A LADDER OF
OPPORTUNITY, OR A TIN OF STRIPED PAINT?
British Cleaning Council Deputy Chair Paul Thrupp ponders if a new, employer-led Level 2 Apprenticeship will be enough to head off a shortfall in cleaning recruitment.
In addition to my role of British Cleaning Council Deputy Chair, I am also very proud to represent the Federation of Window Cleaners on the BCC Council, and have done since 2014. However, window cleaning, like many other sectors of the cleaning and hygiene industry, is facing a growing recruitment shortfall due to the lack of young people coming into the trade.
Maybe that word itself, ‘trade’, is part of the problem as it conjures up images of kids learning the ropes from seasoned workers who make occasional requests for tins of elbow grease, left-handed screwdrivers, buckets of steam or a long stand.
But if we’re honest with ourselves we have a way to go before we can support our claims that cleaning is a genuine ‘profession’ with the same confidence that some other sectors can – and if we are to head off an impending employment crisis, we need to act now.
We need to work really hard at attracting talent to our industry. There is potential and scope to forge great careers in the cleaning sector, and maybe we should highlight those successful people as ‘Ambassadors’ when improving the perception of our industry.
The latest BCC research into employment patterns sheds some light on what we need to face up to. Currently the number of cleaning sector staff under the age of 25 is 50% less than the national average – with only 6% of cleaning employees falling into that bracket.
At the other end of the scale 47% of cleaning employees are aged 45-65, nearly 10% more than found in other UK industries. So, we have an ageing workforce, but nowhere near the numbers coming through to replace them when they retire.
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The BCC reacted angrily to this, and criticised Mr Wilshaw’s assessment in a public statement which got a fair degree of media attention, but the whole episode didn’t do the image of the cleaning industry any favours.
Without a formal multi- level apprenticeship framework we will
always look less like the modern profession we need to be.
We know we are not the only sector facing such issues, but that doesn’t make it any easier to solve. It could be argued we are now in direct competition from other skills-led industries for the same shrinking pool of young people seeking a vocational pathway, which means the gap will only get bigger.
More apprenticeships are cited by many as being the key to unlocking the youth employment conundrum across many industries. But here again we currently only have Level 2 Apprenticeships within cleaning on offer, while in FM you can aspire to a Level 5 Higher Apprenticeship.
Some of you may also remember that two years ago even the value of a Level 2 qualification was questioned by then Ofsted chief Michael Wilshaw, who argued that cleaning should not be offered as part of any apprenticeship as it ‘diluted the quality’ of the vocational training system.
On a brighter note, last year BCC member association BICs was invited to join a new apprenticeship government Trailblazer group for the cleaning industry to focus on the development of a new employer-led apprenticeship standard for a Level 2 Cleaning Hygiene Operative. And last month the BCC’s membership was asked to review and feedback on the draft Trailblazer’s proposed structure and content.
The BCC warmly welcomes any such advancement in skills improvement, but with us still only being able to offer a Level 2 qualification it means we still can’t offer the same sort of professional development ‘laddering’ which other industries are able to.
Many within our sector are genuinely passionate about training, investing heavily in staff development and up- skilling as part of in-house development programmes, however without a formal multi-level apprenticeship framework we will always look less like the modern profession we need to be, and more like the old-fashioned trade many people think we still are.
Let’s just hope that between employers, government and education providers, we can fix this in less time than it takes someone to find that bubble for a spirit level, sparks for the generator, or a bottle of dehydrated water.
www.britishcleaningcouncil.org
twitter.com/TomoCleaning
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