Cleaning remains a Top 10 sector
Jim Melvin, Chairman of the British Cleaning Council (BCC), on our industry remaining one of the UK's 10 biggest, according to new research.
We at the BCC released our latest research report at the Manchester
Cleaning Show recently and, as always, it’s
packed with interesting and revealing facts and figures about the cleaning, hygiene, and waste industry.
Our annual research reports paint a comprehensive picture of the sector and they’re essential reading for anyone interested in finding out more about the industry. Latest figures show that the number of people employed in the sector was 1.47 million, approximately 5% of the UK workforce, ensuring that the industry remains one of the country’s top 10 biggest.
According to the latest information available, the industry contributed £58.9bn to the UK economy in 2019, up from the previous year. All subsectors, bar landscape service activities, saw a year-on-year growth in turnover up to 2021. Those are huge numbers and are again an example of why this industry demands to be treated with respect and acknowledgement.
The number of sector businesses grew to 69,005 in 2021 – though this included a number of opportunistic firms which started up during the pandemic offering cleaning services – while turnover increased by 22% from 2015 to 2021, a similar figure to growth in the economy as a whole, further showing the strength of the industry.
These figures suggest that the industry was arguably in good shape as we went into the pandemic in as much as it was growing and maintaining its position as one of the biggest sectors in the UK, and continuing to contribute a huge amount to the UK economy. However, the big caveat is that we do not yet have the more recent figures which will show the full impact of the pandemic immediately and in the longer term, so we should be cautious about drawing too firm conclusions about the condition of the industry today.
The report also highlighted, as expected, that sector staff had been on the frontline in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic throughout, with the current pressures, increased workloads, and ongoing uncertainty leaving many exhausted.
The report said that the cleaning and hygiene industry directly employed over 941,000 people in 2021, 2% less than
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the previous year. The much higher figure quoted above includes cleaning across other industries such as public services and hospitality.
It’s possible that the decline in numbers directly employed by the industry in 2021 is the first sign of the current severe staffing problems. Next year’s report will give a much clearer picture.
In terms of training, the report also highlighted the ‘good headway’ made with the proposal for a Cleaning Hygiene Operative apprenticeship. The report noted a repeated request across all areas of the industry is the need for basic, entry level qualifications. We expect to have further good news on this in the autumn.
At the Manchester Cleaning Show, industry stakeholders were able to claim a free copy of the report for themselves. If you’d also like a free digital copy, please email us at
compsec@britishcleaningcouncil.org.
I missed the show thanks to COVID, but I know everyone at the BCC loved being there and enjoyed the chance to meet industry colleagues face to face, and see the latest that the industry has to offer. There was also huge interest in our new badges, emblazoned with the ‘We Clean, We Care’ slogan. We gave out hundreds of free badges at the show, which are designed to promote the pride the sector has in its vital work.
Thanks to everyone who took one: I hope you will wear it with pride. The ‘We Clean, We Care logo’ is for the whole cleaning and hygiene sector, so we hope to see industry companies and organisations adopting it as well in the coming months.
www.britishcleaningcouncil.org twitter.com/TomoCleaning
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