The UK cleaning and hygiene industry continue to grow with over 69,000 businesses operating in 2021, and the need to invest in training and development rises up the agenda. The sector is still dominated by independent and micro businesses and remains an environment that struggles to recruit younger applicants.

With these challenges, there was a push to create a Cleaning and Hygiene Operative apprenticeship by the British Cleaning Council and there is now a Level 2 Standard available which will enable Levy payers to offer cleaning staff the chance to get a level 2 qualification. Many larger employers are still struggling to spend their apprenticeship levy pots and in 2019 numbers released by the BBC (under an FOI) suggested there was over £400m of unspent funds from that year.

This apprenticeship is aimed at the public sector and care environments, for example, care homes, hospitals, leisure facilities and large first-aid spaces in airports, Doctors and dental practices as these all offer a wide range of cleaning duties mainly in healthcare settings. Unfortunately, there are still not any cleaning apprenticeships for commercial premises, eg, hotels, restaurants and offices.

English and Math’s are a mandatory part of the qualification and you would be on the program for 12 months minimum.

Other apprenticeships available in the sectors are:
Level 2 Waste Resources Operative, along with Level 3s available in Facilities Management Supervision, Safety Health and Environment Technician.

Training providers are also beginning to offer cleaning qualifications online with a level 2 available through The Skills Network and taking between 4 and 12 weeks to complete.

During and Post Covid many employers are encouraging their cleaning and hygiene teams to take up new courses and equip themselves with the knowledge to tackle infection control and infection prevention, but our research shows there has still not been any employers offering Cleaning Apprenticeships

Recruiting for cleaning operatives remains challenging post-Covid and with some staff not returning from furlough schemes or changing careers but our team at Axiom have experience in finding local candidates, who are skilled in cleaning operations in a variety of settings, but specifically industrial, manufacturing, and warehousing.

If you are looking to fill vacancies today, call our offices in central Romford and speak to one of our recruitment team or visit our website for more about what we do.