance does not replace AHV registration. Both belong to lawful employment. The linked guides explain undeclared work and the difference between cash payment and an unregistered job.

• The employee remains protected. If an employer has not arranged compulsory cover, the Substitute Accident Insurance Fund provides statutory benefits (Article 73 UVG).
• Replacement premiums. You owe premiums for the uninsured period, up to five years, with interest on the ordinary amount. Inexcusable avoidance doubles the premium; repeated avoidance can mean three to ten times the amount. You cannot deduct replacement premiums from wages (Article 95(1) UVG). This concerns failure to meet the duty, separately from the lawful youth exception.
• Intentional avoidance is punishable. Deliberately avoiding insurance or premiums can lead to a monetary penalty of up to 180 daily penalty units (Article 112(1) UVG).
• The duty is monitored. Cantons supervise compliance, generally through their compensation offices.

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Six checks before the year ends

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Common questions about household insurance

Sources and legal provisions

The rules and examples refer to the linked sources. Your employment is governed by the applicable standard employment contract, valid written agreements and your policy conditions.

1. AHV/IV: domestic work, leaflet 2.06
2. Accident Insurance Act (UVG/LAA)
3. Accident Insurance Ordinance (UVV/OLAA)
4. SVA Zurich: becoming an employer
5. Federal Office of Public Health: approved accident insurers 2026
6. Substitute Accident Insurance Fund: common questions
7. Health Insurance Act (KVG/LAMal)
8. AHV/IV: accident insurance, leaflet 6.05
9. Basel-Stadt compensation office: domestic work
10. AHV/IV: simplified payroll, leaflet 2.07
11. Mobiliar: accident insurance for household employees
12. Code of Obligations
13. Zurich: domestic-work standard employment contract
14. Bern: domestic-work standard employment contract
15. Geneva: domestic-work standard employment contract
16. Basel-Stadt: household standard employment contract
17. Vaud: private-household standard employment contract
18. Helpore: current prices
19. Accident-insurance commission: Recommendation 7/87
20. Federal Supreme Court: BGE 139 V 457
21. Thurgau social insurance centre: employers and VAVplus
22. Vaud: simplified plus procedure 2026
23. Federal Council: pension and threshold adjustment for 2027
24. Published product conditions for an anonymous policy